If you were let down by this year’s Super Bowl commercials, it’s not your fault. Commentators built up hype for the contest between the NFL’s number one offense and the number one defense for weeks. On top of that, Super Bowl commercials have a reputation for being more entertaining than the game itself. Sunday night left almost all but diehard Seahawks fans disenchanted with a blowout game and lackluster commercials.
Overall, the commercials of Super Bowl XLVIII were not as comical as most of us expected. However, Sunday’s big game brought us advertisements that were thought-provoking, clever, and record-setting.
On top of the commercial hype, Twitter took center stage once again after Oreos quick and cheeky response to the blackout that happened in 2013. JCPenney stole the Twitter spotlight this year with a series of…poorly typed (interpreted as drunk) texts.
Who kkmew theis was ghiong tob e a baweball ghamle. #lowsscorinh 5_0
— JCPenney (@jcpenney) February 2, 2014
As more and more companies saw these posts, they couldn’t help to react.
Eat a #SNICKERS, you’re not you when you’re hungry RT @JCPenney Who kkmew theis was ghiong tob e a baweball ghamle. #lowsscorinh 5_0
— SNICKERS® (@SNICKERS) February 3, 2014
Hey @jcpenney need a designated driver?
— Kia Motors America (@Kia) February 3, 2014
Shortly after two typo-filled tweets, JCPenney let us in on their little trick. They were #TweetingWithMittens in order to promote their new mittens. They followed this with photos of their staffers typing with mittens in a warm office and even added in some photos of them eating Doritos and attempting to open a Snickers all with the “GO USA” mittens on.
Oops…Sorry for the typos. We were #TweetingWithMittens. Wasn’t it supposed to be colder? Enjoy the game! #GoTeamUSA pic.twitter.com/e8GvnTiEGl
— JCPenney (@jcpenney) February 3, 2014
Coca Cola gave us a polemical rendition of America the Beautiful, although many of those who took offense were (and still might be) under the impression that it is our national anthem. Additionally, we witnessed the return of Cheerios’ multiracial family that sparked controversy in the summer of 2013.
A larger-than-usual amount of commercials reached out to the good in viewers. Chevy raised awareness for World Cancer Day. Microsoft reminded us of how much positive impact technology has on our lives.U2 and Bank of America raised money for RED by giving away music, and Chrysler teamed up with Bob Dylan to revitalize our passion for American-made cars. And as usual, Budweiser melted our hearts with cute animals.
Sunday night did deliver some comic relief to those left brokenhearted by the game. RadioShack issued an ‘80s star-studded commercial making fun of its reputation of having outdated stores, Hyundai reminded us teenage boys are still completely unable to function around girls, and John Stamos still only has one thing on his mind (other than Dannon Oikos).
Despite the loss of viewers over the second half of the game, Esurance came away with the most widely talked (or tweeted) about commercial of all. Claiming they saved $1.5 million by airing their commercial after the game, Esurance vowed to pass along that savings to one lucky person who tweeted using ‘#EsuranceSave30.’ The following Wednesday, John Krasinski and Jimmy Kimmel surprised the winner with the 1.5 million…in cash!
In other commercials, Scarlet Johanson’s operating system enjoyed homemade soda, Volkswagen’s Engioneers had rainbow butts, and Danica Patrick yet again made a Super Bowl commercial appearance but went largely unrecognized in a muscle suit for GoDaddy’s small business solutions.
How did you feel about the commercials this year? Do you think that the “commercial teaser” is here to stay? Let’s talk about it!
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