(Thumbnail image: Doritos)
The New Orleans Saints are world champions with a decisive win in the 2010 Super Bowl. But debate still rages over which ads won big.
“These ads this year were witless, they were uncreative, they were brute, they were vulgar. There was something really wrong and their wit, quote unquote, was clearly focus-grouped. It wasn’t witty. It had that witless feeling of a focus group where you’re going to vote on what’s funny.” (MSNBC)
Although Peggy Noonan told the correspondents on Morning Joe that she was not a fan of all the commercials, there were a few standouts that people are still talking about.
We’ve got perspectives from MSNBC, NBC, ABC, CNNMoney.com, KRDO-TV, and CBS.
On The Today Show, Donny Deutsch, chairman of Deutsch Inc., explains why an ad featuring two of late night TV’s biggest names was a big hit.
“Great advertising holds up a mirror to who we are, and is there anything that’s been more kind of a sign of the times, a zeitgeist, than the late night wars? For those two guys to go on together to kind of make fun of themselves just truly shows both of their iconic stature. Just a stroke of genius, both Letterman, Leno and Oprah.”
On Good Morning America, columnist Suzanne Vranica says a Snickers ad featuring Betty White (cue broll of ad here and switch to VO) stole the show according to a Wall Street Journal poll. It was a major victory for a company that suffered backlash for previous ads.
“It turns out, this is a great comeback story for Snickers. Last time they were in the Super Bowl, ad went awry and they had to pull it. It was basically two mechanics that end up eating and sharing a Snickers ad and kiss and then it turned out to be anti-gay. So this is a really great comeback story for Snickers, the Mars-owned company. Comedic violence always wins during the Super Bowl, hands down.”
And it turns out the controversial Tim Tebow Focus on Family ad didn’t seem too controversial at all. Marketing professor Tim Calkin tells CNNMoney.com the ad's message is unclear.
“That was a surprising ad because it was incredibly understated and very gentle…You could see that they were trying to avoid polarizing people. It was also very confusing, because you couldn’t figure out what was the point.”
But a Focus on the Family spokeswoman tells ABC affiliate KRDO-TV the ad was a success.
“We’ve had a 41 percent increase in web traffic already, so we’re staffing our phone center today.”
People have known for years and years how we stand on life, we didn’t feel we had to go aggressively after that.”
On The Early Show, USA Today business reporter Laura Petrecca and correspondent Maggie Rodriguez say the biggest winner in the battle for the best Super Bowl ad is the man who created this Doritos commercial.
"Hey dog...anti-bark collar? You want a Dorito, you gotta speak. Speak? Aw c'mon!"
“Major props should go out to Joshua Svoboda in Raleigh, North Carolina who made that commercial. Now Doritos said if anybody makes a commercial that is a USA Today Ad Meter favorite, we’ll give you $600,000.
They originally offered a bonus of up to a million dollars if you got the top spot. This guy got $600,000, he only spent about $200 making it. Big return on his investment, right?
Some ad agency should look at him for sure.”
So who exactly is the big winner in your opinion? Do the ads, funny or not, make you want to spend your money on these products?
Writer: Victoria Uwumarogie
Producer: Newsy Staff
