Enjoy this Monday with Mildred and A 241 Review!

Super Bowl Commercials  – Mildred

The biggest tv night of the year is the one they play the most boring football game of the year, no matter if you’re watching at home or at the stadium, where you’re forced to sit through multiple, extended commercial breaks without benefit of the actual commercials.

It wasn’t always this way. It used to be just the game, with the occasional memorable ad like the 1973 Noxzema ad with Joe Namath or the 1984 Macintosh ad with the flying hammer.(1, 2) But a funny thing happened in 2000 when they played a commercial that was so unexpected, so clever in concept, and so funny, that to this day you have to look up the company it was advertising because no one remembers.(3) It made the cliché herding cats famous and became the bar everyone strives to beat. There’s a competition now to be the funniest, to be the most memorable, and companies spend millions for thirty seconds on something they hope will become viral.

This was the year of the big TV and movie star, preferably more than one, and also the year of the mashup. It was also widely panned as not as good as usual and I have to agree. I don’t watch the for the game, I love the ads, and this year I was disappointed there were so few great ones. The one I found most irritating was Hyundai’s elevator ad, which takes people down for horrible experiences like root canals, the sex talk, and the one that really honked off PETA, the vegan dinner party. I wasn’t amused at how many things a lot of people actually like or admire was cynically dissed, especially jury duty. Apparently it’s naïve to believe in innocent until proven guilty, and even stupid to not be able to simply look at someone’s appearance to know if they’re guilty or not. I didn’t care for the tone.(4)

One of two best ads in my opinion was the 100 Years of Football commercial, which got together a score or more of all-time greats and let them battle over a gold football during a fancy reception. Tables were smashed, cakes were ruined, and a great time was had by all. I really enjoyed seeing some of the older fellows show they still have it, and even more I loved that they included a couple of women. One is Beth Mowins, who calls football for ESPN, Sarah Thomas, first woman to officiate an NFL game, and showing off her moves at the end is Samantha Gordon, who scored 35 touchdowns, rushed for 2000 yards and also played linebacker on her school’s football team. The commercial uses character driven humor and assumes a certain football knowledge from its viewers. I like when they pretend we’re smart. It’s also inclusive and gives us hope for the future with Ms. Gordon’s cameo.(5)

My personal favorite was a mashup. This is actually a spoiler, so maybe you should watch the commercial first. Okay, now that you’ve seen it I have to say I totally did not see that coming and almost fell off the couch laughing as soon as the mysterious knight knelt to crush the Bud Knight’s face. This is a perfect example of situational humor rather than character driven, pitting the quaint and familiar frothy medieval Bud Light commercials (Dilly, Dilly!) with the ever grim and gory Game of Thrones. Talk about shock and awe.  I think this may become the new bar for funny and clever in the Game of Super Bowl Ads.(6)

THE VIDS: From CFR. If we talk about them, we add them!

SECOND FAVORITE: Super Bowl 53 Commercial: NFL 100

Oh Squee!! They got the ladies in there as well!!! YAY!!!!!! Plus so much fun to see all those players having such a good time. And the SONG! YAY!

NUMBER ONE: Game of Thrones X Bud Light | Official Super Bowl LIII Ad | Extended Version | HBO

Dragons. 🙂

Super Bowl Commercials – CFR

Unlike Mildred I don’t watch the Super Bowl for the commercials. I don’t watch the Super Bowl at all. I wait for the next day and the joy the Web brings!!! As I browsed through YouTube I wasn’t that impressed with the commercials either. I totally agree with Mildred about the two she loved as you can see above.

For me Super Bowl 2019 commercials were all about the MOVIES!!! Here are my faves:

Avengers: Endgame Super Bowl TV Spot (2019) | Movieclips Trailers 

I predict I will be sadder at the end of this movie than Infinity Wars. Why? Cause it will probably mark an end to an MCU story cycle and THAT makes me sad. Unless I am wrong, in which case I will be ecstatic.

Captain Marvel Super Bowl TV Spot (2019) | Movieclips Trailers [Higher, Further, Faster! YES!! – CFR]

Why yes I DO already have my sneak preview tickets. 🙂

BIRDS OF PREY Teaser Trailer (2020) [Huh. I had heard a tiny bit about this. Glad it is happening. I really liked the TV series Birds of Prey and of course the comic mashups. I hope this is good. – CFR]

Finally though, I gotta say, that NFL commercial is my fave. There is something to joyous about it. Good job, NFL.

CFR: In Addition

And now for our footnotes:

(1) Hurl – CFR

(2) OMG I remember this commercial. And trying to find it in the days before the Web was tough. Love it still. It had a woman as the rule breaker and that was so big. Check out: The Real Story Behind Apple’s Famous ‘1984’ Super Bowl Ad.

(3) It was EDS, a company that now longer exists.

(4) I thank Mildred for pointing that out. I was unhappy about this ad. I’m glad Mildred called the commercial on their bigotry towards people in the courtroom session. Also, one of my favorite restaurants, The Owlery, is vegan and DELICIOUS!  I take non-vegans there and they love it.

(5) NFL commercial wins USA TODAY’s Ad Meter with tackle-filled celebration in ‘The 100-Year Game‘. Be proud NFL. Be PROUD!

(6) And sparked “savage” Tweets: Game of Thrones writers are such savages, now they’re killing people who aren’t even on the show. RIP, Bud Light Knight.

I love our world