Overinflated ads and deflated balls — there was more excitement leading up to this year’s big game then the big game itself.
The NFL and NBC should have condensed Superbowl XLXL (49 for the Roman-numeral challenged) between the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots to the last five minutes and saved a boat-load of money. Up to the last quarter it was rather deflated, as was my favorite part, the commercials.
Up to those last few moments — when Tom Brady proved his weight in millions and made that incredible pass to Julian Edelman giving the Pats a 4-point lead — I only held my breath at the coin toss and sat at the edge of my seat at half-time as I waited for Katy Perry to fall off the golden puppet tiger (thankfully, she didn’t).
The ad men really fumbled the ball too, with a lackluster bunch of expensive over-inflated spots, at 4.5 million scarolla for 30 seconds.
Gone was the Geico cavemen, the Fed Ex dinosaurs, and Sobee lizard. Just cars, cars, and more cars — the state of the automotive industry in the U.S. is really overly-inflated.
Rounding out the selections were tear-jerky public-service ads, which covered girls (Always pads, really?) and acts of kindness (McDonalds wants you to call mom and thank her as payment for your two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese on a sesame seed bun). The balance of game spots featured previews of up-coming television shows, of which “The Voice” stood out as the best, and blockbuster summer flicks, “Jurassic Park” and “Terminator” (Aaanold is back)
So let’s cut to the chase and give a Most Valuable Player to the best ads of the night:
• First draft pick: which had a caveman, but not a Geico caveman hawking the Avocado. A game without guac is a game without chips.
• Skittles: I just love anything featuring kids with muscles.
• Mountain Dew Kickstart: The song was so catchy I got up and twerked.
•Doritos When Pigs Fly: Inventive, but not the kid-in-the-sling inventive.
• Kim Kardashian begging for more data from T-Mobile.
And the most chuckled out loud spot went to:
• Fiat: Where the old man drops his last little blue pill out the window and it pings off buildings and caroms into the gas tank of the little red car, making the metal puff out, and the car takes off like a spiraled pass down the end-zone fading out to the old man fast asleep with his young lover. Talk about deflated.
Not for Nuthin™, but what was with the brawl at the end of the game, was I watching hockey or football? And why does the quarterback get the MVP? I think that Malcolm Buttler deserved the truck much more than Tom Brady. If it wasn’t for his incredible interception, the game would have gone to the Seahawks and the Vince Lombardi trophy would have stayed in the west.
Follow me on Twitter @JDelBuono.
