Super Bowl – It's All About the Ads

First of all, I’m not a fan of the Black Eyed Peas. I don’t know anyone who is, but they apparently have a following. The one thing that was interesting about this often tacky and overblown spectacle of a half-time show at the Super Bowl was hearing will.i.am. address President Barack Obama in the song “Where Is the Love”. At one point, the lyrics were changed to “In America we need to get things straight / Obama, let’s get these kids educated / Create jobs so the country stays stimulated.” Okay. I have a message to will.i.am. Thank you for the campaign song “Yes We Can” back in 2008, it was helpful and even inspirational. But if an obvious and empty message to Obama about “creating more jobs” is all you can muster at the Super Bowl in the shape of a political rallying cry, then you might as well have shut up. It is not all up to Obama to create more jobs; this isn’t the Soviet Union. He’s doing his best to create good conditions for it, but that’s all he can do. I’m all in favor of celebrities helping political causes, but it would be nice if they put some effort into it as well.

Let’s take a look at some of the most high-profiled ads of this year’s Super Bowl:

The Force – A kid has fallen in love with the Star Wars movies but finds the facts of life hard to deal with – Darth Vader is unable to use his force… except on the new Volkswagen.

Miss Evelyn – Don’t think about this one too hard, just enjoy it for the ride. The voice-over consists of two admakers thinking about a new ad for the Chevy Camaro. It’s got action, charm and a twist… that makes little sense. But it’s fun.

Tommy – What is it about car commercials? So many of them during the Super Bowl. This one is for the Chevy Silverado, a funny version of “Lassie”. There’s even a frickin’ whale.

Imported from Detroit – Eminem and his “Lose Yourself” appear in this Chrysler ad that truly makes you root for the resurrection of Detroit as Motor City… and forget about that other Super Bowl ad for Brisk that also featured Eminem.

Wild West – A very charming (but very pointless) Budweiser ad featuring Peter Stormare as an angry customer whose mood is enlightened by beer.

Empower the People – A very good ad that turns our Apple obsession into a “1984” nightmare. Clever – although the Motorola tablet looks a lot like the iPad, so people might miss the point…

Logging – Snickers had to follow up on last year’s great Betty White ad, but this is a let-down even though it involves Roseanne and Richard Lewis. Simply put: Not very funny.

America, Meet the Daily – Rupert Murdoch is not really known for journalistic ambitions, but his new tablet paper The Daily is of course worth a look. This ad makes it look very appetizing and user-friendly. It would be unfortunate if that’s the only positive one could say about it.

Buy Back Program – Justin Bieber and Ozzy Osbourne in the same ad for Best Buy. Actually, they’re pretty good, making fun of their vast age difference. “What’s a Bieber…?”

Tibet – A weird ad featuring Timothy Hutton that tries to have it both ways – encouraging support of Tibet… and Groupon. Couldn’t care less about the second part. Predictably, the Chinese dictatorship is up in arms over the ad… as it if matters.