Obviously, the Darth Vader commercial was up there, but I think my favorite wad the Chrysler about the new 200, with the whole “Imported from Detroit” shtick. Something about it just touched me. It’s bad enough they have to root for the Lions every year, but I also hear their economy has been tanking since Michael Moore made a movie up there a couple decades ago, so it was nice to see this commercial.
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Anya
I second that. It was a moving and a really good commercial. It made me want to buy the damn car.
Allan
I did like the Chrysler ad, although it felt somewhat derivative of the one GM did almost two years ago.
In general, the ads were mediocre, with waaaaay too many of them based on the dubious premise that it’s funny to watch people get hit, slapped, or knocked down in some manner.
wobblybits
It was ok but I didn’t get the razzing of other cities like New york or Seattle. Someone want to clue me in on that one?
ETA: I freely admit that I have no clue as to what has been/is going on in Detroit.
BGinCHI
Agree on both.
I seriously thought Eminem was gonna cry.
It’s also sad how they had to shoot Detroit to make it look like it isn’t completely and utterly falling apart (it is).
Was there any movie that didn’t look completely fucking stupid? Thor? The Aliens/Cowboys? Transformers?
Fail.
BGinCHI
@BGinCHI: Oh, maybe Rango (with Johnny Depp as a lizard).
That looks really good.
2liberal
detroits problems are not moore’s fault.
commercials i liked:
audi
the one with the concepts – mirrors, hay bales, blonde then redhead model who ended up as a schoolteacher
commercials i hated
doritos
all the beer commercials
commercial i could not believe:
cowboys and aliens movie
Omnes Omnibus
Mini-Vader, Faith Hill/Teleflora, and insect one for VW.
suzanne
Yeah, that commercial was great. And a nice change from the other luxury brands (Audi, BMW) that tried to appeal down-market with their ads. I also felt like Chevy’s batch of commercials was pretty solid. And I still think the Teleflora ad was good. It’s a bold attempt, to sell flowers during a Super Bowl, and I think they did a good job. I’m sick of the E-Trade babies, GoDaddy, and everything for Budweiser. I was completely flummoxed by Adrien Brody’s Stella Artois ad. The “Reply All” ad for Bridgestone hit too close to home—I accidentally did that once. OOPZ.
Svensker
Up here in Canukistan, we were stuck with Swiss Chalet ads. Didn’t get to see any of the good ones. No one told me about this problem before we made the move…it could have made a difference.
BGinCHI
@Omnes Omnibus: Oh, agree on the beetle with the racing stripe that was a commercial for…..the new Beetle. That was pretty great.
That was one well-trained coleoptera.
asiangrrlMN
I thought they all sucked. The Darth Vader one sucked least. Yeah, I know. I’m getting off your lawn now.
ETA: I thought the Teleflora one was predictable.
ETA II: I started muting during the third quarter.
ETA III: I missed the Beetle one! Will have to look it up now.
Ash Can
Second the mini-Vader, Detroit, and VW bug spots. I must admit the Pepsi spot with the wife trying to keep her husband on his diet made me laugh out loud, and I thought the beaver-and-bridge one was cute. The NFL spot with all the old and new sitcom and cartoon characters decked out in football paraphernalia was pretty clever too.
Mark S.
@BGinCHI:
Hollywood is coming out with pretty much just sequels this year.
Of the non-sequels, Thor looked dumb, I’ve never understood the appeal of Captain America, and Aliens vs. Cowboys was WTF? I would still see all three of those movies before I’d watch Transformers.
QDC
On rewatching the VW ad, it’s clear that Dad is messing with the Vader kid because the kid totally stood him up for a welcome home hug. I missed that the first time, and now I like it even more.
The Chrysler ad was good, but would have been better had it been for any other car company. I’m going to pretend it was for Cadillac. That would have made an awesome Cadillac ad.
There were two Eminem ads, which is a little strange. I thought they were both pretty good though.
Elisabeth
@Omnes Omnibus:
I really liked the beetle one, too.
Allan
Oh, and how many minutes of Glee did you manage to endure?
Take away my theater queen card, but that show annoys the hell out of me.
BGinCHI
@Mark S.: Michael Bay is the Fellini of Palin Nation.
Mark S.
@BGinCHI:
I like that!
John Cole
@Allan: I’m still watching. I like it- it’s fun.
Bnut
Dude, watching Roseanne get hit by a tree trunk made my day.
patrick II
The Detroit Lions might be pretty good next year. They won their last four games against Green Bay, Tampa Bay, Miami, and Minnesota. They have a strong, young defensive line. If they can keep a quarterback healthy they could be tough.
Omnes Omnibus
@Allan:I have never managed to watch any of it. The ads have been enough to keep me away.
Nicole
Was I the only one who found the “cram the boot” ad a little, uh, peculiar?
Is that really what you want potential customers to think of when they behold your automobile?
And every commercial that had as its theme, “Durrrr, men like sexytime” made me long for the Old Spice Man commercial. “It’s an oyster! Wiith two tickets to that thing you love.”. Still cracks me up.
englishmajor
I thought the “imported from detroit” line was, actually, sort of brilliant. But, then, I don’t watch much t.v. The car was ugly as sin though.
asiangrrlMN
@Allan: I love musical theatre, and I haven’t managed to watch a single ep of Glee. It just doesn’t appeal. Though, I like some of the songs.
Beetle commercial jammed on the YouTube.
Tattoosydney
@BGinCHI:
I’m actually looking forward to that one. Of course my hopes may be cruelly dashed, but it looks nasty and odd enough to work.
FYWP.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
I liked the one where the dad bear took his kid out to get McDonald’s for getting good grades.
Suffern ACE
I thought the Groupon commercial on Tibet was amongst the worst. I don’t know, why a pseudo appeal about a culture under siege was supposed to be funny.
asiangrrlMN
FYWP. The Beetle one was cute. Black Betty!
@Suffern ACE: The sad thing is that Groupon has a Tibet fund and were trying to do something good for Tibet. BAD marketing ploy.
KG
@2liberal: I saw the Cowboys and Aliens commercial and my first thought was:
Really Hollywood? That’s the best we could do?
Tattoosydney
@Allan:
Me too. For me it’s the sound balance in the songs. It’s so over produced that it never sounds like the characters/actors are actually singing on a stage or a practice room, rather than in a studio. It’s like a bad miming drag act, except without the fun of misogyny and racism.
The actual stories and characters are ok, but as soon as they start to sing, I’m out of there.
Anya
@Allan: I absolutely hate Glee. Even my love for Matthew Morrison is not an incentive enough for me to watch. I loved him in South Pacific.
Nutella
What did you all think about the Groupon/Tibet ad?
edit: Oops, I see you already started discussing it. Apparently Groupon thought it was both helpful and funny(??)
Mary G
I liked the E-trade baby (I know) with the sneezing cat, because my cat is allergic to plastic and used to sneeze just like that all the time until the vet told me to change her dishes to porcelain.
Jay C
I thought the Eminem/Detroit spot was probably the best of the lot; and the Bridgestone “beaver” ad a close second – most of the rest pretty much sucked, though. Especially those with that infanticde-inducing eTrade baby.
Sad, really: at least the football was moderately interesting to watch this year.
BGinCHI
@asiangrrlMN: That was insufferably stupid.
Don Draper would have thrown that ad out the window.
tesslibrarian
@Nicole: the “Tickets to that thing you love” line cracks me up, too.
And the Groupon ads are horrible. There’s one with Elizabeth Hurley about deforestation then a discount Brazilian wax at a salon that was in even worse taste than the Timothy Hutton ad that I saw after the game. What were they thinking?
Steve
@ Nutella
Disgusting. Half-assed exploitation of a brutal foreign occupation, used to sell coupons for soup? And meant to be taken as a joke? Fuck that.
Suffern ACE
@asiangrrlMN: Yeah, they ended up saying “Tibetan culture is alive and well and thriving in Chicago.” Very poorly conceptualized.
@Bnut: Did you notice all the teals and oranges in that particular commercial? All that safety orange worn by the lumberjacks against a blue sky. Trite I tell you.
Poopyman
@englishmajor: That was the only ad that really held my interest. And I’m still not going to buy a Chrysler product until they can make ’em right.
Poopyman
@KG: I was thinking that the concept was rejected as a video game.
catclub
@Mark S.: I think a lot of people would pay to watch Aliens eat Troy Aikman.
…oh, those cowboys.
The beetle was neat.
Paraphrasing JBS Haldane: If creation reflects the mind of God, it suggests an inordinate fondness for beetles.
BGinCHI
@Suffern ACE: What kind of research genius writes a commercial for Tibetan food and has them make a great “fish curry”?
Tibet, famous for its coastline?
Or, Chicago, famous for its fresh fish?
Jesus, can I get paid for writing that shit?
Comrade Luke
I think the reference to the Emerald City was more of a Wizard of Oz reference than a dig on Seattle.
Just watched the Groupon ad. Could you be more douchey?
Steve
The Detroit ad didn’t really work for me, and I think it was because of the prior ad in which claymation Eminem was shilling for canned Ice Tea. Kinda killed the power of his appeal.
Kathryn
I liked the chevy truck / Lassie take off. More so if you watch closely the dad — at one point he’s carving an eagle grabbing a bunny into a tree trunk with a chainsaw.
Mark S.
@Mary G:
YOU LIE!
handy
I guess Groupon was going for the “Hey look it’s a limousine liberal getting all earnest and junk–NOT!!! HAHAHA get it? We’re totally ironic and self-aware.”
handy
@Kathryn:
I thought that one was good too. The payoff at the end with the erupting volcano worked for me.
Comrade Luke
You gotta admit that the “I want to sleep with her I want to sleep with her I want to sleep with her” was a least a little funny.
Allan
@Omnes Omnibus: @asiangrrlMN: I’ve tried more than once to watch it, but within five minutes I’m changing the channel, usually because one of the adult characters has done something that would get any real teacher suspended or fired. Seeing Sue Sylvester trashing an office in tonight’s preview was my warning to stay away.
BGinCHI
Hey Groupon, listen up.
You don’t make or sell anything. You are a nutritionless, barely aesthetically pleasing cherry on the watery cocktail of capitalism.
Cue the asteroid.
Yutsano
@handy: Here’s the funny part: there will more than likely be a boycott organized around that particular ad, and Groupon will deserve every single bit of negative press it gets from that. With competitors nipping on your heels, unforced errors aren’t the best idea.
MikeJ
The commercial for the android tablet was the best. The masses in white track suits wearing white earbuds until one guy stands alone with a droid and brings colour into the life of a lonely apple girl. Brilliant.
catclub
@BGinCHI:
Of course, the same could be said for most insurance companies. Groupon could have a long run.
catclub
@MikeJ: I liked it because it referred to the Apple 1984 ad.
A homage, as it were. But by the competition to Apple.
Binzinerator
I remember the kid darth vader ad, but can’t recall what car it was for. I felt for the kid not the car. Also the Audi ad where the rich guys are in prison and trying to escape. Very funny, and worth a second viewing. Bonus points that I remembered what car it was for. The others were just predictable, mean, offensive or stupid.
But all in all, this years’ crop was the stupidest and most uncreative and most forgettable Superbowl ads I’ve ever seen, evar.
handy
E-trade baby makes me pine for the Budweiser frogs. That’s how much of a dog of an ad campaign that is.
Halteclere
@QDC
I was hoping the Chrysler ad was for a Ford (Lincoln). But then I’m severely biased towards Ford (deep family trait).
MikeJ
@catclub: I liked it because I write apps for my own phone and I don’t have to suck Steve Jobs’ dick to do it.
Nicole
@Comrade Luke: I’m not sure what that commercial was saying, exactly: “Hey, ladies, even carbonated beverages are more interesting than you”?
Morbo
See, that’s a bunch of shit. Michael Moore has boosted the fuck out of our economy up here with the Film Festivals, and now we have the Comedy Festival running to add a little appeal to the midwinter months. Speaking of which, I ought to get some Patton Oswalt tickets at the minimum.
Allan
And kudos to Verizon Wireless for resurrecting the “Can You Hear Me Now?” guy to such snarky effect in their iPhone commercial.
handy
@catclub:
All’s fair in love and war in the Valley, but really Google shouldn’t be casting other companies in an Orwellian light. They are Skynet after all. And they are watching you.
MikeJ
@handy: It wasn’t a Google ad, it was from the manufacturer of the tablet. Because anybody can make an android phone.
Open Source is the opposite of Orwellian.
lamh32
I’m a a Glee fan. The first season was really a great season. It was consistently good. Once it became Glee the phomenon. Glee just hasn’t been as great as the first season. They’ve had a few good eps and a few good performances but they are have NOT been consistently great this season at all.
Spaghetti Lee
I’m glad the Groupon thing wasn’t just me, I couldn’t even tell what they were going for.
I’m sick of the goddamn E-trade baby. I guess it’s supposed to represent like some douchey MBA ex-jock type, but it’s not endearing enough to work. I thought Doritos’ first ad with the guy licking people was just creepy. That’s another trend I’m sick of, where the guy in the commercial is like some weirdo pervert and I’m supposed to find it funny. And I didn’t think the mini-Vader was all that cute, but maybe that’s because I’d heard about it beforehand.
As for what I like, I liked the Detroit commercial, and I usually get mad at commercials that try to exploit regional/patriotic pride for selling stuff, so I guess they really knew their stuff. I liked the bug one, and I remember liking a few of the pepsi/doritos/beer ones, but they all kind of blend together.
lamh32
I’m a a Glee fan. The first season was really a great season. It was consistently good. Once it became Glee the phomenon. Glee just hasn’t been as great as the first season. They’ve had a few good eps and a few good performances but they are have NOT been consistently great this season at all.
Spaghetti Lee
And I thought this year’s crop, overall, was better than the last few years, which I distinctly remember hating. This year I think there was more good than bad, but maybe I am just of low mind.
handy
@MikeJ:
I stand corrected. For some reason I saw Android flash up on the screen and my hypocrisy meter went off. Not for Android per se, but for the company behind it.
MattR
@Spaghetti Lee:
Agreed. I think my favorite one was the Doritos ad where the guy brought his roommate’s grandfather back to life.
Allan
Speaking of iPhones, if ATT is going to brag about how you can talk and surf the web at the same time, they might want to come up with a better scenario that shows the central character using it to look smart, win a bet, or get out of a scrape when he’s somewhere other than in an office building where he could use the computer on his desk to accomplish the same thing.
handy
My carbonated beverage brings all the boys to the yard.
Jeanne ringland
@Mary G: I think the cat is really allergic to that damned baby.
Mike G
@KG:
I saw the Cowboys and Aliens commercial and my first thought was: Really Hollywood? That’s the best we could do?
I kept thinking it was an ad featuring a parody of CG-oversaturated, loud and dumb Hollywood blockbusters. I kept waiting for the Energizer bunny or the real product to come in with a punchline at the end.
But no, this is a real movie. The stupid is strong in this one.
The E-Trade baby is just creepy.
Nutella
Here‘s Andrew Mason, founder of Groupon, talking about the ads a few weeks ago. One of the stupidest things I’ve read.
And deforestation then a discount Brazilian wax? Aaaarrghh.
Allan
@2liberal: @Morbo: I’m going to stick my neck way out here and presume that our esteemed host was being tongue-in-cheek with the Michael Moore reference, a la “Al Gore is fat” as a refutation of climate change.
Spaghetti Lee
Some of the movies looked interesting. The Spielberg one looked cool, and Cowboys and Aliens might be just dumb enough to work. Of course, a lot of movies that got that label ending up just being plain ol’ dumb, so I’ll wait and see.
policomic
@Suffern ACE: Apparently the (I agree, horrible) Groupon ads were directed by Christopher Guest (!)
freelancer
@Allan:
I love that, it’s like “Who GIVES a shit?!” If you have to wring out a writer’s room to come up with a common, plausible scenario where that feature is needed, and then you can’t do it, then it’s not that big a goddamned deal to have it as a feature.
MikeJ
@handy: Again, Android is open source. If you want to market an Android phone yourself, go right ahead. Android ≠ Google.
Try to market your own iPhone and see how long it is until you’re being Roethlisbergered in prison.
Mark S.
I also hate those Schwab commercials where cartoon old people bitch about their portfolios. But not as much as I hate the e-trade baby.
gwangung
Like Iraqi insurgents vs. foreign occupying force?
Violet
@Binzinerator:
I loved the Audi/prison/Kenny G ad. Very clever with lots of little details. “Unleash the hounds!”
Warren Terra
@Suffern ACE, @Nutella, and others:
Yup, the Groupon ad was a serious error in judgement. I’m on their email list (I was curious when Google’s attempt to buy them made a lot of news, and gave them my least important email address) and now I’m seriously tempted to unsubscribe, or just add them to my spam filter. “Tibet is dying, tee hee!” – seriously, people?
@handy:
I didn’t see the Android ad, but contrary to your reaction I’m keeping my fingers crossed. I’ve been a longtime Apple skeptic, but their announcement last week that they demand a 30% cut of all media used on sn iOS device (starting with Sony’s eReader App but clearly aimed at Amazon’s Kindle App, and you’re nuts if you don’t think they’re gunning for your music library next) was just evil beyond even my cynical expectations. Someone really needs to take Apple’s market domination on portable music devices and portable web browser devices away from them – preferably someone at least a little bit open source. Like Android, for example.
The only ad I remember really liking (and I only tuned in for the second half) was the Mean Joe Greene ad adapted to a promo for House.
The Rango ad was only so-so, but I’m looking forward to the movie with Johnny Depp playing a Steadmanesque Hunter S Thompson Lizard, even though I know from experience with other animated films that the plot will be moronic and the script lackadaisical – I just love Depp, and Depp just loves Hunter Thompson.
I liked the flag-waving civic pride and toughness of the Chrysler ad. I wasn’t delighted with the odd cracks at New York, Chicago, Lax Vegas, and (singled out for special contempt) Seattle, but I’m willing to overlook them.
Morbo
@Allan: Yeah, but I can’t troll Cole about the Steelers again for a few months.
…unless Rapelisberger misbehaves again in the interim.
MikeJ
@gwangung:
Do you mean the one where they were here to take all our resources?
The alien invasion will be over in six weeks and will pay for itself.
frosty
Well, for me the best was the Audi ad with the guys escaping from prison. “Send the hounds” was good, along with the Kenny G.
The Bridgestone one with the beaver on the road was good, but predictable. The Chevy truck as Lassie was a good story. My favorite part of the Darth Vader ad is the dad’s sidelong look at his wife at the kitchen window. I wonder how many takes they had to run through to get that.
Most were terrible, though. Groupon was a disaster, the eTrade baby is past his sell date, the beer ads were lame, and the Teleflora ad — “Nice rack!” Ugh.
And the Pepsi ad with the guy getting hit with a can in the junk. Puhleeze, we’re all out of junior high school by now, aren’t we?
freelancer
@Spaghetti Lee:
You mean the JJ Abrams one?
Joel
The Chrysler one surprised me and was a nice twist on an old product. The problem is that their product kind of sucks. Sure the cars drive alright, but the aesthetics are horrible and frankly that’s most of the reason people buy cars these days.
MikeJ
@Warren Terra:
Fuck anything with that piece of shit homophobe in it.
MattR
@frosty:
Very true, but the other Pepsi Max with the thoughts going through the mind of the woman and man out on a date was cute.
Spaghetti Lee
@freelancer:
Huh. Was Spielberg’s name not on that one? Could of sworn I saw it somewhere.
Warren Terra
@MattR:
Really? You thought it was cute? Because I was wondering which one of them I wanted to see hurt more badly, before remembering they were innocent actors and it was really the writers who were raging assholes.
gwangung
@MikeJ: Yeah, pretty much.
(Sorry…my first thought was all the Golden Age SF of technological advanced society underestimating intelligent savages. Not stupid, because if you’re arrogant, you’ll get your lunch handed to you).
handy
@Warren Terra:
My main point about Google is that it is largely a datamining operation seeking to know as much about you as a consumer as possible. They’re very good at what they do but let’s face it, it’s creepy to say the least. I know the ad was needling Apple in jest (and as a homage), but at the same time it’s also a little hypocritical that one of the companies behind the product is the very company that uses all manner of algorithms to profile everybody. Very much like 1984.
MattR
@Warren Terra: It didn’t really annoy me. It probably will the 70th time I see it, but on first viewing it made me laugh (and was one of only two or three to do that)
Spaghetti Lee
@gwangung:
Well, any invasion-centered movie could be looked at that way.
I’m not feeling the love for Rango that some are though. For starters, the animation itself is just atrocious-looking. Memo to cartoonists: you’re not photographers. You don’t need to be photorealistic. That technology doesn’t even exist yet, and you just end up in the uncanny value. What I want is cute and engaging character design, but no one seems to be interested in that anymore.
Allan
@Spaghetti Lee: Spielberg’s the producer. Plus, the preview managed to pack in every Spielberg visual and thematic meme.
gwangung
I don’t think it’s working the way you say it does.
It’s exceedingly technical and nitpicky—but aren’t a lot of legal matters that way? The 30% cut is for everything bought within the app, and not from an external website. Sony did not have an external website until this week.
Calliope Jane
@Kathryn: I liked the Chevy-as-Lassie ad, too (“I didn’t even know we had a volcano in this town!”).
And I really enjoyed House’s Mean Joe Green promo. The Darth Vader/VW was still fun (even though everyone was sending that around in emails this week) and the Audi/wealthy prison/Kenny G(?!) ad was memorable (Afghan Hounds? heh).
Was I hallucinating, or was that Bieber (Beiber?) kid in an ad? and making fun of himself (“the one that looks like a girl”)?? No idea what the commercial was for, though.
I’m just tired of looking so hard for ads that are neither offensive nor boring.
Batocchio
The Vader ad didn’t work as well in shortened version – the online version was very cute. The Audi one at least mocked (some of) the rich. My favorite is still the in-house ad for House. Awesome.
Spaghetti Lee
@Calliope Jane:
Ooh, forgot about the Lassie one. Would have been pitch-perfect if they’d stopped after 3 or 4 disasters, but it kinda dragged.
I remember the Coke Zero guys doing a mean Joe parody a few years back that just came across as nasty, and this was no better. I mean, I get that House is supposed to be an ass (I don’t watch it, for the record), but that doesn’t mean he has to bring his assiness to a classic commercial that’s supposed to be cute.
The rich guys breaking out of prison was well-made, but it was almost too cerebral. It wasn’t until they end where I went “Oh, gilded cage. Old luxury. Right.” Kinda went on a while, too. Maybe I was just in a pizza-coma.
hitchhiker
LOVED the disabled guy on a sit-ski.
All the rest was eyewash. The temporarily able-bodied population is so full of itself, don’t you think?
Susan Kitchens
@catclub: The apple homage (and putdown) by Android.
It’s by Motorola. (had to hunt for it) Beyootiful.
http://www.youtube.com/adblitz/?x=8BPFODsob1I
techno
Audi ad where the rich guys are breaking out of prison was so far and away the best ad the others didn’t even rate. It was brilliant in every way.
Warren Terra
@gwangung:
According to what I read, you’re wrong. The articles I read claimed that the Sony eReader App, the one Apple refused to approve because it didn’t sell its content through Apple and give Apple a 30% cut, had a button for the store that would take you to a Sony eReader store website, in the web browser – exactly as the Amazon Kindle App does. That’s why every article said this move was clearly aimed at Amazon, whose Kindle App is the most popular eBook platform in iOS.
Fwiffo
The Detroit ad was good because it actually reminded me of Detroit. Based on appearances of Detroit in Movies and TV, cameras only actually work there at night, or when Eminem is present.
I recall an episode of Star Trek: Enterprise that was supposed to be set in 20th century Detroit. Not only couldn’t they be bothered to use actual street or location names from the actual city of Detroit, they used a completely generic skyline with fucking mountains in the background.
In Bird on a Wire, Mel Gibson and Goldie Hawn take a quick Ferry ride from Detroit to Racine Wisconsin. Apparently the writers had never seen a map of the United States in their entire lives.
JCJ
@Fwiffo:
A quick ferry ride from Detroit to Racine? Wow. Although doable it sure would not be quick. Maybe they stopped by Mackinac Island on the way?
Mo MacArbie
No love for the border guards?
Border Guards! Love!
CaseyL
The Chevy ad for Detroit made me cry. I’ve seen pictures of Detroit’s decay – in fact, someone’s put together a whole book’s worth of photos of them. Some are absolutely surreal: there’s one of a parking garage with its rear wall collapsed revealing the interior of an Art Nouveau era theater.
I liked the Truck-Lassie ad, the teleflorist ad, the Beetle ad, and the first Pepsi Max ad that showed a man letting out his inner drag queen. A few others were mildly amusing, but I don’t remember them. Oh, and the not!Apple iPad ad, that turned Apple’s classic 1984 Super Bowl ad and turned it inside out so that Apple was the monolithic company being mocked, I thought was borderline brilliant.
J. Michael Neal
I thought the Detroit ad was moving. It won’t do a damned thing to help the city, which is probably beyond saving at this point, but it was still moving.
Spaghetti Lee
@Mo MacArbie:
I like the “open happiness” ads or whatever they’re called. Always lots of whimsy, and I’m big on whimsy.
Suffern ACE
@Mo MacArbie: Oh I did like that one, especially when they were both looking around to make certain no one was watching. It reminded me of a few East Asian films that I’ve seen where the people always enter a village through the gate, even when there is no wall around the village, thereby making the gate symbolically necessary but technically absurd.
FlipYrWhig
The E-Trade baby is just Vince Vaughn in baby form. But I repeat myself.
Linnaeus
@wobblybits:
I grew up in the Detroit area, so I found the ad to be pretty evocative. I didn’t interpret the ad as razzing or knocking other cities; it was more of a statement that Detroit doesn’t get the glory and people think it’s down and out, but we’re still here and we’re still making things. Overly sentimental, perhaps, but if you’re from the Detroit area, you’re used to hearing the city bashed pretty much everywhere you go. Sometimes it feels like it’s the one place in America that is acceptable to make fun of.
It’s possible that the Emerald City reference was a Wizard of Oz thing, though I first thought of Seattle myself because I live in Seattle. I wouldn’t be surprised if most people in the United States did not know that Emerald City is a nickname for Seattle.
Susan Kitchens
Linnaeus, you’re right. I didn’t know that (been north to Seattle 2x last year, too). I took it as a Wizard of Oz thing, and when I saw a comment re: dissing Seattle, I thought, “huh?”
fraught
I liked the one where Xtine Agulara satirizes a singer fucking up the National Anthem. Couldn’t figure out what the product was though.
Binzinerator
Missed the Chrysler ad during the game. It’s very good. So many of the land marks in the video were familiar to me. Ah Ville de le Troit. Beautiful bombed out fucked-up city. Almost want to buy a Chrysler after that ad. But Dad, who was born and raised in Detroit, never owned nothing but Fords and GMs.
One of Dad’s friends in Detroit always carried a .38 Super. Nickle plated Colt Commander. Saved him once from a car-jacking. The guy came in the passenger door at a light, saw Dad’s friend’s .38 Colt already in his hand, and exited in one smooth move out the way he came. Dad’s friend floored it through the red.
Another of my Father’s friends was killed when his business was robbed.
I don’t miss Detroit. There’s better places to live and raise a family.
Warren Terra
“Emerald City” meaning Seattle may not be as widely known as we Seattlites think it is – indeed, Wikipedia says it can also refer to Toronto, Wichita, Sidney, and the Green Zone in Baghdad (a place more troubled than Detroit! Maybe!). Seattle doesn’t dominate the first page of Google hits, though it does start to take over in subsequent pages. I’d still tend to think that the terribly hip dipshits who write copy in Madison Avenue were familiar with the nickname and meant Seattle, but maybe their intent was more generic.
The point someplace upthread about using the noted homophobe, drug abuser, bad husband (or worse), and whatever else he is Eminem as a spokesmodel is probably the more important complaint.
Calliope Jane
@Mo MacArbie: Aww, the border guards! I did like them.
@Spaghetti Lee: Ah, see, I just adore Hugh Laurie so whatever he wants to do is fine by me. I thought it was amusing and a fun play on the original ad, but YMMV. I also don’t mind if certain ads last longer than normal; sometimes it means the ad is just long enough for the joke to come back around and be funny again, for one thing. Also, if the ad is entertaining in any way, I’ll embrace the longer format because I believe (however mistaken that belief may be) that it’s preventing, well, the horrible, offensive ads that make me yell at my television.
I like to confine my yelling to the game itself, thank you very much :)
Warren Terra
By the way, has the title of this thread always been “Best commericals“, typo included, and I only just now noticed?
Linnaeus
@Warren Terra: Yes, and I didn’t even notice it until you pointed it out.
Nellcote
OT: AOL buys HuffPoo for 315M
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/07/business/media/07aol.html?_r=1&hp
Binzinerator
Few people in Detroit think Emerald City means Seattle and none would give a fuck if they ever thought you thought they think it did.
Binzinerator
Few people in Detroit think Emerald City means Seattle and none would give a fuck if they ever thought you thought they think it did.
Binzinerator
Ugh. DP. Sorry.
stormhit
@BGinCHI:
Not really, it was just shot downtown. Downtown overall doesn’t look bad anymore, just too empty. It’s still a notable change from 15 years ago.
Spaghetti Lee
While we’re all getting our E-Trade hate on, anyone getting an AmeriTrade banner ad that says “Leave the baby talk to the other guys”? Buuuuurn.
CaliCat
@Nellcote: Yeah, talk about a corporate sell-out. Will Arianna fans on the left fiiinaally start excepting the fact that AH’s “liberalness” is just a shtick? I also wonder if the “principled” anti-corporate liberals who post there so religiously will continue to vie for column space. It’s all so puke-worthy ain’t it?
drkrick
@fraught: From time to time I really wish there was a like button here. This is one of them.
Liked the rich people in prison ad, but was disappointed it wasn’t announcing some kind of Matt Taibbi-inspired program for banksters and brokers.
BruceFromOhio
@Linnaeus:
Perhaps you mean, “the other place.”
Cleveland is the “one place.”
iLarynx
Ugly car though.
Don K
@Warren Terra:
I didn’t watch the game, so I just caught the Chrysler ad on YouTube. I dunno, as a resident of the Detroit area for 32 years now, I didn’t see the crack about NYC, Chicago, Vegas, and Seattle as putdowns about those towns, but rather as a putdown of an old Detroit attitude where we had to constantly compare ourselves to other cities. Kind of a cultural cringe. You probably have to be from here to get the reference. I’d view it as more like saying, “Fuck it, we are who we are, and we oughta be proud of that.” And Jeez, Seattleites, lighten up!
Anyway, I liked the ad. No ruin porn, but the world’s seen enough of that, and trust me Detroiters know it”s there. I’m a Ford retiree, so I ain’t gonna buy a Chrysler in any event, but I liked the ad and the attitude.
Ivan Ivanovich Renko
I loved the Chrysler/Detroit ad. Speaking as one who worked with the men and women of Ford, GM, AND Chrysler– who spent a lot of time in Detroit even if I’m not from there– well, I like the attitude.
“This is the Motor City. This is what we do.”
whooooo, chills, man.
Sphouch
While I can’t say that I “loved” it, I thought the Budweiser/old west/cowboy singing “Tiny Dancer” was kind of fun. Beyond that, like the author of this post, I liked the vader commercial, as well as the Audi and the Imported from Detroit commercial. I do agree that the latter might resonate more with those of us who have roots from Detroit/Michigan in general, as my wife didn’t seem to connect with it as I did.
jayjaybear
@CaliCat: Arianna goes where the winds blow her. I sometimes think I’m the only person in the world who remembers her as a conservative/Republican pundit back in the mid-90s (I still remember her as the conservative half of “Strange Bedfellows” with Al Franken on Bill Maher’s old show, Politically Incorrect). She’ll go with whichever political faction offers her the most exposure.
ellie
I love Detroit! GO RED WINGS!
WMRine
I was grateful that after the Teleflora commercial my eight-year-old daughter did not ask what a “rack” was. Several of my friends with young children were not so lucky. NFL commercials, especially on Fox, make me feel like such a prude, which frankly pisses me off — the commercials either try to suck you in with combat porn (explosions, vehicles and bodies flying, guns) or sexuality that is little removed from pole dancing.
The Budweiser “Tiny Dancer,” the VW Darth Vader and the “reply all” commercials were our faves.
RossInDetroit
Detroiters are awake now. I think it’s worth noting that Eminem has any cultural presence at all. A skinny white rapper from the Midwest should have had his 15 minute timer ring a decade ago but he’s still around. Must be some there there.
BettyPageisaBlonde
@Warren Terra: Yes! The House ad was brilliant. But then, I love misanthropes.
SFAW
Yeah, it was kinda the “Resan” of 30-second commercials.
Unfortunately, it’s unrequited.
SFAW
I enjoyed the Bridgestone “Reply/All” trek, especially the “Do not attempt” in small print near the bottom of the screen.
The Ozzy/Bieber thing was fairly amusing, although I had to take a second look to figure out what they were pitching.
And the Groupon/Tibet thing was pretty bad. The structure was similar to the old switcheroo style of humor, but that is a lot more effective when the setup isn’t used to make fun of the suffering of a whole country. The assholes who wrote it would probably benefit from spending a couple of years there, without their cellphones, etc. Might give them a slightly different perspective.
But outside of that one, I think this year’s crop was significantly better than last year’s.
fasteddie9318
Well, Michael Moore is fat, so you know how that goes.
Paula
@RossInDetroit:
Eminem is frustrating in that he clearly has a lot of talent but has made some questionable choices about his material and how he chooses to present himself to the media — like many other rappers.
In any cases, among people who listen to hip hop he’s still someone to be grappled with, in a love/hate way.
Chrysler had a bit of Don Draper-esque Kodak moment with this one. I mean, it’s all kind of a big lie, but it makes for an interesting commercial.