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Superbowl Commercial Recap: 2nd Half

Below is a recap of the commercials that aired in the second half of the Superbowl. I have scored the commercials on a 1-5 system (five being the best and one being the worst) with an occasional zero for total failure.

Commercial: E*Trade
Aired: 5:40 PM (Pacific Standard Time)
Summary: People are in a bank when suddenly the bank employees begin robbing their customers.

Score: 4 – Uses very effective imagery to get the point across that banking with E*Trade is superior than banking at your typical bank.

Commercial: Coke

Aired: 5:40 PM
Summary: guy puts coin in soda machine. We see the coin enter the machine as we enter a fantasy world where we see the process of how a Coke is created bottled and delivered.

Score: Score 4 – Very creative and good use of computer graphics. Overall, just a fun commercial.

Commercial: Bud Lite

Aired: 5:42 PM
Summary: Two gorillas in a zoo talk to each other, plotting on how to hijack the Bud Lite from the delivery guy. As one gorilla tells the plan to the other, the second gorilla is distracted by a women with a camera. On “go,” the second gorilla is smiling for the camera shot instead of hijacking the bud light.

Score: 4 – Fun, original and creative.

Commercial: Revlon Colorist
Aired: 5:43 PM
Summary: Voice over talks about how Revlon has hair color Cheryl Crow would love. The commercial goes through the process of a Cheryl Crow tour discussing her hair and the coloring.

Score: 3 – An upbeat commercial in semi-documentary style. Decent enough but nothing spectacular.

Commercial: Careerbuilder.com
Aired: 5:48 PM
Summary: People in business decked out in armor made of office supplies. They engage in style fighting.

Score: 3 – Clever commercial but I still didn’t get it. It gets a three for use of office supplies (perhaps this would have been better as a Staples commercial).

Commercial: Taco Bell
Aired: 5:48 PM
Summary: Two lions talk to each other about how to pronounce Taco Bell’s new burrito

Score: 3 – Gets the new burrito in front of the audience and the talking lions were cute and all, but ultimately the commercial fell a bit flat. Could have been worse but not great.

Commercial: Van Huesen
Aired: 5:49 PM
Summary: One guy is seen going through different situations of life as his clothes change for the situation.

Score: 2 – A somewhat dry commercial with no real umph behind it.

Commercial: Toyota Tundra
Aired: 5:55 PM
Summary: Toyota truck is seen hauling a heavily loaded trailer up a steep incline and then down a steep incline and able to stop quickly.

Score: 3 – These Toyota commercials are beautifully shot but really lack any kind of substance. The situations the truck is in is silly, but the point does get across.

Commercial: Emerald Mixed Nuts
Aired: 5:56 PM
Summary: Robert Goulet (sp?) is seen terrorizing an office until he spots someone eating Emerald mixed nuts.

Score: 0 – Huh?

Commercial: T-Mobile
Aired: 5:56 PM
Summary: Charales Barkely and Dwane Wady are talking at a restaurant. A waitress comes up and interrupts them.

Score: 0 – Again, Huh? I must have missed something but not interested enough to hit the TiVo back button. Utter failure.

Commercial: Fed Ex

Aired: 5:58 PM
Summary: An office team is seen discussing the name of Fed Ex ground and its reliability. Each member of the team has a particular quirk and name to match. The synopsis is that despite the name Fed Ex Ground is fast.

Score: 2 – Interesting but ultimately a failure in humor and substance.

Commercial: Nataionwide
Aired: 5:58 PM
Summary: Kevin Federline does a rap video. Then flash to Kevin serving up French fries in a fast food joint as he watches the rap on TV.

Score: 1 – I think Nationwide was playing off Federline’s recent divorce from Brittney, having delusions of grandeur and how good insurance could have kept him from having to work at a fast food joint.

Commercial: Bud Lite
Aired: 5:59 PM
Summary: A couple is driving late at night when they spot a hitchhiker with a six pack of Bud Lite. He suggests they pick him up because he has bud to which the wife responds that he’s also carrying an ax. They stop ask him about the ax and he says it’s a bottle opener. Next scene the axe guy is in the back of the car when the coupe spot another hitchhiker carrying a six pack of bud and a chainsaw. When suggesting they should pick him up the ax guy notes that he’s carrying a chainsaw.

Score: 3 – Clever. Good timing with the movie The Hitcher having recently opened in theaters. The humor was simply OK.

Commercial: Jack in the Box
Aired: 6:11 PM
Summary: Jack Jr. is giving a school report with proud mama and papa close buy. He talks about the new Chibatta but then says he doesn’t want to make Chibattas but wants to be a vegetarian. This causes embarrassment to the Jack family as they slink down in their seats. Jack Jr. continues talking about how they brought their dog to the “vegetarian” and he got all better. Mama and Papa are proud once again!

Score: 4 – I typically like Jack in the Box commercials. This isn’t one of their best but it’s a good one with a good play on words. Good use of humor.

Commercial: Budweiser
Aired: 6:14 PM
Summary: Crabs get together and hi jack a cooler of Budweiser. Then as the sun sets over the top they begin to worship the cooler.

Score: 3 – Original and clever, but nothing spectacular here.

Commercial: Prudential
Aired: 6:15 PM
Summary: Voice over talks about rocks as pictures are seen of people enjoying rocks in various settings. Then it talks about “rock solid retirement” with Prudential.

Score: 2 – Several of the pictures of rocks were diamond rings so I thought this was going to be a jewelry store commercial. Good imagery and a good commercial but certainly not a Superbowl commercial.

Commercial: Honda CR-V
Aired: 6:16 PM
Summary: Disco music plays as we see a car dancing to it. Camera goes inside and focuses on the GPS system very briefly then pans back out.

Score: 1 – Nonsensical and meaningless. Nothing there to make we want to even think about purchasing a CR-V.

Commercial: HP
Aired: 6:25 PM
Summary: A computer generated motorcycle guy rides through strange cities with changing backgrounds and riders with him. I thought it might have been a motorcycle commercial but alas it was an HP commercial where “computing is personal.”

Score: 2 – Strange commercial that takes too long to make their point being about their computers.

Commercial: Izod
Aired: 6:26 PM
Summary: Various people are seen enjoying different leisure and sporting activities. You see the word Izod in various places around them.

Score: 1 – I didn’t know what Izod was before the commercial or after it either. If there was a message it failed. If it was jut branding, well, I didn’t care.

Commercial: Budweiser
Aired: 6:26 PM
Summary: A holographic fantasy football game is played between JZ and Don Shula.

Score: 1 – There was some humor that I seemed to miss but the commercial just didn’t do anything for me whatsoever. I had to ask who the “old guy” was in the commercial. Whatever happened to the awesome “Man Law” commercials?

Commercial: Flomax
Aired: 6:33 PM
Summary: Various people in various active situations as voice over talks about prostate cancer affecting a person’s life.

Score: 2 – What else can you expect from a Flomax commercial. Nothing spectacular here but it’s a solid commercial.

Commercial: E*Trade
Aired: 6:34 PM
Summary: Things you can do with one finger: various situations where a finger does the job. Then E*Trade shows you how one finger can manage your investment portfolio.

Score: 4 – Clever and gets the point across. The situations of the finger are funny and interesting as well. Well done.

Commercial: Careerbuilder.com
Aired: 6:39 PM
Summary: Business people in the jungle with their reports and other situations.

Score: 3 – I’m starting to get these commercials a bit. They all tie in to a common theme of surviving work, hence the jungle, survivor-like atmosphere. They still are not all that funny.

Commercial: Honda
Aired: 6:50 PM
Summary: Cars in a desert pass by and between gas pumps (like cones) Voice over talks about handling and reliability and gas mileage

Score: 2 – Point is made but just a boring commercial.

Commercial: Go Daddy
Aired: 6:51
Summary: Repeat of earlier commercial.

Commercial: Snapple Green Tea
Aired: 6:51
Summary: A man hiking up a long hill of steps to a Buddhist temple. He talks about the new Snapple green tea and wanting to get to the top to find out what one of the abbreviations mean (too lazy to TiVo back). He gets to the top and the Buddhists tells him it’s on the back of the bottle.

Score: 4– Clever and semi-funny. Gets its point across about the new Green Tea. I want to try it!

Best commercial of the second half: E*Trade Finger

Best commercial of the game: FedEx Space Office

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