superbowlads

With a three million dollar price per thirty seconds along with an extremely down economy, many of the regular supporters are bowing out of their standard Super Bowl spots. But apparently Hollywood is stepping up to fill in the gaps.

Since its origins, television has always been supported by the movie industry. It makes sense since they're so interconnected (television is mostly an ad-based revenue stream and I've heard that the marketing budget of a lot of studio films is something like 40% of its total cost).

I'm sort of sorry to hear this. I'm not a sports fan but have always tried to catch the Super Bowl because of the clever commercials. It's not likely that Star Trek or X-Men Origins: Wolverine is going to do a Bowl-specific ad. On the other hand, if they did get Hugh Jackman to dress in costume and puncture a football with his claw, or Chris Pine to vaporize it with a phaser, it would be the talk of the water cooler the next day.

Super Bowl XLII is all done except for the cleanup and the hangovers. And, you are probably doing one of two things right now. Either you are joyously celebrating the win of the Wild Card New York Giants over the undefeated (until Sunday) New England Patriots, or your are cursing out that f@#&ing Tom Brady and coach Bill Belichick for screwing up a perfect season and, most likely, starting a new sports curse in New England.

Oh well, at least you have the commercials to take your mind off of it all if you were a Patriots fan. This year's crop was pretty diverse with a mix of serious and humorous ads. Plus, a little star power thrown in just for taste. Thanks to Jason Hughes, Jen Creer, JJ Hawkins, and yours truly, TV Squad has postings about every new commercial that aired, from the E-Trade baby to the guy who attached jumper cables to his nipples.

If you're scratching your head on what the hell I mean then jump over to the next page, where you'll see a list of links to all of our commercial reviews.

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Every year Budweiser puts together an uplifting commercial about some animal who strives to achieve his dreams and with hard work and perseverance, achieves it. This year's installation involved a Clydesdale who didn't make the cut to pull the Budweiser wagon. "Maybe next year, Hank." This leads to a very fun montage of training clips set to the Rocky theme as a dalmation takes it upon himself to get the Clydesdale into tip-top shape. Shots of the horse starting off pulling a little wagon mixed with jogging in place in the rain, running around trees in a snow-covered obstacle, lifting bales of hay until finally he has grit to pull an entire train! Not funny like the Bud Light commercials, but these Bud spots are always feel-good fan favorites. And this one was just as good as any of them.

Oh, and of course Hank makes the hitch team the following year. The high five at the end between the dog and the horse was just perfect. I don't know what it is, but Anheuser-Busch simply has one of the best advertising and marketing teams as they virtually never miss when it comes to their Super Bowl ads. Another banner year for them it looks like.

It's not baby-talking Adam Sandler, it's not sensitive yet funny Adam Sandler, it isn't even serious and angry Adam Sandler. It's Adam Sandler as Borat. Well, from the preview that was shown it seems like he's channeling Borat.

I guess Adam is taking a break from some of his more serious roles to go back to his wacky comedy roots. However, since this isn't Cinematical I'm not going to debate whether or not this is a good idea for Sandler. All I'm going to do is rate the preview. Eh, not that funny. Seen it all in plenty of other previews before. Maybe the movie will be better.

Did you know you could fit 20 big wheels on the top of the all new Toyota Sequoia? Me neither, but apparently it's a major selling point.

All kidding aside, I like how this commercial appeals to the immature masochistic side of me. I'm talking about the side that would like to get on a big wheel on a steep hill with little to no padding and roll with only a few bails of hay resting between me and imminent death.

That's seems to be the demographic Toyota is shooting for here, and I'll be damned if they didn't nail it.

It's nice to see that two political pundits can set aside their differences and show some bipartisanship on an issue that is critical to the well being of this country.

That said, I think I could have picked some opponents that would have made for a much better commercial. Don't get me wrong, I know politics is in the air and it was very timely to have Carville & Frist together in a commercial, I have two quick ideas that could have worked just as well.

Remember that E-trade baby ad you saw in the third quarter? Well, the fourth quarter version of the commercial was about the same, except there was someone making balloon animals in the background.

I'm not a big fan of the talking baby commercial, even if it is popular. As many parents will agree, we aren't in any hurry for our children to talk Because, once they do start speaking they don't stop. Then, they start talking back to us telling us that we need to get them this toy, or need to get them that item of clothing. Before you know it they're screaming at you because you won't spend one thousand freakin dollars for a Hannah Montana ticket because, you know, you like to pay the mortgage, and ...

Um, was that out loud? Anyway, cute baby and okay commercial.

For the last three weeks I've been wondering what was going to win the title of "Super Ad" for this year's Super Bowl.

Personally, I thought Matt Hasselbeck's commercial was a little bit more entertaining, but Chester Pitts commercial wins in the inspiration department hands down.

How often do you hear a tale of a normal person getting plucked from a dead-end, everyday type of occupation and becoming an elite athlete in what is arguably the most prestigious professional sports association in this hemisphere?

Here's what I didn't notice about this commercial until I saw it again on my DVR -- there's a little notice at the bottom of the screen that says 'Warning: Do Not Attempt". What are we talking about here? Are they telling us not to place jumper cables on our nipples (because, if that's the case, then they're too late) or are they telling us not to dance to Salt n' Pepa's Push It? I think we need some confirmation here.

Either way, this was one of the funnier commercials during this year's Super Bowl. I mean, how can you go wrong with a overweight guy who gets down to a popular 80's dance tune. It just proves that sometimes you need to go for the crass rather than for the smart to get your message across.

Okay, so earlier when I said Bud Light commercials are comedy gold, I should have stuck the word "usually" somewhere in that sentence.

While this commercial was funny, I don't think it's up to par with the typical commercials they put out there. There was just something off about the pacing and really just the overall concept that left me wanting a little more.

Do I really have to say anything about this ad? It features a Victoria's Secret model dressed in a lingerie, holding a football, and looking sensually into the camera. I guess if there words to say about this ad they would be: perfect, wonderful, best ad ever, amazing, and...Duh!

Hey, it's the Super Bowl -- holiday for the male chauvinist pig! You expect me to be sensitive and caring? If you want that then call Alan Alda or Hugh Grant. Me, I'm just going to stare at her a little bit more.

Stick a baby in a Super Bowl commercial and make it talk and you're guaranteed to have the nation talking about it the next morning.

Stick a baby in a Super Bowl commercial and make it talk and puke? You've probably still got a winning combination on your hand even though it's absolutely disgusting watching anything puke.

I have never owned a pet in my life here on planet Earth. So, watching a 30 second commercial of a dog lapping up the water in his bowl wasn't that intriguing to me. Maybe it was interesting for pet owners as they were able to compare the way this dog drank as opposed to their dogs.

Having said that, I think that this was a clever ad pointing out that we humans should be replenishing our bodies with fluids just like our pets do. Granted, we need to do this with Gatorade, as the ad states, not with good old fashioned water. That, of course, would be sacrilege. Frankly, I think the Derek Jeter ad was more entertaining than this one.

Guess what I'm not going to be doing Summer of 2008?

Buying a Hyundai Genesis, that's what.

It's not that I think Hyundai makes a bad car. On the contrary, I think that Hyundai makes atrocious cars. Everyone that I know that has ever owned one wishes they would have gotten a Honda or a bicycle. I'm not even kidding.

This was a decent commercial too. We hear opera music from Carmen, and a man in a suit with slicked back hair is using Doritos to set a mouse trap. He sets his trap, and then sits back in a comfy armchair. He is sitting in the chair, listening to the music and he starts stuffing his face with Doritos. Suddenly, the wall contorts as a huge figure starts bursting through the wall and comes at the man. A huge, human-sized mouse (obviously a guy in a mouse suit) tips the chair back to the floor and starts beating Opera Guy for his Doritos.

I admit it. I laughed out loud.