A Great Super Bowl Ad
Emily Esfahani Smith, Ed. ·
Feb 7, 2011 at 6:00am
Super Bowl ads, as we all know, can take on lives of their own. But as I watched the game last night, I thought that most of them fell flat--didn't you? There was one ad, however, that captured me. It was dramatic, well-written, and ended with a funny gotcha moment. Check it out:
Imported from Detroit. That is hilarious.
Which ad--or moment--from the Super Bowl wowed you?
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Jul '10
Re: A Great Super Bowl Ad
The VW Darth Vader ad.
The Beetle ad was cool too.
Nov '10
Re: A Great Super Bowl Ad
We have the Packers vs. the Steelers in the Super Bowl. We have this ad. The big Oscar winner is about two men trying to do the right thing in tough times. I am optimistic. The era of the metrosexual man is dying fast and real men are coming back into fashion.
I remember reading "Real Men Don't Eat Quiche" in the late 1970s and thinking the same thing (although I had never hard the word "metrosexual" then). Shortly after that we got Ronald Regan and the resurgence of the USA as a tough, can do, manly society after the squishiness of the Carter era.
The world is getting better. Write it down.
Nov '10
Re: A Great Super Bowl Ad
I am with Michael, the VW Darth Vader ad. The reason? Well, I must admit that as a kid I think I tried the same stuff, although not with an awesome costume.
Jun '10
Re: A Great Super Bowl Ad
The commercials, like the half-time show, were crap. The whole production was one long train of awful. Good thing the game was exciting.
Re: A Great Super Bowl Ad
Really?! I was not a fan of this ad. I didn't get the Darth Vader connection--does driving a VW make you feel like Darth Vader? If you're going to go with "the force" theme, go with another Star Wars character!
Re: A Great Super Bowl Ad
True, except there were some very metro-friendly ads too--like the one for Living Social, which I thought was funny.
Edited on Feb 7, 2011 at 7:40amJul '10
Re: A Great Super Bowl Ad
I liked this one too. Break out of the Apple Assimilation.
I thought the Chrysler one was a bit Stalinesque: "Power to the Worker"
Nov '10
Re: A Great Super Bowl Ad
The motor city ad for Chrysler was a slick production to present a ridiculous notion that Detroit is a vibrant city where all sorts of good things are going on. But all anyone need to is go there to see what a wasteland liberals have made of it. Chrysler paid for that ad with taxpayer money, got a government bailout that allowed it to illegally screw its bondholders, and now wants us to believe it’s a good corporate citizen making wonderful cars we all should want.
Phooey.
Nov '10
Re: A Great Super Bowl Ad
"Emily Esfahani Smith, Ed. Skid McBrick: I am with Michael, the VW Darth Vader ad. Really?! I was not a fan of this ad. I didn't get the Darth Vader connection--does driving a VW make you feel like Darth Vader? If you're going to go with "the force" theme, go with another Star Wars character!" I don't think the VW had anything to do with it. It was some guy like me who, as a kid, tried to move objects after seeing Star Wars for the thousanth time. As for Darth Vader, it is probably the funniest costume they could have picked. Reminded me of Lord Dark Helmet in Space Balls
Re: A Great Super Bowl Ad
I guess. I just didn't connect with the ad at all. Am glad that you did, though!
Sep '10
Re: A Great Super Bowl Ad
Sorry, Emily but...
The ad was effective for pushing back on people disparaging Detroit, that is, as long as you don't really know anything about Detroit history, politics and corruption, the automobile industry, unions and locations of manufacturing plants and headquarters or European ownership. The remark about newspaper stories "written by people who have never even been here", was pretty disingenuous since there are plenty of Detroit residents who have deplored the condition of the city as well as thoughtful pieces by out-of-towners who nevertheless spent lots of time in the city to get a comprehensive picture. This ad actually angers me.
Detroit has Eminem, famous for being the result of profound cultural dysfunction, a refurbished Fox theater that likely loses money, and a gospel group who despite being African American and all, I would wager mostly reside outside the city boundaries of Detroit, and a city so empty you can park right outside the theater without getting a ticket - well at least if you are Eminem - otherwise good luck at the impound lot.
There was no mention of this either.
I want Detroit to come back - but saying doesn't make it so.
May '10
Re: A Great Super Bowl Ad
"This is the Motor City, and this is what we do."
And it's worked out so well for you.
Agreed. As an advertisement, it stinks. But as entertainment, it's great.
The Detroit ad is well done, if complete nonsense. Most people have never been to Detroit, nor have any strong desire to go, so I doubt it's common knowledge that the city is in such a bad state.
To say the ad is well done is not to say it's effective, though. "Don't believe what they say about us" is not a strong selling point. Of all American manufacturers, Ford is the only one I would even consider buying from... and then only if I was buying a truck. They're not really companies so much as socialist projects.
Is "buy American" always a union plea for donations?
Aug '10
Re: A Great Super Bowl Ad
The Detroit ad was horrible. It essentially insulted five major American cities saying, "you guys suck, but Detroit rules!"
I was a joke filled with sculptures and murals that looked more like they belonged in Leningrad than an American city.
Ending the commercial with Eminem walking into an empty theater where a chorus was performing just accentuated how dead the city was.
Aug '10
Re: A Great Super Bowl Ad
As for not being able to connect the Darth Vader costume in the VW ad with any concept that makes me want to buy a VW...
I have one question for you.
How old were you when you saw Star Wars: A New Hope on the big screen?
That commercial demonstrated to me how a car can build a relationship between generations in a family.
Jun '10
Re: A Great Super Bowl Ad
I must say the 8-year-old in me liked the Doritos ad where the co-worker sucked the fingers of the guy who just finished his package of Doritos.
Juvenile, but clever juvenile. The only thing it lacked for the guys was some flatulence.
Jun '10
Re: A Great Super Bowl Ad
I am not an Eminem fan. There was also an animated spot using him. I thought he had fallen off the radar, but I guess not.
Carmax "Candy Store" was my favorite. Loved the little boy as Darth Vadar. Also loved the "Reply all" Bridgestone tire ad and both Car.com ads -- "Go First" and "The Reviews Are In." And the 1950s gas station fraom Carmax was cute. Always love the Careerbuilder chimps ads & the babys on e-trade. The Chevy ad with the repeated rescuing of the little boys was good & so were the VW Beetle & Mini's "Cram It in the Boot." The NFL retrospective of SuperBowl celebrations on old sit-coms was cute. So I'd have to say it was a good year for commercials.
Repulsive: Joan Rivers, Rosanne, and all the Doritos bits. Also the pepsi can being shot into a groin & the mattress company claiming "it's better on springs" -- just awful.
Aug '10
Re: A Great Super Bowl Ad
Whew, I thought I was the only one. During the game I looked up from my laptop and saw the huge iron fist, then the worker's mural at 0:36, and for a few surreal seconds I thought Russia had bought ad time.
It's a slick, well-designed commercial aiming for emotional impact. As it should be; car buying is well-known to be more of an emotional purchase than a strictly rational one. But it's arguing against a rational case against both Detroit and Chrysler (namely, their last 30 years' history), and doesn't work for me.
More importantly, Eminem had been in a Lipton Brisk tea commercial a short while before explaining "why I don't do commercials!" Great for a single commercial's gag, but it just makes the 2nd one seem ludicrous.
Jun '10
Re: A Great Super Bowl Ad
I must say the 13-year-old in me liked the Doritos ad where the co-worker sucked the fingers of the guy who just finished his package of Doritos.
Juvenile, but clever juvenile. The only thing it lacked for the guys was some flatulence.
Aug '10
Re: A Great Super Bowl Ad
If flatulence is good enough for Aristophanes, it's good enough for me.
Nov '10
Re: A Great Super Bowl Ad
Emily Esfahani Smith, Ed.
True, except there were some very metro-friendly ads too--like the one for Living Social, which I thought was funny. · Feb 7 at 7:39am
Edited on Feb 07 at 07:40 am
Stalin did not come to my mind when I saw this ad last night. I thought about Caterpillar, and Deere, and making steel and other heavy industry that makes big, hard, powerful stuff made in America.
There were some soft ads too, but the tide is turning.