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“I made nachos for this?”

I’m not a huge football fan. Not because I’m against competition fueled by excessive testosterone, but because I just don’t have the time to keep up with it. Honestly, my butt goes numb after about an hour and a half of any type of television viewing and I’d rather do a thousand other things with my weekends. That said, I do set aside time each year to enjoy the Super Bowl. I go all out – nachos, pizza, beer – and I’m usually by myself, because I watch it for the commercials.

Anyone that read my rant on ridiculous television commercials knows that I am not amused with the nosedive that advertising creativity has taken recently. I still had hope last Sunday but was terribly disappointed. Let’s go to the play-by-play, shall we?

 

I have to admit that I didn’t have high hopes for Taco Bell, anyway. This ad met my expectations. I don’t think I have ever chanted “make it stop” at my TV within the first third of a commercial. And by the way, did I miss the ballooning of Charles Barkley? I have distinct memories of him being a basketball player. Now he just looks like the ball.

 

I totally forgot that Bud Light provided ads this year, which is exactly the reaction they shouldn’t want. If anyone should be trying hard to win over consumers during the sporting even of the year, it’s the beer industry. Everyone knows that the Seven-Elevens are packed at halftime, and Bud Light should be encouraging sales via funny bone. This made me thirsty for sobriety.

 

This has to be the worst effort from an advertiser in recent history. That’s really awesome that they spent their millions targeting viewers that wouldn’t be caught dead in those shoes, but could they at least get a headshot of Joe Montana for this? I’m seriously about to write a letter to Skechers, asking for my 15 seconds back.

 

This had to be the highlight of the evening. Unfortunately, Betty White had to get laid out for me to get a laugh. I hope that this valiant attempt at humor didn’t result in a hip replacement.

In summation, I was very disappointed in the advertising presented this year. Apparently, the reason for this maelstrom of mediocrity is because advertisers have lost touch with their disenchanted and recession-scarred consumers. Personally, I think that’s been the problem a lot longer than the economy has; a lot longer than they would like to admit.

Patrick King

Patrick is the Founder of Imagine and advisor to places on brand strategy and creative. His insights have been published in Inc. Magazine, SmartCEO, Washington Business Journal, The Washington Post, and Chief Marketer, among other publications, and shared at conferences throughout the US. He also has an amazing sock collection.

5 Comments

  • Denise says:

    You didn’t like the Google search ad? Impressing a French girl eventually leads to assembling a crib? Aw, I loved that one. Simple, direct, and moving for such simplicity. And of course a nice change from the super stupid commercials (besides my girl Betty) that you mentioned in this post.

  • Patrick King says:

    True, I left the Google ad out. Mainly because I’m suckered into believing that Google is branding perfection. In order to come across as objective, I had to leave my sucking-up to Google in earlier posts. 🙂

  • Arrieb says:

    I am glad that I am not the only one to find the ads less than exciting. I was disappointed that the only Super Bowl that I have watched in years had mundane and even violent ads.

    The game however was awesome! Which is one reason we watch…

  • Thank you for the interesting read! Alright playtime is over and back to school work.

  • Stan says:

    I don’t know man. I loved the Doritos commercial with the little boy. That was hilarious. So it might not have been overly creative, but I thought it was pretty good.

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