Commentary

Out to Launch

The Super Bowl may be over, but we're still talking about the ads. Let's launch!

The Good: Bud Light's "Rock Paper Scissors" and "But he has a Bud Light" ads. "Robot" for GM. Watch it here. E*Trade's "One Finger." Doritos's runner-up user-created spot "Check-Out Girl." Chevy's user-generated spot, "Car Wash."

The Bad: "Live the Flavor," the winning user-created Doritos ad. Is this a joke? What about "Mouse Trap?" Ads that previously ran making their way into the Super Bowl. Honda, T-Mobile and Coke, I'm talking to you. For the record, Honda and Coke each bowed one new ad, but this is the Super Bowl! Time ain't cheap. Wow me with something new.

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The Really Bad: Snickers and SalesGenie.com. Give me all or nothing before the game. Not a 5-second teaser. If that's all you can cough up, chances are your ad's not worth watching. And Snickers' "Lady and the Tramp" meets "Brokeback Mountain" ad has drawn ire from numerous organizations, prompting the company to remove the ad and its three alternate endings from SnickersSatisfies.com and redirect traffic from AfterTheKiss.com to Snickers.com.

While I do enjoy rolling the letter "r," Taco Bell's big game spot promoting its grilled steak taquitos, while schooling viewers on proper letter-rolling, didn't have the same effect on me as when the saucy Doritos check-out girl rolled her consonants. The ad features two lions scoping out dinner possibilities -- not the obvious human targets but their Taco Bell dinners. This leads to one lion teaching the other how to say carnes sexily, like Ricardo Montalban. The spot ends with a voiceover from... you guessed it, Montalban himself. Watch the ad here.Draftfcb Orange County created the ad.

Since Doritos ran two user-generated spots (thankfully!), one Sierra Mist ad originally slated to run, "Hospital," was nixed, while "Karate" and "Combover" ran as scheduled. Click here to read about and watch "Hospital" and "Karate." "Combover" stars an office employee with a beard combover that makes Donald Trumps's hair look normal. Watch the ad here.BBDO New York created the ads.

Budweiser/Bud Light had the most ads running during the game. Some were hits, others not so much. "Rock Paper Scissors" showed the hard lesson that although paper beats rock, you still might lose in the end. Carlos Mencia appeared in two ads: the English 101 spot is the most talked about, yet I enjoyed "what would Carlos do" better. The hitchhiker spot is also funny, featuring a hitchhiker carrying Bud Light... and an axe. The spot ends by showing the softer side of the axe-carrying hitcher. Then there's the wedding ceremony that plays out like an auction, the stray dog that gets lucky by getting dirty, the King of Beers that's also the king of crabs, the hand movement that takes the place of the fist-bump, the ape that's unable to multitask and the pointless Jay-Z commercial. DDB created all the ads except for the Mencia spots. Those were created by LatinWorks.

"Moon Office" and "Not What it Seems" feature two different office scenarios for FedEx. The first ad shows the downside of having an office on the moon: getting obliterated by a meteoroid. Click here to watch the ad. "Not What it Seems" reminds me of a less extreme version of Ameriquest's "Don't Judge Too Quickly" ads. The name of each office worker coincides with a trait or characteristic. Harry is hairy, Eileen leans, Joy laughs, Bob nods his head and Mr. Turkey Neck has just what you'd expect. Watch the ad here.BBDO New York created the ads.

Chevrolet ran a 60-second spot called "Ain't We Got Love" that featured various Chevy cars and the celebs that love them, from Mary J. Blige and Dale Earnhardt Jr. to T.I. and Big & Rich. Even tone-deaf celebs sang a line or two from songs mentioning Chevrolet in the ad. Watch it here. Chevy also ran an agency-created ad based on an idea hatched by a college student. Promoting the HHR, "Car Wash" stars a group of young women in a Chevy HHR surrounded by a gaggle of men, young and old, stripping down to wash the car to the tune of Nelly's "Hot in Here." Even the Naked Cowboy has a cameo. Click here to watch the ad.Campbell-Ewald created the ads.

HP launched its latest ad under "The Computer is Personal Again" tag line, featuring the Orange County Choppers. These guys are popular. Look closely and you'll find them in the marketing department at GoDaddy.com. This ad plays more like an IMAX movie than HP's usual ads that feature a body from the neck down describing the role a computer plays in their everyday life. This time around, the viewer is riding a motorcycle through the Orange County Choppers' computer. Watch the ad here.Goodby, Silverstein & Partners created the campaign.

E*Trade debuted two ads during the big game; not surprisingly, I enjoyed the dirty ad best. "One Finger" lists the eclectic things one can do with a finger. Amuse a baby, prove your sobriety, make toast, get to know your doctor and use E*Trade are just a few possibilities. Watch the ad here. "Bank Robber" shows a bank robbery in progress, carried out by the bank itself. Click here to watch the ad.BBDO New York created the ads.

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