Some say, "Enough is enough." Others say, "Too much is never enough." When it came to the advertising bowl that took place inside Super Bowl XLVI on Sunday, enough was too much.
Too many commercials fell back on tactics that were too familiar from a plethora of Super Bowl spots: anthropomorphic animals, second-class celebrities, slapstick violence and riding the coattails of popular culture. Risk-taking, rule-breaking ideas were as hard to find among the more than 50 commercials as good taste in a GoDaddy ad.
Yes, sad to say, once again GoDaddy served up stale cheesecake in the form of two commercials that exploited women in the guise of empowerment. A similarly smarmy tone suffused spots for Teleflora, in which the model Adriana Lima told men, "Valentine's Day is not that complicated. Give and you shall receive"; and 2nd Story Software, which compared the relief felt when getting a "TaxACT federal return totally free" to the relief felt when urinating in a swimming pool.
The dearth of originality was underlined by multiple appearances of some famous faces, as if America suffered from a star-power shortage. Lima turned up in a commercial for Kia in addition to her turn for Teleflora; former football star Deion Sanders was hired by Bridgestone tires as well as Century 21.
The Century 21 spot also featured Donald Trump, symbolizing how its agents are "smarter."
That was not the only sighting of an overexposed celebrity whose sell-by date has surely passed. A commercial for Pepsi-Cola offered up Elton John and Flava Flav. A spot for a sibling pop, Pepsi Max, featured Regis Philbin, declaring, "I'm back." (But has he ever really gone away?) And a commercial for Skechers ended with a cameo by Mark Cuban, making a weak joke related to his ownership of the Dallas Mavericks.
When stars were not recycled, concepts were. The Pepsi Max spot reprised a premise from a previous Pepsi Max spot that had been borrowed from an old Pepsi-Cola commercial. And it ripped off the "Target lady" character from "Saturday Night Live."
CareerBuilder brought back its chimpanzees dressed as humans, meant to personify nitwit co-workers. But the only nitwits were the creators of the commercial, who ignored a growing belief on Madison Avenue that it is wrong to use live apes in ads. The Skechers spot also raised the hackles of animal activists, who complained that it promoted greyhound racing. Certainly one of the many other advertisers using dogs in their commercials could have lent Skechers a breed that would not have offended anyone.
Other sponsors that trod well-worn paths included Coca-Cola, reviving its polar bears; Doritos, sponsoring another contest to "crash the Super Bowl" with consumer-made commercials; E-Trade, bringing back its baby; Hulu Plus; and Samsung Mobile.
Thankfully, there were a few gems amid the rhinestones displayed during the game. Here is a look at some of those high points.
Acura: OK, asking Jerry Seinfeld to reprise his "Seinfeld" persona, abetted by the "Soup Nazi," was no brainstorm. The cleverness came in centering the commercial — for a model, the Acura NSX, not due until 2015 — on Seinfeld's mania for collecting cars and having another famed collector, Jay Leno, supply a surprise ending.
Anheuser-Busch: A toast is in order. The frat-boy humor with misogynistic overtones that has long sullied Super Bowl spots for Bud Light beer was refreshingly absent.
Best Buy: A year after a silly Super Bowl spot with Justin Bieber and Ozzy Osbourne, Best Buy celebrated real achievement with a commercial honoring technological innovators like Philippe Kahn, who declares, "I created the camera phone," and Kevin Systrom, a founder of the photo-sharing app Instagram.
Chevrolet: A timely commercial for the Chevy Silverado truck wittily defused fears that the world will meet an apocalyptic end in 2012 and poked fun at other products like Ford trucks and Twinkies.
General Electric: Two commercials for GE did something rare for Super Bowl spots. They touched on a serious subject, industrial policy, by saluting the workers who make GE appliances and turbines in Kentucky and New York. The point could have been underlined by mentioning that GE changed its mind about plans, announced in 2008, to spin off or sell the appliance business.
Honda: Almost any advertiser could have enticed Matthew Broderick to re-enact his role as the hooky-playing fun-lover in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off." But Honda's spot, for the CR-V compact crossover, made sense because the product's current campaign encourages consumers to take time off from life's duties.
MetLife: A charming commercial finally provided the "Peanuts" gang, who have been peddling MetLife for decades, with some company: 56 characters from the inkwells of cartoon legends like Hanna-Barbera, Harvey Comics, Looney Tunes and UPA.
Toyota: A commercial for the "reinvented" Toyota Camry reinvented Super Bowl advertising with what may be the first gay-friendly moment in a game spot. One character, an awkward guy, seems as accepting of finding seven hunks in his living room as he is of finding seven babes.
Volkswagon: A sweet commercial about a dog determined to get in shape to chase a 2012 Beetle took a detour at the end with a surprising salute to fans of "The Force," the popular spot for the VW Passat from Super Bowl XLV.
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