Yay Packers! Doritos for the WIN

This year I opted to root for the Packers to win the Superbowl and was pleased to see that they won. Well, I actually didn't even notice that they had won until we glanced up and saw that confetti had started to fall - oops. Even though we threw a Superbowl Party, my friends and I were more interested in the commercials and the Puppy Bowl, so we socialized during the game play. **It is important to note, we had ZERO interest in the half-time show. We are all in the target demographic and found it painful/awful**

Sadly, we were convinced that the game started around 7:30. When we switched over for some pre-game coverage, we had already missed the first few minutes of plan and probably at least one set of commercials. Grrr. As the game progressed, the general consensus was that the ads were not overly memorable, and the overall quality has been going downhill the last few years.

Even with a number of flops, Brisk/Eminem combo - wtf??, there were a few good ones. My absolute favorite was the Volkswagen Darth Vader ad. I had seen a preview online, and was a little sad they had to cut it down a little. But still super cute/charming. The entire room erupted when it finished. Volkswagen, give your design/marketing people a raise or at the very least take them out for a round of drinks!



The other ad campaign worth mentioning was done by Doritos. Over the years, I have enjoyed their commercials. We did not see the finger lick coming and reacted loudly as a group. Again, drinks all around.



I love commercials, but with my current lifestyle, rarely have the patience or time for them. I am the kind of person ad people hope to reach and, for me, the cornier the jokes, the better! Thank you Superbowl, for making commercial watching a national past-time.

30 seconds of fun

I have been told that I am a prime target for most commercials. I will laugh at almost any corny joke and love pop culture references. Recently I found myself ignoring the large number of recorded movies and shows in my DVR and begun surfing live tv. I stumbled upon a few great commercials which reminded me how much I love this medium and am so happy the CLIO Awards exist. Here are a few that I found to be particularly amusing:




As much as I was over the Jersey Shore once they hit Miami and lost some of their tacky charm. I do enjoy Snooki's pistachio ad. Great use of the tanning bed, now that she has to revert to spray tans to keep that natural orange glow. I don't understand how one of the pickle companies didn't think to snatch her up for an ad campaign with them.

What is even better than a Snooki commercial? One featuring Kevin Bacon! I have probably watched this commercial 10 or so times, and will admit that the first time I saw it, it didn't register that it was actually Kevin. Yup, sometimes I am a little slow.



Finally, the last commercial worth noting comes from Healthy Choice lunches. Really the best part is the beginning when the guy just makes the woman wait because he can. Part of my job requires me to work at a counter and there are days that I get annoyed at my clientele and will make people wait just because I find them irritating. Oh the joys of customer service...

New Robot in the Nursery School

Do you remember Alfie the Playskool robot? I do. He was awesome and soooo hi-tech back in the 80s. There was no reason for me to reminisce about this lovable robot if it weren't for a commercial that I almost fast forwarded through. Turns out that Hasbro has decided to revamp him. I'm not sure how I feel about this new look. In the end, I think I still prefer the old look. But if I had never seen the original, this new round guy is pretty adorable.

Old Spice has nothing on Grover

Sesame Street is really pulling out the big guns lately. The skits have been referencing all sorts of great pop culture videos/movies/shows. It looks like this might be a new parody, and I think the parents will approve of this one a bit more than the Katy Perry sing-a-long with Elmo.



I read in online that there might be an adult Sesame Street in the works. Fingers crossed! I do love me some muppets.

Tater Tot Spokesmen

The people behind Despicable Me are awesome. The movie was hysterical and their partnership with IHOP is brilliant. The minions, who are Gru's helpers and assist him in carrying out his evil plans, are now being used to advertise IHOPs new tater tot platters. These guys are shaped awfully like this tasty potato treats, so basically, a match made in heaven.



After seeing the movie, I went to the movie's website (something I never do) and played the Minion Dominion activity. You can tell the little guys to jump, dance, fight, wave, etc. It is pretty fantastic and if you have some downtime I suggest playing around with this duo.

Awwww Puppies!

I was watching the tv and there were a slew of commercials starring puppies. Of course I couldn't bring myself to fast forward any of them. The first was for Pedigree dog food. The company is donating a portion of the sales for each purchase of Pedigree food. I was so moved by the commercial I was tempted to purchase some even though I do not own a dog. Please know that I quickly realized it would make more sense to just donate directly to local shelters.

The next commercial was a Cesar dog food commercial that just makes me smile. Nothing like a Great Dane trying to fit in a bike basket. :)

Best Female Commercial Ever

Studying for the GMATs is exhausting. I have given up happy hours and going out with friends after work. Basically I want to avoid headaches the morning after and would like to increase my chances of a decent night's sleep. But to be perfectly honest, I have no attention span when it comes to studying and require either small breaks every half hour, or longer breaks every hour. The longest time I have gone sitting and studying for this test is when I take a practice test for 3 hours straight.

What do I do during these study breaks? I watch trashy tv. I tend to fast-foward through commercials, but this one makes me laugh every time I see it. I don't know if I really think the commercial is funny, or if I think it is funny because when I first saw it, I happened to be menstruating. (tmi, sorry)




I am happy to see a commercial about women's menstruation that doesn't glorify this monthly nuisance. Maybe some day our culture will become comfortable enough with the woman's body to allow for "vagina" to be said in the ad!

Happy Commercial

I have a great friend who has the same taste in commercials as I do. We have no problem laughing at the same commercial over and over again. Similarly we will say "awwwwwwwww" whenever something cute shows up. Below is my favorite commercial that is currently being aired on tv. It is by American Express. Just try to watch it and not smile. I can't.

Biggest Understatement

"Some products require assembly"

That was the disclaimer at the bottom of the commercial I just watched. What company was it for?

IKEA

Like I said biggest understatement.

The Jelly Beans should have won

I am wasting time in my house waiting for my exciting evening to get going and saw a commercial for Soy Joy. (I couldn't find it on youtube, but you can view it on their website) It shows a battle between an army jelly beans (yum) versus an army of gross pea-green jelly bean shaped things. They use pencils, binder clips, highlighters and other desk objects to fight with one another. I mean I know it was just a short commercial but I was totally rooting for the jelly bean side. The idea of being forced to eat those green things ICK. Of course the green blobs win out and I just groan thinking "man, I don't want to eat them - i bet they taste like grass". Then the commercial pans to some woman who is hungry, camera goes back to the table and the beans are GONE. It was for a freaking energy bar! After all the emotion I put into watching the commercial and it wasn't even for grass flavored jelly beans only to find out the beans were doing dirty work for some lazy bar. I mean I would have been slightly tempted to try those green things to see if they could replace a craving for jelly beans - honestly, I figured I would spit them out, but I was willing to try them. There is no way I am going to try that healthy bar thing. I mean it couldn't even fight its own junk food battle. psshh.