After enduring this year's Super Bowl spots, Jaffe realizes dumb just isn't funny enough and honors the game's :30 lowlights.
The Next Day
It’s Monday morning, and close to 28 mass market advertisers are waking up to a giant headache, except that this hangover is not being caused by excessive alcohol intake—despite being treated to four minutes of Budweiser telling us to drink more beer, followed by 60 seconds of “drink responsibly” messaging.
No, this hangover was caused by being unfortunate enough to be considered part of the Class of XXXVIII, doomed to be quickly forgotten amongst the water-cooler ingesting at-work populous. Don’t feel bad for these liberally spending master communicators, as they’re in mediocre company, joining countless other advertisers—themselves included—from the past several years (give or take a decade).
Over the past few weeks, I’ve highlighted both the positives and negatives (ratio of 1:4) of the pinnacle of the advertising prospectus. I ended last week’s Jaffe Juice with the words, “But what does it say for our industry when a one-off phenomenon becomes the sole altar on which we prostrate our livelihoods, leaving the other 364 days so conspicuously neglected and barren?”
Make that 365, after last night.
The consensus thus far has been a collective yawn, from ad critics like Bob Garfield, to the USA Today giving the crop of alleged-creative a resounding “thumbs down.”
Overall, I would assign a grade of C+ (which I fear is being way too generous) to the portfolio of work which was supposed to showcase the best of Madison Avenue, instead of the path of least resistance.
In a perverted sort of way, it would seem that advertisers played it safe by sticking with the staid formula of cheap laughs, juvenile humor and corny punchlines, interspersed with the obligatory menagerie of animals, borrowed interest from animated celebrities and a bevy of farts, burps and not-so-euphemistic sexual undertones.
Donny Deutsch, CEO of Deutsch Inc.—who was responsible for perhaps the only creative that attempted to push boundaries, albeit through an all-too-familiar drive-to-web-to-complete-the-commercial for Mitsubishi—summed it up like this: “It was a good mirror of what’s going on in TV overall. Dumb is funny…”
In other words, stupid is as stupid does, which, when factoring in the state of network television these days, was essentially par for the course.
It’s exactly why the 10 most popular ads (based on USA Today’s Ad Meter) scored so highly. And, given that the mindset and expectations of the audience, shouldn’t really be criticized as they in essence, delivered the goods on cue.
1. Bud Light “Dogs Fetching” – obligatory “crotch shot.”
2. Pepsi “Mountain Men” (bears) – what, the frogs were booked?
3. Budweiser “Donkey” – does making an ass out of yourself count?
4. Bud Light “Sleigh Ride” – naturally, based on the insight which shows how flammable horse fart’s and beer consumption are directly proportional.
5. Frito-Lay “Grandparents Rev 2” – who doesn’t love to laugh at old people making fools of themselves?
6. 7Up “Delivery Truck” – all too familiar.
7. Budweiser “Lipstick” – Dale Earnhardt, Jr. 1, Mad Ave 0.
8. Budweiser “Referee” – truth is stranger than fiction.
9. Bud Light “Spa Treatment” – not many people know this, but Cedric performed all the stunts himself.
10. Nextel “Sports Car Football” (walkie-talkies get it done) – Dale Earnhardt, Jr. 2, Mad Ave 0 (watch DE, Jr. return next year for his “telegrams get it done” ad for the USPS).
Here is my full list of accolades and awards for the night’s performances:
1. Best in Show: Budweiser – Clydesdale Donkey.
I thought this was a fresh and entertaining way to reinvigorate a recurring theme and a staple part of the commercial portfolio, without being gross, crass, lewd or insulting.
2. Best of the Rest: Truth, “Shards of Glass”; NFL Network, “Mañana”; IBM, “Prodigy III”; and Mitsubishi, “See What Happens.”
“Shards of Glass” – intelligent and provocative and so simple that I have no doubt it went over the top of the heads of most viewers. Nice touch to have the fully functional http://www.shardsoglass.com/ Web site.
“Mañana” – any time you have Tuna singing with such feeling, you know you’re onto something special
“Prodigy III” – 20 years after Apple kicked sand in IBM’s face, IBM steps up to do the same to Microsoft. I guess we’ll have to wait until 2024 to see the Windows response.
“See What Happens” – Although I’m not entirely convinced that driving people to the Web during the Super Bowl is the best way to utilize 30 seconds, Mitsubishi is one brand that scores highly with a younger demographic. And after its success with Dirty Vegas’ “Days Go By,” I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt.
3. Most conspicuously absent: Apple
And the Pepsi-sponsored iTunes spot doesn’t count. What a colossal letdown, which probably signifies that Apple is nothing more than a one-pod pony these days
4. Most likely to sell product within 24 hours: Viagra
Put it this way, if you can tell the difference between Levitra and Cialis, you’re probably one of the few.
5. Most inappropriate placement in Q1 (or most likely to result in bed-wetting): Universal Studio’s trailer for Van Helsing
If the next Payton Manning or Tom Brady was watching, he’s probably seriously considering doing a reverse Drew Henson and taking up baseball.
6. Smartest and poorest media placement: (tie) Anti drug/drinking/smoking ads
These obligatory spots were shoved into the fourth quarter, based on the assumption that they would be seen by a smaller audience (given the blowouts of the past few years). The exciting climax to the game effectively dashed these hopes.
7. Best non-appearance by a brand: UPS
Who were the ad guys that came up with the alien concept for FedEx? Where was the fast-talking man when we needed him?
8. Most wretchedly clichéd and likely to induce vomiting: Gillette (or was it Schick?)
With lines like “I never want to lose that feeling” or “It’s the best, man!”—sheesh, what is this, the ’70s? Perhaps Levitra or Cialis should have used these lines.
9. Shame on You Award: Dubiously shared by pretty much all of the advertisers, but definitely headed by Sierra Mist (Pepsi), Charmin (P&G), Chevrolet, Budweiser x 5, GlaxoSmithKline, Eli Lilly and Universal Studios.
To quote the boy in Sierra Mist’s Bagpipes commercial, “That’s just wrong!”
10. Most sobering reminder of “reality”: One particular CBS promo
Right before the half time show, a plug for CBS Morning News announces, “Wake up to CBS – now with half the commercials.” Now THAT’S ironic.
And following on from this, my “Worst in Show” goes to CBS for their unrelenting bombardment of house ads (we know you have many choices, thank you for flying with CBS!), not to mention their transparent, misguided, calculated and unconvincing denial that the Justin Timberlake-Janet Jackson titillating stunt was unplanned.
Let’s summarize:
Families—and particularly children—are not welcome at future Super Bowls.
Madison Avenue thinks we’re all brain dead.
Even under the guise of reaching a mass audience, marketers still insist on talking to smaller sub-segments, such as the erectile-challenged which makes up less than 5 percent of the total viewers.
The promise of creative excellence is proving to be an empty one: 83 percent of this week’s Ad Age poll felt that the quality of Super Bowl ads is declining.
What else you got?