• by Seana Mulcahy , February 4, 2008

Once again I am disappointed by the Super Bowl ads. (Not to mention I am really let down that the Pats didn't win.) Is it me? Do I have false hopes? Years ago I remember the ads being entertainment. The sizzle was the steak.

First off, I was interested to see what Hyundai's ad was going to look like. Remember they were in, then pulled out, and then finally came back in again? I knew ahead of time the ad was to promote Hyundai's new luxury car. No ,the ad wasn't extraordinary. It was, well, a car ad -- slick creative showing a sleek style and elegance as the car sped down the curvy road -- a car ad. I do have to say that none of the people I was with thought it was a Hyundai. I thought it was an Infiniti. Still, it was a Hyundai -- and to me that brand is on life support. The American public still views Hyundai as a "cheap" car. It will take a lot more than a beautiful car to change consumer's minds.

I tend to expect Career Builder to have some nutty ads. This year I thought they bordered on bizarre and creepy. In one of the spots, a woman's heart jumps out of her chest, becoming increasingly animated as it scurries through the office to land on the desk of the fat boss sucking down lobster. The heart holds a sign saying, "Follow your Heart." Yuck! In fact, I was worried that it would scare the wits out of my son who was in the room at the time.

Also somewhat scary were ads by Audi and FedEx. We knew Audi's ad was going to be Godfatheresque. Come on, guys -- using the horse-head-in-the-bed scene on the grill of a car bleeding motor oil? What the hell?

I was given access to see the FedEx spot prior to the game. In it, giant "carrier" pigeons terrorize a city when a small business chooses birds to deliver packages. It was a bit "King Kong"-like, and probably scared most kids.

Bridgestone tires ads were in the same vein -- lots of screaming and panic from a squirrel in one spot and Richard Simmons in another. Each were spared as road kill, as the driver had the ability to swerve around them. Okay I confess I thought the Richard Simmons bit was funny -- not ha-ha-funny, though; scary-funny.

I was happy to see that Planters was back in the mix after several years of opting out of the game. It was another disappointment. The ad showed an ugly woman who became attractive to men because she ate cashews. Hey Planters, I used to like cashews.

And as with any other big game, there was a fair hair more of animated animals, from rodents (taunted in a Doritos ad) and lizards dancing, to the famous Michael Jackson song "Thriller" alongside Naomi Campbell. Where the hell did she come from? Why was she in the ad? Wasn't she doing community service for punching out her maid (or something like that) recently? Oh, this was for one of several energy drink brands.

We also saw a barrage of celebrities, from athletes to hip-hop stars to pop musicians: Justin Timberlake, Madonna, Marilyn Monroe, LL Cool J, Missy Elliott, Busta Rhymes, Joe Buck, Charles Barkley, Will Ferrell... the list goes on.

So what did I like? Well, I loved the Coca-Cola parade float ad. It was clever and creative. It had soul, not shock value like most of the others. In the ad, two inflated cartoon characters (Stewie and Underdog) who appear to be floating in the Macy's parade battle it out for a bottle of Coke (also an inflated balloon floating by). In the end both balloons lose out to a victorious Charlie Brown balloon (with perfect painted smile). This ad is almost what I want. However, I expect to have my heart warmed by Coke.

Other than that, I didn't like any of the ads. Some were OK and not even worth writing about. I'm sure several of you will point out those I forgot to mention, good or bad.

I was glad to see the sign of the times when viewers were invited to go to MySpace after the game and see the ads. It really is the year of social media. Let me know what you think. Share your likes and dislikes on the Spin blog. Shouldn't spending that much money on a spot require blockbuster creativity? For this writer, it was lackluster. At least the game was good -- until the Pats lost.