Cringe-Worthy Super Bowl Ads

 In NCI News

With the Super Bowl a few days behind us, it is a good time to think about the truly lasting impressions from the advertisements that rolled out for the big game.

Generally speaking, there wasn’t much of interest in this year’s crop.  There was nothing that looks like it will hit iconic levels achieved by Apple’s “1984” offering or even the quotable “Wassup?” campaign that launched in 1999.

Not Good to Gross You Out

If there are any standouts at all, they are for only negative reasons.  The first is from Mint Mobile, who brings us a gem about Chunky Milk.

Four days on, I don’t really remember what the spot was about.  Better mobile data rates, I’m guessing.  But I sure remember that I was turned off enough that I didn’t really care what they had to offer.

Call me naïve if you like, but I think “don’t make people not want to watch the spot” should be among the first things considered when deciding how to spend $5.2-million USD on TV advertising.

Don’t Pay Money to Make People Hate You

Also on that list is probably “don’t make a bunch of people really made at you.”  And that’s where one of the Bud Light ads starts to “shine.”  Not the one about Game of Thrones, but the one that deals with corn syrup.

Turns out, the people who grow corn are a little upset that their livelihood is being thrown under the bus.  One farmer went as far as to pour a can of Bud Light down the drain in disgust.  That isn’t much of a protest, really.  The company doesn’t care if you drink the beer, just that you buy it.

There is a reaction with a bit more clout and that comes from the National Corn Growers Association.  They have taken to social media to defend corn syrup’s use in brewing beer.

So have Coors and Miller, the brewers the ad attempts to shame.  They have used this opportunity to not spend millions of dollars on a Super Bowl ad to claim some good will with corn farmers.

Have Some Self Awareness

The last one the commercials that really failed to register with me was the SimpliSafe ad.

I don’t get this.  SimpliSafe wants me to buy their bit of technology because it totally isn’t as evil as those other bits of technology.

I feel like there is a phrase about the colour of pots and kettles that SimpliSafe may want to look up before they take this approach again.

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