Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Super Bowl Commercials 2008

People all over the world know about the Super Bowl. It is that curious American custom wherein the nation's advertisers roll out their best commercials and air them in a head to head competition on television. Oh yes, and the commercials are occasionally interrupted by a football game (the game itself is of little importance unless the St. Louis Rams are playing).

The quality of any given Super Bowl's commercials tend to vary from year to year, but fortunately this year's crop seemed particularly good. I did not watch the game itself, but fortunately through the miracle of the Internet I was able to view them at IFilm. Here is my list of my favourite Super Bowl commercials from 2008.

Audi "Godfather:" As indicated by its title, this commercial is a takeoff on the movie The Godfather, but it is not a horse's head which Moe Brown awakes to find in his bed. Vintage car lovers can probably sympathise with his pain....

Bridgestone "Get the Most out of Your Car:" In this commercial a driver has the choice of avoiding a doe, Alice Cooper, and Richard Simmons. You can probably guess which one he almost decides to hit....

Bridgestone "Screams:" In this advert an entire woods full of animals screams as a squirrel is saved from becoming road kill by the efficiency of Bridgestone Tyres.

Bud Light "Breath of Fire:" This commercial proudly announces that the ability to breathe fire has been added to Bud Light, although Anheuser-Busch apparently did not foresee the possibly catastrophic results.

Bud Light "The Wheel:" A group of cavemen find it difficult getting their Bud Light to a party, only to strike upon a novel solution--the wheel. Sadly, they haven't quite gotten the knack of using it quite yet....

Chase "Secret Agent Man:" Shot in black and white and reminding me of an old Danger Man episode, a man in a tuxedo must fight his way to save his credit card from fraud. Technically this commercial debuted before the Super Bowl, but I've got to love any commercial that uses the song "Secret Agent Man...."

Coca-Cola "Balloons:" In this commercial the famous Underdog balloon and the Stewie balloon (that's the baby from The Family Guy) compete for a balloon in the shape of a classic Coke bottle. I have to love any commercial featuring the Underdog balloon...

FedEx "Pigeons:" A company decides to solve their delivery problems by using some very special pigeons, with some unexpected results. By far the best and funniest of the commercials to air this year, I predict this one will be regarded as a classic.

GoDaddy "Spot On:" This commercial, featuring Danica Patrick unzipping her uniform, is simply a teaser to get you to go to GoDaddy.Com to see the real commercial (rejected for the Super Bowl). The real commercial is hilarious (and not suitable for people under 18...), although Danica Patrick doesn't ever fully unzip her uniform. Still, I have to love any commercial featuring Danica Patrick....

GoDaddy "White Light:" In this commercial a group of people watches the Super Bowl while their nerd friend visits GoDaddy.Com. Of course, the nerd is unexpectedly rewarded. You have to give GoDaddy credit for the sheer audacity of their commercials....

The Iron Man Trailer: Besides The Dark Knihgt, this is my must see movie for this summer. And this trailer only makes me want to see it more.

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian Trailer: Okay, I think The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe was a bit overrated. I thought it was a good film, but not a great one. Still, I have to admit that the trailer for Prince Caspian makes me anxious to see the next entry to the series.

So those are my favourite commercials from this year's Super Bowl. I encourage all of you go to IFilm and check them out. All of them (especially FedEx's "Piegons") are well worth watching.

3 comments:

Jim Marquis said...

The pigeon commercial was the only one that really made me laugh this year. Great game, disappointing ads.

Aaron said...

Like you I also love anything with the Underdog balloon... like the film "Broadway Danny Rose" which has a hilarious scene among Macys balloons.

Thank goodness the viewing public was allowed to see the real UD and not that bastardization, abomination of a dog from the recent film.

I thought for sure, being in my 40s, that the old Bullwinkle balloon was going to appear in the end, but, alas, it was a more sentimental character who plucked the Coke bottle balloon out of the sky.

I wonder if his creator would have been unhappy about this...as in his work I don't think he allowed such a thing to happen.

Anyway... a great game, a great ad...those balloons always bring me back to good days and good times.

Terence Towles Canote said...

I must say I loved the end of the Coke commercial--after all those years of being wishy washy, Charlie Brown deserves at least a little happiness....