Super Bowl Airs Most-Liked Commercials

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Super Bowl commercials may be the most-recalled messages on television, but they are not always the most liked.

Of Nielsen's top 10 most-liked commercials in the first quarter of this year -- when the Super Bowl was aired -- six came from spots running in non-Super Bowl programming. One of the best-liked commercials is one from candy brand M&M, where a convenience store robber threatens to eat an M&M that is being held hostage if his demands are not met.

It scored 227 in the "Likeability" index -- third among all commercials during the period. "Likeability" is the percentage of TV viewers who report that they like "a lot" an ad they were exposed to during the normal course of viewing TV -- this among those who remembered the brand of the commercial.

Other non-Super Bowl spots include one for Snickers' Peanut Butter Squared, where a woman asks sharks which human tasted better -- sixth place, with a 211 index. In the seventh spot for Dove, a woman leaves chocolate gifts for Valentine's Day, including one for herself (a 208 index).

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A commercial for Canada Dry has people puling roots, cans of soda, and a soda machine out of the ground (in eighth place, with a 207 index). General Electric's continuing "Ecomagination" campaign has an animated elephant dancing in the jungle (ninth place, with a 206 index). In 10th place, for M&M's Pretzel snack, Patrick Warburton turns into a pretzel M&M after eating them -- a 205 index.

That said, Super Bowl commercials held the first four or five places in "Likeability." No. 1 was the Volkswagen commercial for the Passat where a little boy, dressed as Darth Vader, starts a car, grabbing a 232 index. In second place was a Doritos spot -- part of a campaign in which consumers produce commercials for the chip-maker. Here a man licks cheese crumbs off of coworker's fingers. It had a 227 index.

Nielsen's broader measure of a commercial's effectiveness -- brand recall -- gave Super Bowl marketers somewhat better marks across the board, getting six of the top 10 positions of all commercials aired during the first three months of the year.

Budweiser's Super Bowl, where a cowboy in Western gear sings, held a top position with a 232 index. Another Doritos spot, where a pug knocks down the door after the boyfriend taunts it with chips, scored a 227 number. The best non-Super Bowl recalled spot of the period was for Yoplait Light, in which a woman talks on the phone about her diet, while her husband searches for treats, with a 217 index.

The only commercial to do well in both Nielsen measures of brand recall and likeability was the Doritos spot where the man licks cheese crumbs off of a co-worker's fingers -- taking third place and second place, respectively.

1 comment about "Super Bowl Airs Most-Liked Commercials".
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  1. Douglas Ferguson from College of Charleston, May 3, 2011 at 8:33 a.m.

    It's easier to be liked when the judges have been drinking.

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