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Ads Were Not So Super

Nice tries but no touchdowns as advertisers stick to the familiar

By Rob Quinn, Newser Staff

Posted Feb 2, 2009 6:11 AM CST

(Newser) – Given the $3 million, 30-second opportunity to speak to the biggest audience of the year, advertisers reached deep into their bag of tricks last night and pulled out the same old formulas, Stuart Elliot writes in the New York Times. Slapstick, celebrities, sex, nostalgia, and plenty of animals filled the field but few sponsors dared to do anything different, Elliot notes, "as if bonuses were being awarded on Madison Avenue for the least creative briefs."

The economy and the national mood may have led advertisers like Bud Light, Coke Zero, Doritos, and Pepsi Max to go with broad physical comedy rather than try anything more adventurous, Elliot writes. Themes of thrift and altruism dominated ads from the likes of Denny's and Frosted Flakes, but the most telling sign of the times may have been Cash4Gold's spot featuring cash-strapped Ed McMahon and MC Hammer selling off their worldly goods.

[Images (4)]

[Videos (5)]

[Quotes (1)]

New England Patriots' Matt Light, center, New York Giants' Justin Tuck, left, and Baltimore Ravens' Ray Lewis appear in a Super Bowl XLIII commercial for SoBe Life Water. (AP Photo/PepsiCo Inc.)

A screenshot from a Teleflora ad for Super Bowl XLIII. (AP Photo/Teleflora)

A screenshot taken from a Bridgestone ad for Super Bowl XLIII. (AP Photo/Bridgestone)

A screenshot taken from H&R Block's Super Bowl XLIII ad. (AP Photo/H&R Block)

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Super Bowl ad from Cash4Gold features Ed McMahon and MC Hammer getting rid of their gold. (SuperBowlSammy)

Sobe's Super Bowl 2009 ad features ballet-dancing football players and computer-generated critters. (haloalternative)

Coca Cola's Super Bowl 2009 ad features animated bugs stealing a Coke from a snoozing picknicker. (variousyt)

Super Bowl 2009 ad from CareerBuilder. (theusrocks)

Budweiser's 2009 Super Bowl ad, featuring a love affair between a Clydesdale and a circus horse. (alfatengo)

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If you enjoy watching men tossed out a window, struck by a bus, hit by a golf club, tackled by a football player or laid low by a snow globe to the crotch, then this year’s Super Bowl was for you.
- Stuart Elliot

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Ads Were Not So Super