Super Bowl XLV Ads Mine Decades of Americana - Ingles

Monday, February 07 2011

The advertising bowl that took place inside Super Bowl XLV on Sunday offered a wild — and somewhat welcome — ride through six decades of popular culture.

Thankfully, many viewers had probably fastened their seat belts before tuning in to Fox, considering that almost half the companies that bought commercial time in the game had something to do with the auto industry, among them nine car brands from A (Audi) to V (Volkswagen), along with Bridgestone, CarMax and Cars.com.

The traffic jam may be another sign of the postrecession recovery on Madison Avenue, but it made for occasional difficulty in distinguishing the Elantras from the Optimas.

It would also have been difficult to figure out most of the 60-plus commercials without a working knowledge of Americana or, at least, access during the game to Wikipedia (if not WikiLeaks). The spots dished up a dizzying — and at times ditzy — mélange of celebrity star turns, movie references, homages to television shows, snippets of songs and even hat-tips to other spots.

To fully appreciate the commercials, it helped to be at least passingly familiar with “Almost Famous,” “Back to the Future,” Roseanne Barr, Busby Berkeley, Justin Bieber, Adrien Brody, David Bowie, Diddy, the “Dogs Playing Poker” paintings, Howdy Doody, early video games, Thomas Edison and Eminem (who turned up in two spots, for Chrysler and Lipton Brisk).

Also, Facebook, geeks, “Glee,” Jimi Hendrix, Faith Hill, home-improvement TV series, Timothy Hutton, Janis Joplin, Kenny G, “Lassie,” Richard Lewis, nerds, “1984” (the novel) and “1984” (the Apple commercial from the 1984 Super Bowl).

Plus, Joan Rivers, silent movies, the Snickers spot from the 2010 Super Bowl, the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, spy movies, “Star Wars,” “The Talented Mr. Ripley,” “Tiny Dancer,” “The Twilight Zone,” western movies, the “Where’s the beef?” commercial for Wendy’s and yuppies.

Whew. That is a big barrel of borrowed interest, to use the marketing term for wooing consumers by filling ads with familiar elements. The Super Bowl sponsors last year did it, too, rolling out proven draws like Kiss, “National Lampoon’s Vacation” and Betty White, but they were pikers compared with the advertisers and agencies that raided the national memory banks on Sunday.

On the other hand, there was a notable absence of athletes in ads, unlike Super Bowl XLIV, with spots that featured, among others, Lance Armstrong and Brett Favre. (The athletes’ recent history may explain why advertisers steered clear of locker rooms.)

There is nothing wrong with ads based on tropes or memes if they offer a twist or turn on the tried and true. Some managed that feat, but others were, alas, trite and tired. The culprits mainly fell back on devices like anthropomorphic animals, objectification of women and violent slapstick.

Here is a look at some of the high and low points among the spots shown nationally during the game. The commercials were among almost 50 provided to reporters before Sunday.

ANHEUSER-BUSCH INBEV A Budweiser beer commercial, by the Anomaly agency, amusingly crossed a western with the “Tiny Dancer” scene from the rock film “Almost Famous,” even giving the brand’s Clydesdales a cameo. A moody spot for Stella Artois, by Mother, seemed inspired by a scene in a jazz club from “The Talented Mr. Ripley,” replacing one improbably singing actor, Matt Damon, with another, Mr. Brody.

CARMAX One ad, likening a used-car buyer who shops at CarMax to “a geek at a robot convention” and “a mermaid at a swim meet,” was cute. The other, “Gas Station,” above, deftly recreated the moment in “Back to the Future” when Marty McFly watched disbelievingly as four eager attendants serviced a car at a 1955 Texaco station, then topped its inspiration by adding a cheerful milkman. The point: “We believe customer service shouldn’t be a thing of the past.” Agency: Amalgamated.

CHEVROLET A brand that has rarely been funny tickled countless ulnar nerves. One spot, set in a retirement home, evoked “Where’s the beef?” with oldsters who were hard of hearing. A second cast a Silverado truck as Lassie, constantly warning about a boy who needed rescuing from way-out mishaps (“I didn’t even know this town had a volcano,” Dad grumbled). Agency: Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, part of the Omnicom Group.

E*TRADE The “talking” baby returned in a funny spot meant to demonstrate how E*Trade can help even the youngest investors afford custom-made suits, and their tailors afford to retire to Tuscany. The commercial was marred when the baby briefly spoke in a stereotyped Italian accent reminiscent of Chico Marx. Agency: Grey New York, part of the Grey Group unit of WPP.

GODADDY One commercial served up the usual GoDaddy sexist schlock, suggesting the “GoDaddy Girls,” as its pitchwomen are demeaningly known, were naked. The other was better, or less worse, unveiling a feisty Ms. Rivers as an endorser for the new GoDaddy.co Web domain. Agency: internal.

GROUPON The purveyor of digital coupons went for shock-value humor with a spot that featured Mr. Hutton, below, bemoaning the plight of “the people of Tibet,” then veering off to praise a group discount at a Tibetan restaurant in Chicago. The commercial made Kenneth Cole’s comment about Egypt on Twitter last week — “Millions are in uproar in #Cairo. Rumor is they heard our new spring collection is now available” — seem sensitive. Agency: Crispin Porter & Bogusky, part of MDC Partners.

MOTOROLA MOBILITY It takes nerve to evoke Apple’s famous “1984” Super Bowl spot in a Super Bowl spot, above, especially when peddling a product, the Xoom tablet, that competes against Apple’s iPad. A heart-warming tale about love conquering Big Brother helped pull it off. Agency: Anomaly.

PEPSICO Six commercials created by consumers, for Doritos, above, and Pepsi Max, were among the few that did not ransack pop culture for plot lines. Instead, several resorted, unfortunately, to crude, cruel violence for punch lines. The stand-out was a spot for Doritos, “The Best Part,” proclaiming they are finger-licking — and pants-licking — good.

SNICKERS A Snickers spot last year, with Ms. White, was a huge hit, so Snickers ripped itself off, replacing Ms. White with Ms. Barr and Ms. White’s partner, Abe Vigoda, with Mr. Lewis. Last year, Ms. White was knocked to the ground. This year, Ms. Barr, right, was knocked to the ground. Will next year be Florence Henderson’s turn? Agency: BBDO New York, part of the BBDO Worldwide unit of Omnicom.

VOLKSWAGEN A loving, spot-on tribute to “Star Wars,” and its ardent fans, presented a child dressed as Darth Vader who failed at conjuring up “the Force” until he got a hand from his father and the family’s new Passat. Agency: Deutsch L.A., part of the Deutsch unit of Lowe & Partners Worldwide, owned by the Interpublic Group of Companies.(source New York Times)