Super Bowl ads? Not that super. One Super Moms Opinion…

I love football and I am a huge Pats fan. I have also worked in advertising and marketing for 20 years. So as you can imagine this year’s game was for me a BIG disappointment! It wasn’t just because my beloved team crashed and burned on what was to be their coronation in the Hall of Perfection. It was because these were some of the worst Super Bowl ads ever. My viewpoints about to be expressed are not necessarily those of my employer. They are observations of a focus group of one: a Super-fan/Super-mom.

Reality TV culture has infiltrated our commercials. Kina Grannis won the Doritos-Idol contest and while I was prepared to hate it in the same way that I hate reality TV, I was pleasantly surprised. She has a beautiful voice. The tune was catchy. I didn’t have to cover my children’s eyes as it played or mute the language. I am glad Doritos is giving an unknown a chance but I am not sure it would make me buy high sodium, high fat snack foods for me or my family.

Careerbuilder.com, which seems harmless enough of a company, was a loser for me. Bloody hearts jumping out of shirts; sweet little fireflies being consumed by spiders, now this is the stuff that bad dreams are made of! The Super Bowl is a family event and we watch it with our kids. Did we not learn a lesson when Janet’s wardrobe malfunctioned? Like all good parents, when your kid is turned off you tend to follow suit in solidarity. The only thing this ad accomplished was make me happy that I like my job.

Salesgenie.com should be taken out back and have bamboo shoots stuck under their fingernails. My kids were questioning if that was mocking an entire community. (Remember, schools teach cultural sensitivity these days!) Ling Lings Bamboo Furniture, Ramesh and his Widgets and I Dream of Genie were not only bordering on political incorrectness, they were just dumb. Come on, do we really think Ramesh is going to save his job and provide for his seven kids because of 100 Sales Genie leads? The ads were insulting at best and patronizing in the least.

On the other hand, I loved the Tide-to-Go Interview. My Talking Stain was funny, memorable and like the stains on my kids’ clothes, it gets my attention. I went to mytalkingstain.com (completely inspired by Office Max and the Dancing Elves of holiday fame) and couldn’t wait to upload my kid’s photos. Children love to see themselves on-screen, e-mail their likenesses to their grandparents and all the while I am interacting with a brand. I already buy Tide, but this reinforces my relationship with them. Today Tide made me laugh in addition reminding me of their key product attribute—they clean clothes. That little value add, a smile during a crazy day, can go a along way for a mom.

I am grateful that I didn’t have to explain erectile dysfunction or Viagra to my kids. But in general, I was underwhelmed with the quality of the ads and messages. I was uninspired by companies who waste millions of dollars and opportunities to communicate a real message on silly cartoon characters that tell me nothing about the benefits of their products. I am disappointed that my team wasn’t super and that the ads for the most part were super-boring.

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