The biggest day in television commercials usually delivers content that people will be talking about and referencing for weeks. Funny memes appear. Commercials that brought a tear to our eye are re-watched. It’s a big deal and process in America. The commercials played during the Super Bowl each year usually reflect the state of country. If we consider that to be true then what did the Super Bowl XLIX commercials tell us?
| One of the most notable things about these commercials was that most of the heavy hitters you expect during a football game were not there. There was not a single pizza commercial. Papa John’s had one JUST before the game started and then that was it. The only beer commercials were for Budweiser and Bud Light and there were only three of them. One Coca Cola commercial showed up but there were no Pepsi commercials. (Perhaps they were counting on the Pepsi Half-Time show being enough?) Ford was also notably absent among the few car commercials. Also, there were no commercials for console games and instead games that are apps for your smart phone dominated. |
There were a few things done very well and few things done very poorly. Let’s start with the done well. Everyone loved the Budweiser Puppy. That adorable little guy being protected by the Clydesdales got everyone’s heart strings going. The Dad focused commercials were also a big hit. Dove, Toyota and Nissan did a great job bringing fathers into focus and reminding everyone how important they are. ESurance also
| made a big impression with the amusing angle. That Lindsay Lohan and “Walter White” are not the same as the demographic they fall into utilizing the hashtag #sorta. Clash of Clans app with Liam (Lee-am) Neeson is worth finding on YouTube. The Like a Girl commercial from Always was incredibly welly done. Reminding everyone there is nothing negative about doing something #LikeaGirl. Now, the ones that fell flat. No one knew what to do with the Jublia foot fungus commercial. It came out of left field and it seemed like everyone was so confused | 
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that they didn’t know how to respond. The Lexus “drift” commercial fell flat and you forgot it even before it was over. Another car commercial fail was Jeep’s This Land is My Land. They showed images from all over the world and then said that Jeep is America’s Smallest Lightest SUV indicating some confusion
| about their goal with that spot. Let’s all promise to forget the Turbo Tax commercial that used the Boston Tea Party. That woman had already stabbed a guy and then… what? Kim Kardashian and T-Moblie is another big fail. Kim, in her tube top, asking us to “Save the data” like we need to “Bring Back our Girls” was terrible. The most noticeable change in a commercial that actually aired was Go Daddy. Gone was their usual too hot for television style and apparently Danica Patrick is out of a job. Now they had a hard working entrepreneur who was missing the game and time with friends as part of being a business owner. It’s nice that they didn’t sexually |
objectify women for once. It’s bad that they indicated all work and no play. Today the culture in business is heading toward work/life balance. Wix and Squarespace with Brett Favre and Jeff Bridges respectively did a great job showing it’s all about you and what you need.
| The biggest fail was Nationwide. Everyone seemed to think the adorable commercial with Mindy feeling invisible but don’t worry – Matt Damon AND Nationwide see you. Then, later, came the Make Safe Happen aka the dead kid commercial. All these things this young boy won’t be able to do because he is dead. It was awful and Twitter blew up about it and hasn’t stopped. The final note to make is about the most powerful commercial that aired. That was the NoMore.org commercial. A woman calls 911 and pretends she is ordering a pizza because she can’t talk with her abuser in the room. Watch it. Share it. Discuss it. | 
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