Top 5 Commercials of Super Bowl XLVI

With the game coming down to a final Hail Mary play, Super Bowl XLVI lived up to the hype.  Eli Manning made some great throws and his receivers made some great catches.  Tom Brady went on to set the record for consecutive completions (16) after an intentional grounding call on his first offensive play.  Rob Gronkowski’s ankle turned out to be as big as a factor as the media led us to believe.  After dominating the regular season and playoffs, the Gronk had only two receptions for 26 yards. 

As with most Super Bowls, just as hyped as the play on the field are the commercials throughout the game.  This year, a commercial during the Super Bowl cost $3.5 Million for 30 seconds.  So were any of the commercials worth it?  In a total dollars spent versus money made equation, I guess the answer is “probably.”  But more importantly, were any of the commercials any good? 

One of the more talked about commercials featured L.A. Galaxy’s David Beckham, who essentially appeared in his underwear for thirty seconds.  I made sure to take a trip to the fridge during that one, but the ladies seemed to love it–although, when asked, none of them could recall what the commercial was for. 

Another notable sports figure in commercials during half time was Danica Patrick in the GoDaddy.com commercial that featured her and Jillian Michaels painting up a seemingly naked chick.  To me, those GoDaddy commercials are simply played out.  Does anyone really think that if you visit GoDaddy’s website, that you’re going to see Danica–or anyone else–naked?  That may have worked on the initial GoDaddy Super Bowl commercial seven years ago, but now it’s just old news. 

Although there were definitely some busts, there were a few good ones.  Here is a list of my Top 5 commercials from the Super Bowl:  

5. Fiat Commercial

This was a pretty good one.  I had no idea what the commercial was going to be about but, as a guy, it kept my attention.  Also, the humor at the end definitely helped as the ladies let out a collective burst of nervous laughter.  Fiat did a good job in that respect in playing to it’s major market (females) while also giving the guys something to stay interested. Nice tag line, as well: “You’ll never forget the first time you see one.”

4. Bud Light – Rescue Dog named WeGo

Everyone in the room was thinking the same thing, “I’ve got to teach my dog to do that.”

3. Toyota Camry’s “Reinvented” Commercial

Pretty hilarious.

2. Volkswagon’s “Dog Strike’s Back” Commercial

Animals were a trend in this year’s Super Bowl commercials. This one not only played to people’s emotions for their love of animals, but also people’s love of the literal “underdog” who was too fat to make it out the doggy door. Of course the pup worked hard and achieved his goal at the end.  A success as almost everyone at the party I attended cheered at the end of this commercial. The Darth Vader part was a little weird, but you can’t expect perfection from a commercial. 

1. Acura’s Seinfeld Commercial

This commercial was great and also showed how the target market was obviously 30 and up.  Although some of the younger people probably had no idea who Seinfeld is, most people got it and loved it.  The lead character from the most popular sitcom ever is still a hit wherever he goes, and the commercial even featured the notorious “Soup Nazi.”