4th Annual Top 10 Super Bowl Commercials

Following the mantra of better late than never, here is my 4th annual list of what I think were the top 10 commercials presented during the Super Bowl.

My list of the top 10 commercials is more interactive than you might think, in that I have actually posted a downloadable video to go along with each one of the 10 adverts. Additionally, I also posted video of a spot that aired during the pre-game but nevertheless deserves to be mentioned along with the top 10 commercials aired during the football game.

To view any of the videos, merely right-click on the “right-click here” words listed with each commercial and select “save link as...” or “save target as...” if you're a poor soul who still has yet to adapt to Mozilla’s Firefox. Even though I don’t think it’s possible to stream the videos directly off the sever anyway, please do make sure to download the videos directly to your computer – that way you can replay them as often as you like without using any my bandwidth, which, due to my parsimonious nature, is severely limited. Just try back later if you happen to get an error message saying I have used up my hourly allowance of bandwidth from Geocities.

So, now, I do believe you ought to see the list:

10. Ameriquest – You’re Getting Robbed
A man’s trip to a convenience store gets rough after his cellphone chat is gravely misunderstood. Quite a funny commercial, particularly when the old woman, presumably the ma of the ma & pa store, gets out her industrial strength cattle prodder.
Right-click here to download this commercial

9. Emerald Nuts – Unicorns, Santa, and Easter Bunny Do Exist
A nut-loving dad takes grief from unicorn, Santa Claus, and the Easter Bunny for not sharing his tasty snack with his daughter. Though I didn’t think this commercial was the best of the best initially, upon seeing it again, it really started to grow on me.
Right-click here to download this commercial

8. Anheuser-Busch – Too Many Clydesdales
An ostrich, giraffe, kangaroo, and cute pig audition to join the elite group of Clydesdales. A creative continuation from last year’s Clydesdale commercial, in which a puny donkey managed to join the ranks of the Clydesdales. Though not as good as last year’s spot, which I nonetheless ranked number one, this commercial was good enough to warrant a spot on my top 10 list.
Right-click here to download this commercial

7. Anheuser-Busch – Desert Island Living
Cedric’s island dream turns into nightmare by nagging beauties. Very humorous commercial with an unexpected ending that sees Cedric trading in living with voluptuous vixens for living with a dog and a grill.
Right-click here to download this commercial

6. Mastercard – Family Gathering
Famous brand icons from the Jolly Green Giant to the Pillsbury Doughboy are brought together by MasterCard. From the time I read the descriptions of all the commercials that would be televised during the Super Bowl, I figured this commercial would be one of the best. In the end, it did live up to expectations. I particularly enjoyed how seamlessly Mr. Clean was weaved into the end of the advertisement.
Right-click here to download this commercial

5. CareerBuilder – Monkey Office
A man can't get any work done because he works with a bunch of happy-go-lucky monkeys. The best of CareerBuilder.com’s monkey spots, and the only one to break into my top 10 list. Although other people may have liked them better, I just didn’t think the other monkey spots were worthy enough to be placed in with the other 9 commercials on this list.
Right-click here to download this commercial

4. Ameriquest – Spaghetti Cat
A man’s romantic dinner goes awry after cat knocks over spaghetti sauce, leading to an appearance of something far different from the truth. Ameriquest had a good experience in the Super Bowl this year, offering two very inventive, very highly-regarded commercials and being able to sponsor a halftime show that went off without a hitch.
Right-click here to download this commercial

3. GoDaddy.com – Wardrobe Malfunction
A buxom woman's wardrobe malfunction upsets a censorship committee. Here is a commercial that you either love or hate, and it appears that most people are leaning toward the hate category. I, however, thought this advertisement was funny, particularly the so unsubtle way that the woman’s strap comes off her outfit. Credit must be given to GoDaddy for daringly doing what no other company was brave enough to do: poke fun at last year’s halftime incident.
Right-click here to download this commercial

2. Anheuser-Busch – Pilotless Plane
A pilot jumps out of his own plane for six-pack of Bud Light that a skydiver refuses. Even though I know how the commercial was going to play out before it aired, because the newspaper lists that showed what commercials were going to air said a pilot was going to jump out of a plane to get Bud Light, I was pleasantly surprised by the way Anheuser-Busch crafted this commercial. Still, however, this commercial was not good enough to take the top spot on the list.
Right-click here to download this commercial

1. FedEx – Top 10 Ad Tips
Burt Reynolds dances with a bear in an ad that features the top 10 Super Bowl ad tips. From talking to people on Monday, it seems like most people somehow forgot about this especially funny and imaginative commercial, which aired early on in the first quarter. Nevertheless, I decided this advertisement earned first place distinction. Oh, and the tips are actually quite true; each one of them seems to be used at least once every year by the advertising companies responsible for producing the Super Bowl commercials.
Right-click here to download this commercial

Honorable Mention
DirecTV – A TV Life
This commercial, because it aired during the pre-game show and not the football game, could not be considered for the top 10 list. It’s a shame too, since it likely would have ranked very high – possibly even first – on the list. If you missed viewing the commercial, what it does is shows the interconnectedness between people and TV. The commercial beautifully juxtaposes, through the use of stunning visual effects, the transformation of a boy into a young man, adult man, and old man with the transformation of the ordinary household television since the 1950s. I also particularly like the fact the commercial ends the same way as it begins: with a boy watching television with his grandfather – it illustrates the cyclical nature of life itself.
Right-click here to download this commercial