Bloggers Bash Super Bowl Ads

Ads Not So Super?Is the art of creating a creative Super Bowl ad lost? Corporate America spent about $85,000 per second of Super Bowl airtime, but many bloggers said most of the ads missed their mark.
Many bloggers were eager to weigh in with their lists of the funniest, dumbest and weirdest ads that aired during the big game. But Sarah Jean Snarker captured the overriding sentiment in the blogosphere that this year’s ads were “pretty snoozy.”
“We have once again been underwhelmed both by the game AND the ads that were supposed to be worth $2.6M/30-second slot. To be honest, I didn’t see ANY worth that much coin,” FairWeather Zealot adds. A blogger at It’s On My TV agrees. “I thought they all lacked that edginess we’ve seen in past years,” he writes.
“2007 was one of the worst years when it comes to Super Bowl ads. It seemed most companies either went the celeb or violence route, producing nothing near as powerful as Apple’s 1984 or as addictive as Budweiser’s Wassup,” YoungGoGetter.com blogs.
Not surprisingly, many bloggers enjoyed the commercial spots created by amateurs. One of the ads that bloggers gave high marks was the Doritos ad created by an amateur for a little over $12.
“This contest-winning gem was reportedly made for $12 bucks. Take that Madison Ave,” TampaBayBostonian blogs.
This year’s crop of Super Bowl ads was notable also because they were available almost immediately online as they aired on television. Along with many others, CBS Sportline posted new ads after every quarter, iFilm has a section devoted to the ads, and other sites let visitors vote on their favorite spots.
The online availability of the ads also caused its own problems, as people were able to consider the ads long after they aired on television. Snickers decided to withdraw their spot — featuring two men hurting themselves after they accidentally kiss while sharing a candy bar — from their Web site after Masterfoods received complaints from the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation and the Human Rights Campaign that the commercial was homophobic.
But Blake Synder says the ads merely play to what viewers want to see. “Why is it that the need to communicate an idea quickly forces storytellers — and that’s who creative ad execs are — to narrow their focus to the most primal conflicts and use the most basic emotions to get our attention?,” Synder blogs. “Because those primal ads work — instantly and perpetually. All storytellers should take note.”
If you haven’t had your fill of the ads, you can view them here.