Those of us in New York City are still basking in the glow of our Super Bowl champions, the New York Giants — who defeated longtime rivals the New England Patriots – but most people around the U.S. (and world) are still basking in the commercials that air during the big game. Here are some of the standouts this year:
Honda may have gotten the most pre-game publicity for its take on “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” and the commercial lived up to the hype. Matthew Broderick re-enacted his famous 1980s movie role as the hooky-playing fun-lover in “Matthew’s Day Off” , this time using a CR-V to take make the most of his “sick” day. Children of the 80s (like this writer) appreciated the nod to Bueller.
NBC’s The Voice used everyone’s favorite 90-year-old actress Betty White in a commercial promoting the next season of the Peacock’s singing competition. After a montage of Kung Fu-style scenes with all of the show’s judges, White shows up in a hotel room wearing a robe and, saying, rather ironically, “It’s about time somebody wanted me for my voice and not my body.”
The Acura NSX won’t be out until 2015, but the company used well-known car collectors Jerry Seinfeld and Jay Leno to build up anticipation for the car. The ad, which featured Seinfeld trying to bribe another buyer into giving him the first NSX car being sold, ends with the comedian being bested by Leno himself, who offers the man a jetpack that will get him from New York to L.A. in 20 minutes flat.
In the car commercial arena, there was also a clever Fiat ad in which a nerdy guy fantasizes about a beautiful and provocative Italian-speaking woman coming on to him. Then, it turns out, the object of his fantasy was actually a Fiat. The beautiful woman then delivers the company’s slogan: “Fiat: You’ll never forget the first time you see one”
The Doritos commercial where an old woman and baby exact revenge on a chip-hogging kid in a treehouse by slinging the baby toward the kid and stealing his bag of chips, is also getting a lot of attention. We don’t quite get the appeal, but hey, I guess people just like babies.
And dogs — people definitely like dogs, too. Another ad that’s garnering a lot of attention is the Volkswagen spot about a dog determined to get in shape to chase a 2012 Beetle. The end took a surprise detour, with a salute to the popular Volkswagen Star Wars-themed commercial from last year’s Super Bowl.
A more sinister pooch was the star of Doritos “Man’s Best Friend” ad, where the dog bribes a missing cat’s owner into keeping his mouth shut about the whereabouts of said cat (buried underground) with a bag of Doritos.
