Super Bowl ads and why we love them (or used to)

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Like many casual football fans, I tune into the Super Bowl mostly for the commercials (though I would have had a team to really root for if the Colts hadn't beaten the Patriots two weeks ago). Thanks to the miracle of YouTube, you can see the current crop as well as a few standouts from previous years. My favorite for 2007 is the sad automotive robot. It was one of the few ads that didn't remix the usual ingredients of animals, celebrities, female sex bombs and/or kids. This Coke commercial was pretty creative too.

There were several commercials this year that pumped up the idiotic-violence quotient, and of course what's football without some powerful manly machismo, especially if you can throw in some homophobia? I read somewhere that Snickers has already pulled this ad because of the protests. But hey, it could have been worse. The ad features a graphic at the end promoting the web site afterthekiss.com, where you initially could view and vote on several alternative endings to the commercial (the page now redirects you to Snickers.com). Believe it or not, the one that ran was the most tasteful version. The others (my titles, not Snickers') were "Guzzling," "Wrench" and "Love Boat."

And now let's clear our palate with some oldies but goodies:
  • Apple Macintosh – the all-time best Super Bowl ad, and one of the best ever in my book, given my love for the Mac. I remember seeing it when it ran in 1984 and being completely baffled.
  • "When I grow up..."
  • Herding cats
  • "Whassup?" – the original, purely for reference. Better versions:
      • Jews – not a real commemcial, but someone's clever spoof.

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