Last night’s Superbowl commercials were somewhat underwhelming, with the exception of a couple of gems like a Heinz ketchup commercial featuring dachshunds running in hot dog costumes and an unborn baby trying to get some Doritos. The best ads were the ones that stuck with a concept and went with it while the worst were those that tried to cram everything in to see what would stick. I’m thinking of the bizarre and disturbing “puppy monkey baby” ad from Mountain Dew Kickstart. There were some funny commercials, especially Kevin Hart as an overprotective dad for Hyundai and a Prius ad with bank robbers from The Wire. Here are the commercials which stood out, for good or bad reasons.
Hyundai: First Date featuring Kevin Hart
Kevin Hart offers his daughter’s date the keys to his new car so he can track and follow them, unbeknownst to his daughter. This made me laugh out loud several times.
Snickers: Willem Dafoe
Last year’s “you’re not you when you’re hungry” Snickers commercial had Danny Trejo and Steve Buscemi as Jan and Marcia on The Brady Bunch. Willem Dafoe is Marilyn Monroe in a classic scene from The Seven Year Itch which seems more goofy than fun. I didn’t want a snickers at all, despite the fact that I’ve been eating ice cream snickers bars for like the past week.
Avocados From Mexico: #AvosinSpace
At first I thought this alien-themed commercial was going to be dumb but it soon had me laughing out loud with references to commercial airplanes as torture, chia pets, the “what color is it” dress and a cameo from Scott Baio.
Doritos: Baby wants a chip
A pregnant woman goes for an ultrasound while her partner snacks. He realizes that the baby is responding to the chips he’s eating and starts to tease it, getting a reaction from inside the womb. This clever, funny ad was made on a $2,000 budget by an Australian filmmaker and was the winner of the Doritos “Crash The Superbowl” contest. Update: this was a finalist ad, the dog ad below won the contest.
Audi: Commander
This commercial, equating driving in an Audi to traveling in space, works because of the use of Bowie’s “Starman.”
Mountain Dew Kickstart: Puppy Monkey Baby
The concept for this ad “three great things together” led to the Frankenstein like CGI creation of a servile creature with a pug face, monkey torso and baby butt and legs. Just no.
Squarespace featuring Key and Peele
Key and Peele play sports commentators in this ad for Squarespace, which is interesting in that it’s Key and Peele in character but I wanted more comedy here.
Buick: catch the bouquet
I didn’t really get all the football references in this Buick ad featuring Emily Ratajkowski and Odell Beckham Jr., but I guess it wasn’t aimed at my demographic.
Bud Light: The Bud Light Party
This Bud Light ad, featuring Amy Schumer, Seth Rogan, Paul Rudd and Michael Peña, reminds us that there’s more that unites us than divides us, namely beer.
Steven Tyler: Skittles portrait
Rocker Steven Tyler encounters his own portrait in Skittles, which sings to him. This had me wanting Skittles but it doesn’t take much.
Hyundai: What if every dude was Ryan Reynolds
The premise to this commercial makes no sense. If every dude was Ryan Reynolds, I would be bored within five minutes, not distracted. At least Hyundai had that awesome Kevin Hart ad. They should have just done a part two for the protective dad commercial.
Prius: Getaway Car
Bankrobbers steal a Prius as their getaway car and the world starts rooting for them to evade the cops. The best part is when they sneak by a roadblock in their ultra quiet vehicle.
Pepsi: The Joy of Pepsi featuring Janelle Monae
An adorable and entertaining commercial featuring Janelle Monae dancing and singing through the 50s, 80s and present day. The visual effects at the end are clever and stunning.
Doritos: Dogs get theirs
I think I saw this on the Muppet movie but I don’t care. More dogs please. This was one of the winners of the Doritos Crash the Superbowl contest and was made with less than $1,000.
Mini: Defy Labels
Mini takes on their critics with Serena Williams, Abby Wambach, Randy Johnson, Harvey Keitel, T-Pain and Tony Hawk. The car may be tiny but if all these badasses drive it, that’s saying something right?
Pokemon: I Can Do That
Kids inspire each other around the globe with their feats of excellence. This commercial equates performance on the field to playing video games, which is mildly questionable, but it’s still one of those inspirational commercials that I could watch several times. Plus Pokemon is cool, we already knew this. My son was like “What is this for? Is there a Pokemon movie?”
LG Oled featuring Liam Neeson
Liam Neeson is the wise mentor to a newcomer in what looks like a blatant ripoff of Tron. The prize at the end is a gorgeous thin TV which I totally want now, so mission accomplished.
Butterfinger: Bolder than Bold
A cowboy riding a bull jumps out of an airplane, eats a Butterfinger and gets scolded by his mom for ruining his dinner. This was one of those stupidly random commercials. See also: “puppy monkey baby.”
Heinz: Meet the Ketchups
This inspired deceptively simple commercial features dachshunds in hot dog costumes running toward people in ketchup and mustard suits to a swelling pop song. My favorite was the little kid ketchup packet.
NFL: Superbowl babies choir
The NFL got together a choir featuring groups of people who were conceived at different years on SuperBowl Sunday. They all join together to sing about their conceptions to the tune of Seal’s “Kiss From a Rose.” It’s alternately bizarre and funny.
Schick Hydro: Robot Razors
I wonder why no ad company has come up with the idea to make razors into fighting Transformers so far because it seems so obvious and yet so inspired. The effects are also impressive.
Kia Optima: Walken closet
Christopher Walken delivers a hilariously deadpan performance with socks on his hands as he counsels a man to dare to be different.
T-Mobile: Restricted Bling
T-Mobile execs tell Drake to change the lyrics of “Hotline Bling” to include contract regulations like two year upgrades and data charges. It’s a good message but I would have rather heard Drake sing it.
Budweiser: Helen Mirren schools drunk drivers
There’s something sexy about Helen Mirren scolding drunk drivers and Budweiser knows this. I assume the “nice and cold” line at the end is a reference to the somewhat mistaken belief that British people like warm beer. I lived in Germany and can say that cellar temperature is much different from “warm.” It’s also different from “icing over.”
Honorable Mentions
Adobe Marketing Cloud: The Gambler
Apartments.com featuring Jeff Goldblum & Lil Wayne
Coke Mini: Antman and Hulk drink coke
Shock Top featuring T.J. Miller
T-Mobile featuring Steve Harvey
Turbotax: Never a Sellout featuring Anthony Hopkins
Sorry I actually liked the Ryan Reynolds ad…and considering that his name was trending on Twitter and Facebook so did a lot of other people, particularly women so they got the job done.
I’m ready to move to Ryanville.
Yeah I thought Ryan’s Hyundai commercial was funny same as Kevin Hart’s, good move on Hyundai to do that. LOVED the Heinz commercial it had everyone laughing & awww-ing. Prius & the Avocados from Mexico were definitely original & hilarious, I tip my hat who made those two.
Right? I thought I was the only one who thinks he’s adorable. And funny.
Loved Ryan’s! The ‘so aggressive!’ line cracked me up.
My favorite commercial? Seeing the AWESOME trailer for the upcoming “Jason Bourne” film (at least now we know the title). Daaaaaaammmmmnnnnnn! 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
I can’t stop saying puppymonkeybaby. The Doritos commercial was funny.
That Doritos BS? People are likening it to abortions and late term miscarriages and I can’t blame them.
The fools who came up with it 1. Do not have the anatomy to have a kid 2. Never saw Alien 3. Don’t realize that the fetus just went SPLAT on the floor? 4. Don’t know that if a fetus can move around in the womb like that and isn’t wedged in there, totally immobile, then it’s half-baked and not ready to be “born” or “exploded” out of a woman’s uterus through an opening that was likely torn to shreds in the process.
Yeah, I get it was supposed to be funny, but it was more sickening than humorous. Full disclosure: I laughed a long time at how clueless the creators are.
-TheRealPinky
I think it was hilarious, and am amazed at how people are so easily offended these days. Over everything. And I’ve had two miscarriages, et somehow still manage to separate reality from comedy. Imagine that.
Yes it was funny to me and the gross part never occurred to me.
I was surprised at how quickly people were saying “I’m never buying your products again because of this commercial”. Seriously people it’s a commercial!
Personally I thought it was funny up to the birth “scene” at that point, I kept thinking ouch, ouch, ouch…. It was very Homer & Bart Simpson like IMO.
Honestly don’t understand what you are so offended over. Of course it wasn’t realistic, it was a joke. I laughed because it was silly, funny. I like to laugh as much as possible because life can be harsh. Let’s not make it intolerable by removing all the fun shall we?
Does that mean you find dogs buying dorito’s also realistic? Because those 2 commercials are basically a set.
1. You clearly do not fully understand the anatomy of a dog 2. You’ve obviously never heard of the Totem Pole Trench 3. You don’t even realize that the dogs are not stackable and their wet noses are a dead give-away in a heist.
And finally 4. Dogs don’t even like Doritos! They prefer Pringles.
Those tricksters at Doritos don’t fool me for a second… Who can we trust to educate us, if not our Super Bowl commercials?
/end sarcasm
Full disclosure: I don’t think Pinky’s ever laughed in her life,
Literally every comment ‘Pinky’ makes is the total opposite of what I think. Have I found my exact opposite? Freaky…
It was funny. How can you be offended by this and not by that atrocious monstrosity that was puppymonkeybaby?
I think people that are offended are taking it way to seriously. The whole thing is “even the baby wants Doritos”. The doctor giving the ultrasound clearly said “any day now”, which means the pregnant lady would have been at least 38 weeks. Full term as far as doctors are concerned. The due date is at 40 weeks. I have no idea why people are likening it to a miscarriage or abortion. Obviously it’s people who have never been through birth or studied much about it.
I liked the Jeff Goldblum commercial best. Kind of disappointed overall, though.
Where the hell were my beloved Clydesdales in a full length ad like in past super bowls????
I feel robbed.
I know. But they paid for that crap with Seth and Amy. Hated that commercial.
Missed those big lugs, too. Always the best part of Super Bowl. Overall, I was underwhelmed except for the Prius bank robbers and dachshund hot dogs. Bring back the Clydesdales!!
Pretty disappointing overall but I loved the Heinz hot dogs commercial and thought the puppymonkeybaby ad was stupid.
Underwhelming overall, there wasn’t anything that really made me laugh. I thought the Doritos one with the baby was kind of gross, as was the intestines walking around, and that puppy monkey baby thing.
I was underwhelmed. Did I miss it or was there no emotional Clydesdale commercial this year? I was expecting to cry over horses.
I found the “puppy monkey baby” kinda creepy…almost ‘kill it with fire’ creepy.
Oh thank God! I thought I was the only one creeped out by that thing. I went Into labor with my son at 25 weeks. I had to undergo 2 rounds of steroids just in case he was born so early. I managed to keep him baking for 7 more weeks but the nurses told me he would be really fuzzy/ hairy if he was born early.
Most pregnant women have vivid dreams but when you add steroids, stress and that warning. I had flat out nightmares. That thing reminded me of those nightmares.
The dorito commercial with the ultrasound was funny. I think we over analyze way too much these days.
I missed the Clydesdales and puppies.
Nightmare inducing.
I liked the Doritos one with the dogs. Anything with dogs wins me over. I really missed the Clydesdales and puppies this year.
I didn’t get to see most of these ads (here in Canadaland the local stations override the network feed, sigh) but of the ones I did catch, I liked the Doritos one with the dogs. The cashier’s “whaaaaaaaaat?” at the end made me laugh, never mind the absurdity of anyone being fooled by dogs in a trench-coat.
Aside from that one, I did see the Helen Mirren ad / PSA and I thought it was well done. Oh, and the trailer for Captain America: Civil War! Can’t forget that, I am very excited to see it. 🙂
Yea, Canadialand sucks with the local ads. I also wasn’t watching the game religiously because I’m an individual sports kinda girl but i saw the Helen mirren one and really liked it. Looking for a reason to call somebody a pillock today.
The Ryan Reynolds ad seems like they wanted to get Ryan Gosling but he wouldn’t do it.
How on earth did you get this idea?!
I never want to be a beige sock! I want to be a wiener dog wearing myself as a costume! Also, someone find and arrest the ad people who made that Island of Dr. Moreau commercial, cause that crap was hideous.
The Shocktop one was the winner. “So your mother was an orange and your father was…medical marijuana?”
The Audi commercial made me cry!
Me, too. RIP Starman.
Wiener dogs dogs for the win!
I loved the Helen Mirren commercial. Hands down the best of the Super Bowl.
I love, love the weiner dog ad. Kevin Hart is hilarious. And all dog ads really, except puppymonkey.
I don’t know if there are any CB’s in the St. Louis area but thers was one from Terry Croupen in which he spent 30 seconds ripping Kroenke a new one. Not one mention of his law firm, just going after Kroenke.
Money well spent Terry. Money well spent.
The Prius commercial!!! OMG that is the coolest ever! They just got together the Sobotkas of “The Wire” (Chris Bauer, Pablo Schreiber, and James Ransone). I had such a soft spot for their characters…The 4. should have been “Omar” and they would have hit the jackpot with that one 😀
The only ad that made me want to buy something was the Audi, which is not happening.
The worst ads were the Bud Light party one and the puppymonkeybaby.
Personally, I was completely horrified at the Doritos baby commercial. Horrified. I’m not someone who takes things like this seriously and I love dark humor but this was just tasteless.
I don’t know why because I thought the commercial was pretty stupid but that Skittles commercial made me laugh out loud. Hee Hee Hee.
I hated that Doritos commercial with the baby. It didn’t make me think of miscarriages or late term abortions but it did make me clench my thighs together. It certainly didn’t make me want to eat Doritos.
I loved the cute Doritos Dog commercial, the Ryan Reynolds car commercial, the 1st Prius commercial (where their getaway car was towed) and the Bourne trailer. And yes for that Audi (spaceship) car.
And I have to admit, at first I thought Amy Schumer in that beer commercial was Miss Piggy. Lol.
Omg. Are we not going to address the Colgate commercial about saving water??? They had a little foreign girls grasping at the water coming from a sink trying to get some hydration. I was kind of horrified!!
Amazing ad
That one drove me crazy. Nevermind the fact that farming and other industrial/city uses use far more water than we ever can when brushing our teeth.
It was all about the dachshunds and Heinz. Too cute for words. It was just so adorable with their little floppy ears flapping in the wind. I’m a total sucker for that kind of commercial.
Ah, Dafoe, Keitel, Walken, I’m happy. Hart’s was great–really made me laugh, as did the avocado aliens & hot dogs.