Unless you are a Seattle Seahawks fan who thoroughly enjoyed watching your team stomp all over the Denver Broncos, the highlight of the Super Bowl really was the commercials. With the average 30-second spot costing a whopping $4 million, advertisers certainly put a lot of stock in the effectiveness of their commercials. On radio this morning, Glenn, Pat, and Jeffy broke down the best and worst.
Glenn’s favorite commercial was Maserati’s ad that was attention-grabbing despite the fact a large majority of the viewing audience could probably never afford to actually purchase the car. Glenn enjoyed the ad, however, because of the message it conveyed.
“I loved the Maserati ad because it is us. I so effected by this,” Glenn said. “They're basically saying there are bullies out there. And in their particular case, the automakers, they're bullies, and we've prepared. We've watched them. We've waited. And now we ride… I love the message.”
Bob Dylan’s appearance in the new Chyster commercial also had people talking. In keeping with the company’s ‘Imported from Detroit’ tagline, Dylan narrated an ad that showed some of the best of what America has to offer. Unfortunately, Chrysler is actually owned by an Italian company.
“Chrysler is Fiat, and this is the real problem,” Glenn said. “If you watch it just as an ad and you're not thinking, oh really, how about the frickin bail out? No, try to not scream at the television every time you see an ad for a GM or a Chrysler. But this one, try not to scream about the bailout, try not to scream, ‘You're not an American company!’ I know you're not an American company [but] pretend that those two things weren't true.”
One of the most controversial ads of the night was Coca Cola’s decision to have ‘America the Beautiful’ sung in several different languages. Given the current immigration debate in this country, the commercial clearly had political undertones. And Glenn saw the ad as one of the few divisive elements of an otherwise inclusive night.
“So somebody tweeted last night and said, ‘Glenn, what did you think of the Coke ad?’ And I said, ‘Why did you need that to divide us politically?’ Because that's all this ad is,” Glenn said. “It's in your face, and if you don't like it, if you're offended by it, you're a racist. If you do like it, you're for immigration. You're for progress. That's all this is: To divide people. Remember when Coke used to do the thing on the top and they would all hold hands? Now it's, have a Coke and we'll divide you.”
The last couple of years, Budweiser has enjoyed tremendous success capitalizing on people’s love of animals, and this year was no different. While this year’s ad featuring an unlikely friendship between a horse and puppy took the Internet by storm last week, Pat wasn’t all that impressed.
“I warned you, Pat is going to make you sick,” Glenn joked. “Go ahead. Launch in on your thought about the dog and the horse.”
“First of all, I'm done with the cute puppy Super Bowl ad… I'm done with the animal spots. It's so easy. Can we stop with that,” Pat asked. “It's like, ‘What's the easiest, most talked about thing we can do for our $4 million ad? How about a dog and a horse and their friends?’ Just tired of it.”
The other Budweiser commercial to run during the big game featured Lt. Chuck Nadd returning home. After meeting his girlfriend at the airport, Lt. Nadd is welcomed home with a parade through the streets of his small town. While the message of the ad –salute our nation’s heroes – is noble, something about the commercial rubbed Glenn the wrong day.
“This is not going to make people happy, but the Budweiser ad welcomed the military home and stuff. I thought it was a great ad, and we do have to salute our military. But it bothers me. I don't know what it is exactly,” Glenn said. “I think it’s [that] we're still there. You know, when we first started saying that, we meant, ‘Let's give them a parade when they come home and it's over.’ When is this damn thing going to be over? It's asinine that we are still out there. How about we bring them home so we can have a parade? I mean that's what I'd like to see Budweiser say.”
