Super Bowl Ads: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

The game was a low-scoring snooze, and Maroon 5’s half-time show exuded strongly bleached blandness, leaving the ads our last best hope to avoid total Super Bowl viewing disaster. Here are the ads that rose to the occasion, and those that did not:

THE GOOD:

Andy Warhol Wins

Big year for Andy Warhol who was paid tribute in two separate Super Bowl spots.

In one practically perfect ad, Warhol himself eats a Burger King Whopper. Burger King cut the ad from footage of Jorgen Leth’s 1982 film, appropriately called Andy Warhol Eating a Hamburger.

Serious student of Warhol also noticed Coa-Cola’s animated retro pre-game commercial “A Coke is a Coke” blew a kiss to the artist/director/producer. It’s Warhol who famously said:You can be watching TV and see Coca-Cola, and you know that the President drinks Coke, Liz Taylor drinks Coke, and just think, you can drink Coke, too. A Coke is a Coke and no amount of money can get you a better Coke than the one the bum on the corner is drinking

THE HANDMAID’S TALE

Hulu’s third consecutive year featuring an original series in their Super Bowl ad this time gave a sneak peek into Season 3 of dystopian drama The Handmaid’s Tale.

The Handmaid’s Tale spot takes inspiration from Ronald Reagan’s iconic “Morning in America” campaign commercial:

THE BAD:

Mint Mobile

Mint Mobile’s “chunky milk” ad created a nationwide gag reflex, the sense memory of expired milk being maybe the worst definition of “memorable” Super Bowl ad.

Audi

A man walking dreamily through amber waves of grain is surprised to see his grandfather, who takes him to his garage to show him the car of the future: an electric Audi. But as he tries to drive off in the car, he suddenly wakes up and discovers he’s choking to death on a cashew. Saved by an office colleague, he seems disappointed. On the bright side, Audi says in the ad, one third of all new Audi models will be electrified by 2020. Congrats to Audi for boldness in comparing its product to – death?

THE UGLY

The Washington Post debuted a 60-second Super Bowl commercial during the fourth quarter. Fred Kunkle, staff writer and co-chair of the newspaper’s union, savaged the “infuriating expense” in light of Jeff Bezos’ treatment of staff.