[psmith2.0]

I did enjoy the "Captain America" teaser, however.

He wasn't eating Doritos and hitting Nazis in the nuts with his shield, so it had that going for it.

[Brad]

Aside from the Captain America teaser, were there any worthwhile commercials at this year's Superbowl? I "missed" the whole thing today.

[psmith2.0]

Nope, not a single one. Beer, snack foods and guys getting whacked in the balls. Pretty much it in a nutshell (no pun).

Lots of movie trailers and teasers (which I don't consider "nut-shot Doritos" fare): Thor, Cowboys & Aliens, Battle: Los Angeles, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Transformers 3, Super 8, Fast Five (a fifth Fast/Furious flick) and probably some more I can't remember.

As neat as the Captain America one looks, Thor looks completely unwatchable in every way (except for Natalie Portman's raging cuteness).

Sorry, I just can't get excited about a guy with a hammer, such an obvious wig and Anthony Hopkins hamming it up (again). I suppose I'll have to see it, just so I can have all my the Avengers stuff under my belt and prepared. But I won't like it. It'll be like being dragged to an Al Gore documentary...

"Can I see a subtitled, pretentious and plodding indie flick starring some unsympathetic, unattractive a-holes and featuring an atonal soundtrack instead? Please?! We'll call it Thor and nobody will have to know...".

That's how much I don't want to see Thor.

[Maciej]

Yeah, sorry. I obviously missed that.

Still, I'm glad I was able to precipitate your venting. I hope you feel better.

[drewprops]

I pray the wave of amateurism that has infested the Super Bowl won't return in our lifetimes, however as I tap this out on my gee whiz iPhone I am reminded of a hashtag @Chucker taught me: #FirstWorldProblems

...

[psmith2.0]

Originally Posted by Maciej Yeah, sorry. I obviously missed that. Still, I'm glad I was able to precipitate your venting. I hope you feel better.

Actually, I do. It needed to be said.

[evan]

For the most part I agree completely with pscates2.0, except for one company.

Groupon. One of the only truly original ideas there. Was it offensive? Maybe, but I personally strongly dislike those "try and pull your heartstrings with this cry for help" commercials so I got a kick out of it. Plus, for all the people ready to boycott them, go check out their blog - they're matching donations for the causes they made fun of.

[psmith2.0]

I either missed, or forgot about, that one. It's not ringing a bell this morning.

[evan]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXGYK1eP_wo

for one of them

[psmith2.0]

I don't know. Seems a bit glib or callous to me. I'm not one for the tinkling piano/yanked heartstrings schmaltz either, but I don't think this approach is any better.

I did see part of this yesterday, but I was in the other room, not paying close attention, and glanced over and wondered what in the hell Timothy Hutton was doing in a commercial for...anything. Didn't strike me as a particularly relevant, cutting-edge celebrity "get".

May as well been Michael O'Keefe or the doctor from The Love Boat.

[torifile]

I wasn't offended by that groupon commercial but it did strike me as off color and probably in poor taste.

Personally, I'm just really tired of the old formula of trying to get attention by seeming sentimental and then flipping the switch to "funny". It's just such a tired way of advertising. Where's the creativity?

[psmith2.0]

Well it's a rug-pull, and it seems a bit cheap or disrespectful. Like a badly-timed prank or something that hasn't been fully thought through. Plus, they're kinda yanking people's emotions...that's rarely a good thing in this sort of scenario. That's some serious subject matter for many folks. I don't hear many yuk-yuks about Tibet and that whole situation, so on that front alone it's gonna turn people off. Those comments at YouTube (never anything to hang one's hat on I realize, but still) seem to lean in that direction...

If you want my money or support for something, treat me like an adult and don't be a juvenile jackass about it and "play tricks".

I don't know. Humor is good (I'll always prefer it over the manipulative, maudlin approach). But they have to use it smartly and in a way that doesn't make you feel like wincing or wondering "is that really amusing?". Otherwise it leaves a bad taste and it's hard to buy in to the overall message or goal.

It is for me, anyway.

I think the bait-and-switch tactic is what does it. Had the entire thing been light and breezy, or with a humorous tone, maybe it would play differently and not make me go

Offended? No. Left wondering "really? Why?". Yes.

Look, I know the shot...it's targeted advertising for a football-watching demographic (whatever the hell that is, because whatever these advertisers have come up with in their studies and focus groups, it can't cover everything). But I know, on balance, these companies see it as a big "guy day", which automatically translates into farting, ball shots, big titties, lowest common denominator gags and easy visual jokes, etc. But it just gets a bit much, year after year. Some of the more uppity car makers did their usual understated, sleek "you can't afford it, so just ooh and ahh for 30 seconds at our design/engineering money shots" spots, but the rest were just horrendous.

Future success is going to be based on giving the animals and groin injuries a rest, and breaking away from the pack to create some truly memorable spots. They're getting worse, and more idiotic and predictable, with every passing year. That's just true, I don't give a crap what anyone else says. I know "suck" when I see it (and the only thing worse than this year's commercials was this year's halftime show).



I heard on the radio this morning that the stupid-ass "pug knocking down the door for Doritos" commercial scored the highest.



Are you shittin' me? The little dog, running in slo-mo toward his man-child owner (note the pretty wife/gf on couch) to get some Doritos, captured everyone's hearts and imagination, and is the big water cooler rallying point this morning? Holy hell, we're screwed.



The Vader/VW spot was third, so that means not all hope is lost. Maybe that'll inspire a batch of genuinely charming, humorous spots for 2012? Everything can't be a friggin' 30-second Maxim/Spike TV-level commercial. Because it isn't just dumb-jock ball-scratchers and fart fetishists watching the game, you know?



In fact, someone should get very clever with it all and make a commercial that starts out like every dumb-ass Super Bowl spot (slouchy, dork guy with impossibly hot gf/wife getting hit in the balls by a cute animal in some ironic way while Mr. T shouts the tagline, etc.), and then have it come to an abrupt halt with someone saying "okay, enough of this lame shit...you deserve better. Here's our real commercial." That would be kinda neat to see.

[kieran]

The Darth Vader commercial was great. Loved it.

I always like the E-Trade baby commercials, so they were god as well.

The res? Meh.

[alcimedes]

I actually got a good chuckle out of the Hyundai commercial with the different levels of tech each trying to steal it from everyone else, only to have the pinnacle be the Inca/Aztec ceremony and wormhole. I liked that one. The rest I was pretty disappointed by.

[psmith2.0]

I went on my initial rant Sunday evening, as it was all fresh and on my mind (and before there was a lot of feedback and discussion going on).

I assumed I was largely alone in my "this sucks" assessments (because it always seems like most folks are programmed/conditioned to yuk it up whenever they see one of these pieces-of-shit spots, simply because "dude, it's a Super Bowl ad!").

But it's very interesting, two days later, how I'm reading and hearing all over the place that so many people are thinking the same thing.

Regular Joe or professional writer/critic, I'm not seeing any positive, glowing talk about this year's crop of Super Bowl ads.

All the stuff I was going on about Sunday evening, I'm hearing and reading the same sort of thoughts elsewhere.

Good...means I'm not crazy or wired wrong.* These were an exceptionally lazy, uninspired and "eh..." bunch of ads this year. Seems to be the general consensus.





* Well, on this topic anyway...

[zippy]

I'm never disappointed by the commercials, because I know they generally aren't going to be anything special. And many of them will be really stupid - I'm looking at you CocaCola Dragon commercial. A long while ago, there were a handful of fairly special, or noteworthy Super-Bowl commercials. Since then, it's been mostly hype IMO. It's about getting women to watch the Super Bowl.

The Darth Vader kid commercial was cute, and my favorite. But after seeing it, I really couldn't tell you what product it was selling. I knew it was a car, just not which one. I only know now because everyone keeps talking about it. Running during the Super Bowl probably helps it out in that sense. Even Super Bowl commercials that people don't like get talked about more, and therefore get more product exposure.

The Volkswagen Beetle commercial did a great job of cementing the actual product in my mind and made it seem fun and sporty. So even though I like the Darth Vader commercial better, I'd have to say the beetle one was probably a more effective ad. Besides, what they showed about the (Jetta was it?) in the Vader ad is that it has a remote starter. So can any other car - big deal.

[psmith2.0]

It was the Passat. Yeah, not your typical car spot (where it's shown driving on curvy roads while a voiceover rattles off some of the features). Definitely going for the cute/humor vibe here...the automatic starter was just the means to freak the kid out. I don't think they were highlighting it in any sort of "we're special...we have this feature!" way. More of a "lifestyle" spot than a features/specs-centric one.

It's a one-minute spot. The car doesn't appear until the :30 mark. But, from then on, there are numerous "beauty shots", interior and exterior, and the front grille VW emblem is easily visible 3-4 times. At the :55 mark, with five seconds remaining, you get the "all-new 2012 Passat" text and the VW/Das Auto logo and slogan. So, yeah...the first 30 seconds could've easily been a dog food or laundry detergent commercial. It didn't become an obvious car spot until the final half. I have seen a shortened version too (30 seconds?), but it's not as good because it's way more rushed and you don't get the full sense of this kid's obsession with the dark side...



As cute as it is, I do wonder where/how the Star Wars angle crept in and came to be? Seems like they would've gone with a more contemporary reference, like a little wizard wannabe, all Harry Potter'ed-up and trying to start the car with his wand?

Lucasfilm must've reached out to VW. Because once you get past the cuteness, you're kinda left wondering "what kind of five-year-old, in 2011, runs around in full-on Vader gear?!"




Allowing my Jedi-level dorkness to shine through for a moment, I noticed that costume - even in miniature form - was pretty damn accurate, including the 2" satin trim band at the bottom of the cape, just like on the real Vader from the movies. I've been wondering why they left him gloveless, but maybe to drive home that it's a small kid (you can tell by the hands) and not a mentally unbalanced 30-year-old little person running around seriously trying to use the Force (which definitely wouldn't have the same sort of cute vibe ). But it's funny that the costume was so good and accurate, but they left off the black gloves...I'm sure there was a reason. Maybe it was easier to show his hands and what they were doing.

[Maciej]

I think you'd be surprised. Space ships are still very popular with young boys. It isn't that far-fetched from my point of view.

[bassplayinMacFiend]

You can't forget about the Lego Star Wars videogames. That's where my son initially learned about Star Wars. He's only watched Empire Strikes Back for movies, but he knows all the characters thanks to the games.

[psmith2.0]

Yeah, and the franchise has wide appeal. My friend's son, who is around eight or so, is quite Star Wars obsessed, just as his dad and I were back in the day, 30-something years ago.

However, there is a small differences between liking spaceships and running around in costume all day trying to Force pet the family pooch.

But I can't lie...all I wanted for my ninth birthday was a vest, thigh holster and some black knee-high boots*. And if I had received them, I too would've bounced around all day in Han Solo mode, tinkering with the dishwasher, quick-drawing on the mailman and telling my mom "over my dead body" when she told me it was time to go to brush my teeth and go to bed.

So I...understand. All too well...




* Truth is, I still kinda want those things...shhhhh.

[zippy]

Originally Posted by pscates2.0 It was the Passat.

So there you have it. Even after all the discussion and play time over the web, I still didn't know what the product actually was - because there was nothing in the ad that compelled me to be interested in it.

Cute/funny/memorable commercial. Forgettable product.


Aside - did you all see the 'unmasked' actor who played Vader? - He looks like a young Luke Skywalker/Mark Hamill.

[psmith2.0]

Ohmigosh, he does. Too bad he wasn't around in 1999...he would've done a better job than Jake Lloyd. Maybe Lucas can CGI him into a future release (I don't know if anyone knows this, but he's kinda known to do that sort of thing, you know...tweak his movies and add crazy stuff to them, years after the fact ). If there's anyone who would facially replace an actor for an entire movie, it would be George Lucas. I don't think there's any debate or doubt on that.

Here's the Today show interview.

Holy crap, how hot is Meredith Vieira here?! Those legs

[curiousuburb]

Bridgestone's "Reply All" was funny.

[bassplayinMacFiend]

Originally Posted by pscates2.0 Ohmigosh, he does. Too bad he wasn't around in 1999...he would've done a better job than Jake Lloyd. Maybe Lucas can CGI him into a future release (I don't know if anyone knows this, but he's kinda known to do that sort of thing, you know...tweak his movies and add crazy stuff to them, years after the fact ). If there's anyone who would facially replace an actor for an entire movie, it would be George Lucas. I don't think there's any debate or doubt on that. Here's the Today show interview. Holy crap, how hot is Meredith Vieira here?! Those legs

Since you mentioned CGI:

[psmith2.0]

Originally Posted by Curiousuburb Bridgestone's "Reply All" was funny.

I somehow missed that one Sunday. Must've been peeing?

[Foj]

One that I like.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vksdBSVAM6g

[psmith2.0]

Wow. Someone should make that into a movie or short film. It almost plays like one.

[Windswept]

I think it's a Geico commercial where a guy has his computer supposedly powered by two guinea pigs in a rowboat rowing in a container of water, while a third holds a megaphone and calls out "Row. Row. Row."

It's pretty silly, but it's one I remembered. I don't 'love' it, but I *can* remember it, which is something in itself, I guess.

[FFL]

My favorite commercial these days.....

When that T-Mobile girl is singing with a bunch of elves about "Walkin' In A 4G Wonderland", I keep hearing "orgy" instead of "4G".

[Windswept]

I can't find a pic of the actual scene, but it's where a female climber makes it to the top of a thin column of rock, and she pulls herself to a fully upright standing position and looks out over the valley.

Omg. I can barely think of this. Instead of standing, I would slither on my belly across the top of the rock, maintaining total contact with a full-body grip, and meld into the rock for eternity, because I would never be able to move again.

I get dizzy when I watch this ad. It's for a Citibank credit card, I think. Until I was 23, I had no fear of heights, but one day I went climbing with a very tall male friend, and I got stuck on the side of a cliff because I couldn't reach the hand and footholds my tall friend was using. It's a miracle I made it back down alive. We were free-climbing, and had no ropes.

This same thing happened a second time on another cliff, with a different, even taller male friend, and that was pretty much it. I have had a fear of heights ever since. A wave of dread flows over me, which I guess is adrenaline flowing into my system, and I feel like I could float away. Well, anyway, I wonder if other people react the same way to this Citibank ad.