Yesterday’s Stupor Bowl was quite good, and they seem to have become more competitive recently from the prior blow-outs. Many viewers, however, still tune in to watch the commercials. The most watched events can support the most expensive ads. Simple rule of commercials: the higher the production value, the better the ad, or the bigger the miss. There were some huge clunkers yesterday – two in a row with fat white people in underpants, yuck – and some delightful winners. Even Google did an ad, a nice one. Most surveys pick the winner (at least in buzz) as the delicious satire of the Green Police in the Audi ads. Snickers did well, as did VW in its retro slugbug ad.
From an insider point of view, however, the biggest winner was Dramatic Chipmunk. There was not one but two homages to the little guy! If you have never seen it, take a look: it is only five seconds long, but it generated a huge number of remixes and helped spawn the remix trade that later erupted in such clips as This Is Sparta! Here is the original:
Here is a Carmax ad with two different Dramatic Chipmunk moments:
With the basic Chipmunk Moment in your mind, catch the Dramatic Chipmunk moment in this Vizio ad for connected TV – note the accompanying sound clip:
It’s my opinion that funny ads pretty much always do well during Super Bowl except for that Mobile Shuffle spot which was a complete disaster. Doesn’t CBS have any standards on what ads they agree to air? I was mentally hurt watching that thing. The polling at my house pretty much agreed that Green Police hit the laughter mark as did that Kia ad with those larger than life kid toys taking mom’s car out for a joy ride down the Vegas strip. The Brett Favre – Hyundai ad was also funny. On the flipside, the serious ad which did the best as far as my friends and family were concerned, was the Google ad but you had to follow it closely to get the message across.
Glad to hear that the Kia commercial was a hit at your house during the Super Bowl Annie! I’ve been helping Kia spread the word about the commercial, and think that you would like the postcards on the Kia website that feature the cast of characters in funny situations across the country. To view the postcards, visit http://www.kia.com/#/sorento/hop-in/
I am amazed by the number of columnists, etc., who are incorrectly referring to the Audi ad as “satire.” Please look up the word in a dictionary! Satire is an attack, via humor, on something of which the author strongly disapproves.
Audi’s view of the matter is very clear on the web site the company devotes to the Green Police:
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While the Audi Green Police will be reaching over 100 million on Super Bowl Sunday, we hope that their efforts provide even a fraction of the benefits that the everyday official green police units in the United States, the United Kingdom, Vietnam and Israel are having in educating their populace and enforcing environmental protection laws within their own countries.
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Does that sound like an attack?
Please read Audi’s entire web page. Audi sings the praises of the Green Police. Yes, Audi admits that the portrayl is a “caricature,” and Audi claims that Gestapo tactics are “humorous.” Nevertheless, Audi fully agrees with and approves of all that the environmental movement does worldwide.
Caricature Is Not Satire.