The Super Bowl XXXIX Commercial Thread

[The Penguin]

In many circles, the Super Bowl commercials during the game are just as entertaining as the Super Bowl itself. With a price tag of around $2.4 million for 30 seconds, advertisers are going to want to make sure you remember them when the football comes back on. After the Janet Jackson incident during last year's half-time show expect tamer fare from the ads as well as half-time. Check out this article from the AP...

Cute Beats Crude in 2005 Super Bowl Ads

By SETH SUTEL, AP Business Writer

NEW YORK - What a difference a year makes. If last year's Super Bowl ads were fueled by gross humor, this year's are running on nostalgia and cute cartoon characters. In a bid not to repeat the excesses of 2004, advertisers are employing a far safer stable of pitchmen, pitchwomen, and animated friends like the Jolly Green Giant and Miss Piggy.

A number of the ads that ran last year could have raised objections all on their own — the crotch-biting dog, the farting horse, the amorous monkey who flirts with a guy's date, and the kilt-wearing man sent into ecstasy over a blast of super-cold air to his nether regions.

But with Janet Jackson's exposed bosom thrown into the mix, an event that later touched off a wave of protests over broadcast decency standards, the ads of last year left many viewers thinking that advertisers had just gone too far.

Because of that uproar, "the advertising is actually more at the forefront than ever," says Charlie Rutman, who buys TV time on behalf of advertisers as president of Carat USA. "I think what you're going to see is (ads that are) sanitized, and scrutinized. It's always put through a pretty high-powered microscope. I just think the ad critics' world has turned up the power of those lenses."

A preview of some of this year's ads reveals that many advertisers are returning to cozy themes and familiar icons. Lay's brings back '80s singer M.C. Hammer and his "Can't Touch This" single to pitch potato chips; Miss Piggy, Kermit and other Muppets appear in a spot for Pizza Hut; and the Pillsbury Doughboy, Count Chocula and Mr. Clean appear in a spot for MasterCard.

In a sign of just how high sensitivities are running this year, Ford Motor Co.'s Lincoln division decided at the last minute to pull an ad for their new Mark LT truck after a group representing victims of sex abuse by priests complained that the spot made light of what happened to them.

The spot shows a priest swooning over the truck in his church's parking lot after finding the keys in his collection plate. It turns out they were apparently left there by a child, and the priest later adds two letters to a board advertising next week's sermon, on "lust," as he adds the letters "L" and "T" on either end.

"We wanted to make sure the focus stayed on the vehicle and not on any controversy that might exist," said Sara Tatchio, a spokeswoman for Lincoln Mercury. "We absolutely had no intention to offend anyone, and we were surprised by the reaction the one group had."

The ad would have marked the first time in 10 years that Lincoln had run an ad in the Super Bowl. Since Lincoln didn't have another ad ready to go in that spot, the time slot will instead be used to re-run another Ford ad that is also making its debut during the Super Bowl for a new convertible Mustang.

Some of this year's crop still aim for humor, but a few are slightly puzzling. Credit card issuer MBNA Corp. has the elegant pop singer Gladys Knight running the ball down a field in a rugby game, while consumer products maker Unilever unveils a curious action figure dubbed "Mama's Boy," who gets pushed around in a shopping cart by his mother, to plug its Degree brand of anti-perspirant.

The new sensitive-guy tone is perhaps best struck by a pre-game spot by MasterCard, in which a guy throws a fish he has just caught back in the water after seeing a tear well up in the fish's eye. The tag line: "Daring to show your feelings ... Priceless."

Anheuser-Busch Cos., whose ads for Budweiser and Bud Light produced several of the ads last year that raised eyebrows, including the inadvertent bikini wax treatment and the flatulent horse, is keeping wraps on its ads until game day.

But Bob Lachky, the head of beer advertising at Anheuser-Busch, says that while the ads will still strike a humorous tone, they won't cross the line. "You don't want to send out a message that would offend anybody," he said. "I think advertisers are being a little more centered."

With Super Bowl ads costing an average of $2.4 million this year for a 30-second spot — that's $80,000 a second — advertisers are loath to make slip-ups. But with some 90 million people expected to tune in to the game Sunday on the Fox network, the game remains one of the last surefire ways of reaching a truly mass audience in today's fragmented media marketplace.

The price tag is slightly above last year's level of $2.3 million, when the game aired on CBS. The Super Bowl rotates among the major TV networks as part of a deal worked out with the NFL.

The high price tag continues to draw comments from marketing pundits who say advertisers are wasting their money by buying Super Bowl ads, yet the competition among the advertisers remains a popular subject among viewers and industry insiders alike.

USA Today conducts an annual poll that ranks the ads by popularity among selected groups of viewers, and AOL and other organizations have launched polls of their own. For the creative minds of the advertising world, however, the Super Bowl retains an almost mythic kind of power.

"I feel like a child on Christmas morning," says Mark Tutssel, deputy worldwide chief creative officer of Leo Burnett Worldwide, division of a Publicis Groupe S.A. "I want to open all my presents (now), but I'm looking forward to watching all the ads on game day as a consumer."

Check out a slide show that features shots from this year's Super Bowl ads here.

[Stewie]

I hope the commercials are actually interesting this time. I thought last year was really weak. Most of the ones that I saw were just regular commercials that had been playing for a while before the Superbowl. 2004, worst commercials ever.

If I see one flatulent horse I'm gonna throw something at the TV. And it will be my boss's TV, so that's a big deal.

[Fan of Sponge]

Yea we didn't need the PG-13 stuff on commercials. Maybe we should be glad that the incident happened, but it's own trek now. Are there going to be any internet company commercials this year again. Oh and lets hope the beer commercials aren't going to be as lame as last years.

[g_UnIt_GaNsTa]

Can't wait for The War Of The Worlds trailer tonight. Used to be on the intarweb, though.

[Stewie]

Can't wait for The War Of The Worlds trailer tonight. Used to be on the intarweb, though.

Cool. But will it just be this one?

[TnAdct1]

I'm anxiously waiting tonight's ads (as the real fun of the Super Bowl isn't in the game itself, but rather what Tomoyo Avenue has to offer). Of course, I'm a little nervous about how the ads have to be toned down this year after last year's parade of indeceny that was last year's Super Bowl (while I did like the farting horse, I did feel that better ad time could used for other commercials instead of ads for Viagra knock-offs).

[Elf]

I hope WOTW, Batman Begins, and Episode III make an appearence.

[g_UnIt_GaNsTa]

Cool. But will it just be this one?

Oh no, it will be a different one. With lots of stuff exploding. Some sites showed it early but they were taken down quickly.

[Carolina Red]

I wouldn't call it a response to increased FCC patrolling, I'd call it a response to all the negative reaction over what some of these companies got last year. Now I did like that Bud Light ad that they pulled from this year's game but I guess there's a good number of people out there who probably wouldn't like it.

[Hatter]

Say, do any of the new commercials or trailers debut during the pre-game show?
Because I'd prefer not to watch it if I don't have to...

[Killtacular]

The VW ad with Gene Kelly was the coolest one I've seen in a while, so hopefully more ads are on the same level. The past few years have been horrible and unfunny. Time for a change, content aside.

[TheBaldOneMpls]

Kickoff's still about 40 min. away, but to this point, I'd have to say DirecTV is having a great year. The one where the guy goes through life with the notable programs on was awesome.

I doubt we'll see any ads that are cheesier than Anheiser-Busch's underage drinking ad.

[Ekkostar]

I wouldn't call it a response to increased FCC patrolling, I'd call it a response to all the negative reaction over what some of these companies got last year. Now I did like that Bud Light ad that they pulled from this year's game but I guess there's a good number of people out there who probably wouldn't like it.

I downloaded that yesterday. Great commercial showing what "might" have happened last year.

[Duke]

Ugh. That Muppets/Pizza Hut commercial sucked. Last year's was decent, but this one...yuck.

I will admit the Bud Light Skydiving ad was funny.

They could've at least made the people dancing in the Olympus Emerald ad NOT obvious CG...

That FedEx/Kinko's "Super Bowl Commerical Ingredients" commercial was pretty funny. 'Cause it's true.

[Ekkostar]

That Pepsi commercial with XZibit, P. Diddy and Evil Lon-GORE-ia from Desperate Housewaifs sucked.

[EnAll]

That FedEx commercial was actually good

[J. B. Warner]

What's that website where you can download videos of all the Super Bowl commercials? I need to know because I won't be able to watch the whole game and I don't want to miss any ads.

[TheBaldOneMpls]

FedEx got it right on. Was groin kick #5 or #6?

[EnAll]

FedEx got it right on. Was groin kick #5 or #6?

It was 5

[Duke]

Shock. A car commercial that sucked. Never seen that one before.

Love the GoDaddy.com commercial with the C-SPAN parody. Sweetness.