Car ads win Super Bowl

[sjordan2]

Others may disagree (this stuff is always a matter of taste), but as a group I think the car ads rose to the top. My favorite: Another installment of Chrysler's ode to Detroit, this time with Clint Eastwood, in a very smart campaign that began with Eminem. Next favorite: Chevy Silverado. The 2012 apocalypse predicted by the Mayan calendar has come; guy unearths his Silverado from the urban wreckage, drives through the destroyed environment (featuring a Big Boy statue in flames) and meets up with his buddies, where he is offered Hostess Twinkies. "Where's Dave?" he asks. Dave didn't make it. He was driving a Ford. Takes guts (and confidence in Chevy's law firm) to imply that you could die if you used the competition's product.

Only a few other good spots keeping up the Super Bowl tradition, this being one of the weakest years ever. Worst of the bunch: a sober Bud dud about the end of prohibition. With a huge budget and an epic scale, it was an epic fail.

[Dirkpitt289]

As far as the car commercials go I thought the Audi one was the best followed by the one with Jerry Seinfeld. The Budweiser commercials were a lot like the beer itself. AWFUL!!!!

[martinfan5]

I agree about the budwieser commerical's this year, awful, the car ads were good, I did like the one with Clint Eastwood

[moparmagiclives]

I dont have tv at my house, (to be honest, I dont miss it) But someone at work found some of them for me on line,...I want my minute back from Ferris and honda.!!!! That was horrid.

Edited February 6, 2012 by moparmagiclives

[sjordan2]

Another one of my favorites was the VW spot that was two commercials in one: In the beginning, a dog goes through fitness routines so he can chase a Beetle; it turns out this spot is being viewed in the Star Wars bar scene where an alien says he preferred last year's spot with the little boy in a Darth Vader costume (an all-time classic); the real Darth Vader shows up and does his mojo on on the guy. Brilliant.

[Rob Hall]

My favorite was the Chrysler/Clint ad...liked the Leno/Seinfeld Acura one also.. thought the Kia one was pretty blah (though Adriana Lima helped spice it up a bit), and the Camry ads were dull ads for a dull appliance.

Edited February 6, 2012 by Rob Hall

[Harry P.]

According to our local nespaper media critic, the Clint Eastwood commercial was one of the worst ones! (I missed it, I must have been in the bathroom!). I liked the "end of the world" Silverado ad, kind of clever. You don't always see raining toads in a commercial! And the Seinfeld/Leno ad was pretty clever.

The rest of the ads were basically a big snooze. Nothing very "Superbowl worthy" this year, IMO. Way too much exploding stuff, way too little wit or cleverness. That Bud "end of Prohibition" ad was just weird. Overall grade for this year's crop: C-

(Although Danica looked hot! )

I'll have to check out the Clint Eastwoon one on youtube.

[trogdor]

The Doritos ad was pretty darn funny to me

[Austin T]

I liked the one where the high school grad gets a min-fridge,but thinks it's the Camaro next to it.Also the Audi one with the vampires was great.

[sjordan2]

It's odd that, like the Camaro commercial, so many of these spots ran prior to the Super Bowl.

This is the first Super Bowl I can remember, in years, where the game was actually better than the commercials. The other highlight was M.I.A.'s finger malfunction during the halftime show.

[Harry P.]

It's odd that, like the Camaro commercial, so many of these spots ran prior to the Super Bowl.

This is the first Super Bowl I can remember, in years, where the game was actually better than the commercials. The other highlight was M.I.A.'s finger malfunction during the halftime show.

I agree, this time the actual game was way better than the ads (and the halftime show... yawn...)

[MikeMc]

I liked the one for Tax Act..........Y'now its not car related but it was one of the doozies....

a little boy desperately needs to relieve himself.

After his sister beats him to the bathroom, the boy resorts to jumping in the pool.

In the closing shot, the boy smiles a grin of satisfaction.

Was done up in Milwaukee, At Independent Studios.

Madonna went out thru a trap door....I missed that

Edited February 6, 2012 by MikeMc

[Harry P.]

Just saw the Clint Eastwood/Chrysler ad on youtube.

Very cool. Very well done, great production values. And a great message, more "pro-USA" than a blatant plug for Chrysler. Good for them. Nicely done.

And Clint Eastwood is just so cool.

[Harry P.]

Speaking of Chrysler, this is sort of off topic as far as Superbowl ads, but they've announced that Chrysler will be hiring almost 2,000 employees to build the new Dodge Dart in the Belvidere, IL plant. Belvidere is a suburb of Rockford, IL, about 40 miles NW of me, and that plant is where they built Dodge and Plymouth Neons for many years. It's good to hear about an American auto manufacturer actually expanding production and hiring instead of "downsizng" and closing plants for a change. And Chrysler has posted some pretty impressive growth lately, so good for them.

The American auto industry seems to be making a comeback, and that's good for all of us.

Now if only they'd ax that ridiculous Chevy Volt...

[Rob Hall]

I'll admit I'm biased as I own a Jeep, but I definitely will have more Chrysler products in my future..thinking about another Grand Cherokee eventually (useful when I move to a snowy climate again) and maybe a Challenger (or 300).

[Guest Johnny]

Just saw the Clint Eastwood/Chrysler ad on youtube.

Very cool. Very well done, great production values. And a great message, more "pro-USA" than a blatant plug for Chrysler. Good for them. Nicely done.

And Clint Eastwood is just so cool.

Actually whether Clint knew or not it was a blatent pitch for a 2nd Obama term!

[Harry P.]

Actually whether Clint knew or not it was a blatent pitch for a 2nd Obama term!

Yeah, I heard the "talking heads" on TV debating that. I don't know if I agree. Of course, every ad has a purpose or a "message"... whether the message here was "re-elect Obama" is open to debate. I know that Clint Eastwood is about as straight a shooter as they come in Hollywood, and I also know that he's a pretty independent thinker, not much of a "party line" guy. So if this was a "blatant" political ad, they were pretty subtle!

But in any case, just from the standpoint of tha actual ad, apart from the intent... very well done. Probably the standout of the whole bunch. Of course, I'm a big Clint Eastwood fan, so my opinion is probably a little biased...

[deja-view]

First, the theme for the Chrysler ad....as misguided as it certainly is....was a take-off from the uber-inspirational "Morning in America" speech by Ronald Reagan many years ago. The problem is, of course, Chrysler is propped up by borrowed taxpayer money and mediocre to bad products. Not even Dirty Harry can overcome that.

But then there's the Fiat Abarth ad. Car is ugly as a warthog.....but the commercial was a lesson in fantasy and transformation. Breathtaking!

Edited February 7, 2012 by deja-view

[Joe Handley]

I'm not sure it's a pro Obama Chrysler ad either, there is a pretty strong anti-partisan politics, just work together darn it! flavor to it though. I liked the Eminem/Chrysler ad from last year, a lot, and think this one is even better still. The Chevy ad was funny (honestly, I think it was a pot shot at the "refuse to buy a GM and to a lesser extent, Chrysler products because of the bailout" crowd), the 500 Abarth ad was very....wow (I won't lie, I kinda dig the little things and wouldn't mind one of Tamiya's 500 bodied M-05's parked next to my Tamiya M-03 Mini Cooper and Traxxas "1/16" Ford Fiesta Rally/Gymkhana car ), but this one had an air of maturity and "We Can do this!" about it with the only hints of it being a Chrysler ad was the tone that sort of carried over from the Eminem ad and the occasional new and partially built Mopars in it prior to the very end.

Edited February 7, 2012 by Joe Handley

[Chuck Most]

Another installment of Chrysler's ode to Detroit, this time with Clint Eastwood, in a very smart campaign that began with Eminem.

"Smart campaign" and "Eminem" do not belong in the same paragraph, sorry.

And would someone PLEASE inform Chrysler that Auburn Hills is NOT Detroit? Somebody needs a geography lesson.

[Peter Lombardo]

No surprise here, I found the two “taxpayer” supported ads to be way too political for my taste.

Chrysler’s ad was absolutely, without a doubt, a pitch for a second Obama term. And whatever respect that I had for Eastwood is shot. He is a smart guy, Hollywood savvy; he had to know what that ad represents. I am very disappointed in him. Hey Clint, go back to San Francisco and hang with Nancy a while more. The “half-time” reference was as clear a message as there is. We are in between the two terms….get it? The next day (yesterday), Obama was out there pitching that he has learned a lot in the last 3 years, and he was getting better at this job and he should get a second term. ( and that is based on the “jobless” report of last week…..interesting report, we had less workers looking for work….our government dropped over a million two hundred from the workforce so that the rate was driven down…..government accounting, as trustworthy as the politicians that run it). Great, he wants us to let learn more on the job…..I heard Neil Cavuto from Fox News and Fox Business saying that yesterday….I sent him an e mail telling him that I want to be an anchor on Fox Business and since I don’t have experience at that, I thought they could allow me to learn on the job….look, if they are willing to allow the President, in his own words, learn on the job, I should be able to get a gig on TV….seriously, what job is more important? I look forward to his response….right.

The second taxpayer supported ad that I did not care for was the Chevy truck ad. GM would be a completely different company if the taxpayers had not been forced to fund them. Ford is rock solid and stronger than ever without the infusion of any of our money. So the theme of the Chevy (think Government sponsored) ad is that the 4 or 5 guys driving Chevy trucks survived the holocaust and the one guy driving the Ford truck did not. Nice, the Government is angry that Ford did not need to be owned by the Socialist regime in Washington so they get targeted. What happened to the guys driving Ram or Toyota trucks? And then they drag out the Twinkie…… Yeah, I get the joke about surviving a nuclear war, but interestingly, Twinkies are made by Hostess, and they are in Chapter 11. Nice, a couple of business failures are being used to target the business winner.

Hah, Life in America during a political campaign year, it will only get worse, and worse and then unbearable.

Edited February 7, 2012 by Peter Lombardo

[Guest Sickfish]

First, as a Mopar guy, I only wish we could buy a Charger/Challenger here, instead of the ones we can get. Second, I haven't seen the Dodge/Chrysler ad with Eastwood so I can't comment. Third, as a Mötley Crüe fan & having seen the Kia ad... Loved it... But not the car... Sooner or later everyone has a price.

And lastly, you guys DO know Chrysler is owned by FIAT, right? 51% if I'm not wrong? Which mean's Chrysler ISN'T an American car company anymore than Lamborghini is an Italian owned company...

As far as the NFL goe's, seriously, 40+ guys, 2 sides in the same team ( defensive/offensive squads), helmeted, padded up like those sumo-wrestling costumes, a 1 hour game that take's 3+hrs to play??? Seriously?? World Champions?? What other country play's NFL?? France?? Germany?? Italy?? South Africa? new Zealand?? England? Australia perhap's?? Come on guys.... Please.... And it's not even about the game, it's about the ads, the halftime gig etc... Boring... I'd rather watch golf! Or my grass grow..

You guys want to see REAL tackling, by men without all the costumes, with 17 players- all on the same team/side, 13 on the field & 4 substitutes, 80mins of smash, boom, bang! With only a 10min halftime break? No stoppages every 2sec? No time outs? ( only for brawls & injuries)... Watch a game of Rugby League, especially the State of Origin series, held midway through the season.... Mate Vs Mate, State Vs State, NSW Vs Queensland.... Now that's a b***dy game of Football/Footy.... Not what you guys worship... That's for mummies boys.

[Harry P.]

Sorry, Cliff, but there's no way you're going to get us Americans to drop football and suddenly become rugby fans, any more than you and your guys would suddenly become NFL fans.

To each his own...

[deja-view]

Even though my daughter was captain of her college rugby team and a regional all star soccer player the two years before, I just can't watch more than a few minutes of uncontrolled chaos and men in tight shorts grabbing each other's crotch so they can throw a flat "football" in some direction to someone else in tight shorts who may or may not kick it downfield. The glory of American football is that each play is thought out, planned, and then executed with both teams having the same opportunity to make it work or make it fail.

As to the uniforms, there is no comparison of either to the Lingerie League. Now, THAT is football with all the best attributes.

[MikeMc]

Sorry, Cliff, but there's no way you're going to get us Americans to drop football and suddenly become rugby fans, any more than you and your guys would suddenly become NFL fans.

To each his own...

Much nicer than I was gonna be..And Aussie rules football is not rugby.......More like the NFL

Thanks Harry!

Edited February 7, 2012 by Harry P.