Top 5 Best & Worst Super Bowl Commercials
Ed Note: Our sister site Awful Ads breaks down the world of advertising and sports with the same snark and humor we like to dish out to announcers and the media on a regular basis. With the Super Bowl being the biggest night of the year for commercials, the Awful Ads team collected the 5 best and 5 worst ads from Super Bowl XLVII.
Super Bowl 47 is in the books. Now that we have crowned the Baltimore Ravens champions, we can also close the book on the single largest advertising day of 2013. As always, the advertisements were ... interesting. There were several winners, plenty of losers and even a few that still have us scratching our head.
At an average cost of $3.8 million for 30 seconds, which companies made the most of their time and which would have been better off saving their money?
Disagree with something on our list or think we made a glaring omission? Let us know in the comments.
Five Best Ads from Super Bowl 47
By: David Rogers
Overall, I thought the 2013 crop of commercials were not only pretty weak, but that they also had some of the most divisive commercials in recent memory. Very few commercials could be unanimously picked as either a winner or a loser. Over on Twitter, the @Awful_Ads feed would be filled with commentary both ridiculing and praising the same commercial.
In no particular order, the five best commercials from Super Bowl 47.
M&M - Love Ballad
M&M's spot aired very early during the game, setting the tone for what I hoped would be a memorable crop of commercials. However, even several breaks after M&M's spot aired, I was still chuckling at the red M&M saying he won't do that, referring to letting people lick him, but yelling that he still kind of likes it. M&M's early spot proved to be one of the commercials I enjoyed the most.
There's just one problem - where's yellow? I miss that bumbling peanut M&M.
NFL Network - Leon Sandcastle
NFL Network might have stolen the show with Leon Sandcastle. Their spot which placed Deion Sanders in an afro wig and a fantastic mustache was one of the night's most memorable spots.
Who could have guessed that an ad talking about the NFL Draft and NFL Combine might have been the best of the night?
Samsung - Next Big Thing
No fair, Samsung. You knew we'd praise any commercial that featured Saul Goodman from Breaking Bad in such an ironic way.
The ad opened fairly slowly, with Paul Rudd and Seth Rogen doing what Rudd and Rogen do. The pace picked up quite a bit, as did the humor, as soon as Saul (Bob Odenkirk) brings the two into his office. Add in a Lebron James cameo and you have one of the most enjoyable, as well as one of the best written, commercials of Super Bowl 47.
Better call Saul!
Budweiser - Brotherhood
Despite releasing their Clydesdale ad a few days early, Budweiser still walks away owning claim to one of the best ads of the Super Bowl. Their "Brotherhood" spot might also be one of the most touching and classy ads of the Super Bowl - something we all needed after watching another round of Go Daddy ads.
It's worth noting this was Budweiser's strongest in a 2013 effort that was overall pretty mediocre. Those Black Crown ads were forgettable and failed to send a message other than "We're for hipsters". Those Bud Light ads failed to stick in minds despite running at nearly every commercial break.
Thank goodness for Clydesdales.
Mercedes-Benz - Soul
Mercedes-Benz makes the cut as they accomplished what very few companies were able to do with their ads - actually get a message about their product across. Star power (Willem Dafoe, Kate Upton, Usher) combined with a message that resonated ("reasonable" price) to produce an ad that was both fun and functional.
...I've been suspecting Willem Dafoe might be the Devil ever since his insanely creepy lip quiver in drag from Boondock Saints.
Honorable Mentions
Oreo just missed the cut on my list. The idea was far from original, but I'll admit I chuckled with some of the quiet talking in the library. Amy Poehler could star in a commercial for just about any product or company and I'd probably enjoy it - even one for Best Buy.
I was left on the fence with both Doritos spots. I find goats funny (don't ask me why), but one has to question if Doritos really wants to position themselves as the food of choice for an animal that doubles as a trash compactor. The other spot with burly men as princesses was humorous but it's a pretty overplayed concept.
Five Worst Ads from Super Bowl 47
By: Reva Friedel
Audi – Prom
A teenager is headed to the prom by himself, which as an aside, let me say is not a big deal if you go with a group of friends, but he’s alone. Sad. Anyway, his dad lets him take the Audi, and all of a sudden he has the deluded self-confidence of Zack Morris as he parks in the Principal’s spot (Zack would totally do that) and strides right up to the prom queen for an awkward make out. But prom queen doesn’t KNOW he drove the Audi, so it makes that moment all the more confusing. And what kind of janky high school is this that holds their prom in a gym? So many things wrong with this commercial – and it was a minute long, so Audi probably paid like $10 million for it.
Go Daddy – Bar Refaeli’s Kiss
This was the most uncomfortable commercial I’ve ever seen – Bar Rafaeli making out with some nerdy teenager. The close up is too much and poor Bar actually looks like she wants to dry heave when they finally pull away from their lip lock. And for the record, I’m still not entirely sure what Go Daddy does.
Calvin Klein Concept
If Calvin Klein was trying to one-up CHANEL on confusing ads that make no sense, then mission accomplished. Immediately after that commercial aired, 40 million dudes tweeted, “hey guys, did you like my CK ad?” So, if the goal was to throw an almost naked model at us to gain attention – then bravo.
Oreo- Choose a Side
Getting into physical altercations over a cookie? In a library? Okay, sure. The only thing I feel strongly enough to throw things over is shoddy pass interference calls or the like, but that’s just me.
Beck’s Sapphire
All I could think about when I saw this commercial was Finding Nemo. The fish totally looks like Nemo. And what is the point of having a fish serenade a bottle of beer to “No Diggity?” I can’t understand how THAT became the approved concept. Unless an acid trip was involved.
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Disagree with the ads we picked? Think we overlooked one of your favorites? Sound off in the comments!
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It looks like that a bunch of company's 9 million for a mnute ad or 18 million for a 2 minute ad during this year's Super Bowl!
I am suprised that CBS didn't promote it's shows more during their coverage of the Super Bowl this year, especially since NBC promoted it's show a lot during it's coverage of the 2012 Super Bowl and FOX Promoted it's show a lot during their coverage of the 2011 Super Bowl and lastly,i actually liked both Bud Light commercials with Stevie Wonder in them too!!!
I actually enjoyed this commercal better than the Meredes-Benz Soul commercial and that is saying something because i like a big majority of the songs that 5 time Grammy Award Wnner User makes too!!!
Actually a 30 seconds ad in the Super Bowl this year, actually cost a company 4.5 and not 3.8 Million!
What about the new GEICO commercial for this year's Super Bowl that had Dikembe Mutombo blocking things that was on the CBS Super Bowl Today Pregame show this year!
I liked the new GEICO commercial that had Dikembe Mutombo blocking things that was on the CBS Super Bowl Today Pregame Show this year, better than the Budweiser Brotherhood commercial and it was mainly because of the comedy factor!
Where's the Tide commercial. I thought that was the best of the night, yet it didn't even make honorable mention?
The Taco Bell ad was terrible, and the crop overall left a lot to be desired.
GregMolumby i agree with you, i liked the Tide Commercial a lot better than the Samsung the next big thing commercial!
I thought the Taco Bell ad was funny and I liked the Coke "Mirage" ad too. The GoDaddy.com, I actually liked. It gives hope for us guys to make out with a really, really hot chick. The Budweiser Clydesdale was the best. Very emotional. I actually liked the Huyndai commerical with the kid picking out his football team.
The worst, I could go with the Calvin Klein ad, the M&M ad, The Audi prom ad. Oh, I might be in the minority but I thought the Seth Rogan/Paul Rudd spot was awful. I didnt laugh once and what was the point of adding Lebron James?
In fact, the commericals as a whole were not very good.
the best were the paul harvey and taco bell commercial. That top 5 list he put together is wrong. Only good one of those were the clydesdale. The rest of his list sucked.
The best local ad in certain TV markets which countered the Go Daddy commercial was Old Milwaukee Beer which WIll Farrell lip-locked with an Asian woman on the bus.
The Taco Bell Commercial was awesome and it did not make the list.
The worst has to be CK.
Here in the Los Angeles local ads, the worst has to be Scientology.
the M&Ms ad is awful because they used an awful Meatloaf song. Im not looking forward to seeing that pop up on tv for the next 6 months
"And what kind of janky high school is this that holds their prom in a gym?" Every single high school I'm familiar with. I was under the impression that's the standard place to hold prom.
What about the Ram ad with Farmers and the words of Paul Harvey? I thought that was easily the most powerful ad of the game. You could've heard a pin drop at the party I was at, everyone shut up and listened.
AndyCoppens everybody at my Super Bowl Party including me thought that the Beck's Saphire commercal was better than the Ram Trucks ad with farmers and the words of Paul Harvey!
