Super Bowl 49 was a pretty exciting one on the field. Unfortunately, the same enthusiasm we saw in the tight game between the Patriots and Seahawks didn’t translate to the commercials during the breaks. It was a weird, weird Super Bowl as far as ads go. Some seriously depressing topics (horrible parenting, dead children, etc) were covered while only a handful of ads delivered any laughs.
Here are our picks for the best and worst commercials from Super Bowl 49.
Best Ads
By: David Rogers
I’m a little jealous of Reva’s job as she had far more ads to choose from. It’s pretty difficult to pick out the good ads when so many centered around depressing ideas. Honestly, how many times did we see a dad sucking at being a dad? I digress.
Budweiser – Lost Dog
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAsjRRMMg_Q
Budweiser killed some of the surprise by delivering their ad a few days before the Super Bowl, but it was still one of the best. Cute puppies will always be a crowd favorite. When you stop and look at the Super Bowl ads as a whole, Budweiser’s ad looks that much better when it stands up against the more sinister spots such as that Nationwide bomb.
BMW – Katie Couric and Bryant Gumbel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBXCW-l8oYw
This ad debuted before the Super Bowl as well, but it’s still pretty funny. Couric and Gumbel embarrassed themselves back in 1994 and it’s been a clip the Internet has collectively mocked for ages. “What is the Internet, anyway?” Classic.
Here they revisit their old blunder with BMW.
Clash of Clans – Liam Neeson
After seeing Kate Upton yet again in a boring Game of War commercial, you could hear all of the groans when Clash of Clans came on the TV. To our surprise, the player was none other than Liam Neeson spoofing his Taken movies. Neeson’s delivery is absolutely perfect, especially as he picks up his scone and returns to plotting his revenge.
Avocados from Mexico – First Draft Ever
http://youtu.be/pkPZ-xW1DM4
This looked like it was going to be some sort of NFL commercial, but it turns out that the First Draft Ever was for … avocados? We didn’t see that coming, but this was one of the most lighthearted and amusing ads of the night. Poor polar bear. He wanted to be on the beach so badly.
Snickers – Brady Bunch
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqbomTIWCZ8
Danny Trejo in the Brady Bunch. If only this was a reality. We’d love to see Trejo get his revenge along with his trusty ax. Oh, and the Steve Buscemi cameo as Jan is pretty perfect.
Snickers proves that a strong marketing concept can result in years of entertaining ads. Other companies should take note.
Worst Ads
By: Reva Friedel
Narrow it down to just five ads? That’s a difficult task. We say each year that the latest crop of Super Bowl ads are the worst in recent memory, but that may actually be the case for Super Bowl 49. Our Worst list could stretch on and on.
Turbo Tax – Tea Party
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XTwbgmWRrA
Yeah, no. Look. I love Turbo Tax. I use it every year to file my taxes and I get they were trying to play off the Boston Tea Party gimmick but it was uninteresting and failed miserably. When you spend most of the commercial thinking WTF and don’t know who it is for until the last five seconds…well, that’s not a good sign.
McDonald’s – Pay With Lovin’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iq2Sm2XGv_s
I think doing good deeds is great and paying it forward is lovely and all that, but I don’t think the end goal of a free egg mcmuffin should be the impetus for me calling my mom to tell her I love her. Besides, I’m sorry, but Pay With Lovin’ has some connotations I don’t even want to get into.
Nationwide – Make Safe Happen
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKUy-tfrIHY
I am really not sure how this morbid commercial about kids dying accidental deaths is the way to sell insurance. “I’ll never grow up because I drowned in a bathtub.” How is Nationwide going to prevent that, exactly? Horribly sad and didn’t even make sense. Woof.
This was by far the worst commercial of the night. If you followed our #AASuperBowl hashtag on Twitter, you saw just how bad things got. We even received reports real children were crying after watching this ad.
Jubila – Tackle Toe Fungus
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5m7ubYLN1jQ
I don’t think I need to explain why an ad for fighting toenail fungus made the cut for one of the worst ads during the Super Bowl.
Skittles – Settle It
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDwRN2GBUj8
Skittles are disgusting and what is even the point of this ad? Turrrrible.