For individuals that aren't sports fans, the Super Bowl isn't about winning or losing. It's not about which player is called MVP or which team hoists the Lombardi trophy overhead with the fourth quarter's end. It isn't about which coach is submerged in a very Gatorade bath. It is more about one thing, and something thing only: the commercials. Devoid of the commercials, the TV airing the Super Bowl should be powered down, or worse, turned to Lifetime.
Super Bowl commercials are costly to air; a thirty second spot in last year's game cost 2.5 million. This will make them great: advertisers don't want to waste their funds in order that they burn more midnight oil, flow more brain cells, and order considerably more Thai food for all those office all-nighters. Some advertisers succeed with brilliant commercials, others leave us scratching our heads and asking, "Seriously?" The good, the not so good, and also the ugly all find a way into our tv's on Super Bowl Sunday. The following is a listing of five of the greatest commercials generated through the years.
Apple "1984": An advertisement that aired in, well, 1984, this Apple commercial remains to be revered as one of the greatest of them all. A parody of George Orwell's novel in regards to a man residing in your global marked by totalitarianism, this ad was directed by Ridley Scott of "Blade Runner" fame. IBM plays the roll of "Big Brother" - a euphemism used by "dictatorship" in Orwell's novel - and it is featured available as a giant TV screen that rattles onto viewers of emotionless drones. Away from nowhere, a hip-looking woman enters the space and throws the new Macintosh in to the screen, shattering it along the way. The voiceover says, "On January 24th, Apple Computer will introduce Macintosh and you will understand why 1984 will not like 1984."
McDonald's "Showdown": In 1993, this commercial featured a sport of "call your shot Horse" between two of basketball's greats: Nike jordan and Larry Bird. The winner won the one and only a major Mac. Each shot was followed by a much more spectacular shot and preceded through the catch phrase, "nothing but net." As the players dueled, hitting shots off of the rafters, and off floors, it became clear that no winner would definitely be decided. The commercial ends with Jordan and Bird sitting outside together with a building as Jordan tells Bird, "Off the expressway, over the river, off the billboard, from the window, off the wall, nothing but net."
Budweiser "Clydesdales Play Ball": In 1996, this commercial proved that Clydesdales, despite popular belief, can certainly play football. Throughout a snowy pick-up game, two men look on as one team of Clydesdales scores an area goal against another. In 2004, Budweiser updated the ad to parody the playback quality replay in the NFL. This ad featured the game's referee, a zebra, reviewing a play underneath the ref tent.
Nissan Maxima "Pigeon": America loves ads with talking pigeons, specially when those pigeons could be seen as Cliff Clavin from "Cheers." Within this 1997 ad, three pigeons view a new Maxima emerge from a carwash. They immediately sense it can be their duty to, well, doodie on the car windshields. Since the theme to "Top Gun" plays in the background, two pigeons miss their target and then leave it to their leader, the Cliff Clavin-esqe bird, to fly down on the Maxima. Despite his confidence, he only ends up colliding head first using a closing garage door.
Budweiser "Cedric": Consistent with the thought that Budweiser generally has among the best Super Bowl commercials, 2001 was obviously a year where they did not disappoint. This commercial is simple enough: Cedric the Entertainer sometimes appears romancing an excellent looking women. He visits the refrigerator to acquire two Bud Lights and proceeds to complete a "happy dance," demonstrating his elation and unknowingly shaking up the bottles in the act. His date quickly relates to an unwelcome end when Cedric reveals the Bud Light, and then own it explode all over his highly annoyed date.
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