Greatest Super Bowl Commercials of All Time – Part Two
Greatest Super Bowl Commercials of All Time – Part Two
Welcome back, Studio 602ers! Hope everyone is recovering nicely from a day full of chips, dips and the libations of your choice. Sixty-two commercials aired during the 2012 Super Bowl, shilling everything from beer and cars to online domain hosting. While I found the collection as a whole relatively lackluster, there were some bright spots that definitely made the day worthwhile (not that I’m smarting over the Giants winning. One day I might recover.)
Volkswagen, “The Dog Strikes Back”
Last year’s Volkswagen offering, featuring a pint-sized Darth Vader, went down in history as one of the most beloved Super Bowl commercials of all time. Volkswagen was smart enough not to go to the same well twice, serving up a cute and funny spot about a dog on a weight-loss mission. But just when you thought you had the spot figured out, we pan back to see the ad airing in the Mos Eisley cantina. A clever, smart spot helped Volkswagen vault to the top of our list once more.
While this Ferris Bueller-spoofing ad had leaked online several days prior to the Super Bowl, I decided to wait until the day of to see if the spot could live up to the hype. Once I got over the profound, more-than-slightly disturbing realization that Ferris is old enough to be my dad (yep, sorry, I’m a whippersnapper), I laughed out loud at the trip down memory lane (the shot with the panda bear in the driver’s seat was both a classic nod to the film and a hilarious moment on its own). Funny, nostalgic, and surprisingly bittersweet, it gave viewers a reason to say “Danke schoen,” indeed.
Chrysler, “It’s Halftime in America”
Last year’s commercial spotlighting the resiliency of Detroit was an enormous hit, and while the logic of the text is somewhat awkward (if America is at half-time, does it mean we’re halfway done? Is someone about to pour Gatorade on us?), the message of carrying on in the face of overwhelming odds is universal and powerful. The fact that it’s delivered in the trademark growl of Clint Eastwood, looking and sounding like he’s about to punch half-time in the face, made Chrysler’s ad an elegant, haunting and memorable spot.
I don’t ever remember a car commercial that made headlights a primary selling point, but if it will help rid the world of the current glut of “Twilight”-inspired vampires, then my next car is an Audi. The daylight-bright intensity of an Audi headlight is apparently enough to both zap a group of hipster vampires like bugs and make me throw my hands up in the air in an impromptu “touchdown” gesture of my own.
Honorable mention has to go to NBC’s promo that aired before the start of the Super Bowl during the pre-game festivities. An exuberant, over-the-top musical number featuring the casts of many NBC shows (including my beloved, on-hiatus Community – it better come back!), this was the ad I kept coming back to as the high watermark for the remainder of the broadcast.
What were some of your favorites? Let us know in the comments section below!
Photo by kakisky.
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