super bowl xlv commercials: the good, the bad and the ugly

As I told you all in Sunday's blog post, I was looking forward to seeing the commercials during the Super Bowl Sunday night with great anticipation. I can honestly say that I was not disappointed. Sure, there were some duds, but there were also some real winners. What this year epic? I'm not sure about that, but it was certainly a good year and much better than last year. Anyway, here's my take on the commercials, any of which can be viewed here:

The Good

Volkswagen: I thought Volkswagen was the big winner for the night. Their "Young Vader" commercial featuring a kid dressed as Darth Vader and trying to use the force. His dad remotely starts the car leaving the kid to think that he finally figured it out. I personally thought the commercial was genius and the big winner from the night. Volkswagen also had a winner with "Black Beetle" with a beetle zooming around passing by all the other bugs before the shape turned into the outline of the new beetle. I really enjoyed these commercials.

Bridgestone: I thought last year's commercial with the whale in the back of the SUV being flung back into the ocean was extremely overrated, but this year they were a hit with 2 quality ads. Their "Karma" add with the man swerving to avoid the beaver and then, 6 months later, the beaver forcing the guy to stop as the bridge collapsed up ahead was great. And their "Reply All" commercial with the guy destroying every device that his email could have gone to before being told he had only replied to his friend after all was hilarious.

Pepsi Max: They had a dud with "First Date" as that humor just doesn't work for me. But their "Revenge" and "Love Hurts" commercials were pretty funny.

Doritos: They had 3 decently humorous commercials. "Best for Last" was gross yet funny with the guy licking the left over cheese off his co-workers finger. "Pug" was funny as you were waiting to see what happened. "Healing Chips" was decently funny. I don't think any of them beat the kid smacking his mom's date when he touched the Doritos from a past year, but they were still ok.

Chevy Silverado: The other Chevy commercials didn't do it for me, but the "Rescue" commercial with the truck acting like Lassie was pretty good.

Careerbuilder.com: They're usually good for a decent commercial each year. The monkeys are getting a little old, but "Chimps" was still different enough and clever enough to evoke some laughter.

Cars.com: "Go First" was pretty funny. I think this commercial was better than Carmax.com's attempts.

Daimler Chrysler: I thought the "Eminem Detroit" ad was pretty clever and well done. They hit the right market, no doubt. It was better than Eminem's claymation Brisk Ice Tea commercial.

Budweiser: They're Wild West commercial had an unexpected twist making it pretty good.

The Bad

The other car commercials: Chevy (besides the Silverado; the Camaro "Commercial Pitch" wasn't awful, but wasn't good either), Mini, Hyundai, BMW, Mercedes and all other car commercials were not very good in my opinion.

All movie trailers: I hate when a movie trailer starts. What a waste of a good ad spot.

Best Buy: "Ozzy vs Bieber" was obnoxious.

E*Trade: I'm growing tired of the E*Trade baby.


Technological Products: I hate commercials for all things technology. They're never good.

CocaCola: I was completed unimpressed with all their ads.

Beer ads: The beer commercials have become predictable and stupid. Aside from Budweiser's Wild West commercial, I thought they were all pretty dumb.

The Ugly

Inappropriate Commercials: I'm sick of the "Sex Sells" stigma often placed on commercials. I changed my channel any time GoDaddy.com ads came on. I also flipped the station when that Skechers commercial featuring Kim Kardashian aired (which I heard was awful anyway). I also didn't appreciate the Sealy/Sleepy's commercial. I didn't flip away from that one either time, but wished I'd grab the remote sooner the second time around. Their were kids around. Unnecessary. It was stupid anyway.

Groupon.com: Their ad came across to me as slightly offensive as they downplayed their initial statement about Tibetan struggles. Poor taste.

Stella Artois: "The Crying Crooner" was so bad. It couldn't have ended quickly enough.

Castrol: "Strongest Drive" was comical because it aired at a time the Steelers were getting whooped yet highlighted how awesome they were.

You may have watched the commercials and have a differing opinion of your own and I'm sure you'll see differing opinions if you look around online. I am sure I've forgotten a really good one or really bad one, but these are the ones that stood out to me.

Maybe next year will be the EPIC year I've been waiting for...