More than 90 million viewers tuned in to the biggest sports-marketing event of the year and companies paid up to $2.7 million for 30 seconds' worth of commercial time to grab their attention, reports The Wall Street Journal.
Most of the Super Bowl ads were tame, but a few were culturally offensive. What do you think were the best and worst ads from Super Bowl XLII? Tell us what you think.
Here's our recap of three of the best and worst ads from 2008. Click play on the videos below to watch these clips, or watch all the Super Bowl spots on AdAge.com.
Who botched the spot?
1) Salesgenie.com did it twice. One ad, "Sales Hero," featured an Asian Indian salesman with a stereotypical accent being threatened by his white boss, a short, white man with a mustache, to boost his sales or else. After the Asian Indian employee checks out Salesgenie.com, he wins an award for best salesman of the year and accepts it on a stage standing next to his wife and seven children. The other commercial, "Panda," featured a panda-bear couple speaking with strong Asian accents, worried that their business, Ling Ling's Bamboo Furniture Shack, might go under. They call a panda psychic who refers them to Salesgenie.com. Both ads, produced in house, were found offensive by more than half a dozen ad execs, reports The Wall Street Journal.
2) Bud Light relegated most of its ad time to horses, Dalmatians, beer and Will Farrell, but one spot, "Language of Love," produced by the LatinWorks agency, offended some people. This commercial featured a group of men of multiple races/ethnicities trying to court women at a bar. A macho-looking Latino man was trying to get them to stop talking with their stereotypical accents--teaching an Asian man how to say hi, for example--and then trying to seduce a woman with his accent sounding like Antonio Banderas, but she's already taken by a short, Asian Indian man who says "Bud Light" in a thick Asian Indian accent. At one point, a Black man holds up a chicken to one woman, saying "She has your eyes" in an effort to be flirtatious.
3) Careerbuilder.com ran multiple ads during the Super Bowl, but most featured white people. The only ad featuring someone non-white was about one man's hatred for his job. It featured an Asian man who played all the roles in the commercial, including dressing him up as a blond secretary, a blonde police officer and his own bed-fellow. The ad, "Self-Help Yourself," was produced by Wieden + Kennedy.
Which were the best ads?
1) PepsiCo, No. 10 in The 2007 DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity®, featured its silent ad, "Bob's House," produced by BBDO, New York, in which two deaf men communicated using American Sign Language while drinking Pepsi and eating Frito-Lay chips. A product of ENABLE, the company's resource group for employees with and without disabilities, the spot was the first soundless commercial to air during the Super Bowl. The company also sponsored closed captioning for the pre-game show, professing its commitment to "creating an inclusive environment for people of different abilities." Read about PepsiCo's soundless Super Bowl ad.
2. Procter & Gamble, No. 14 in the Top 50, ran a commercial that highlights one of the most important things NOT to do in an interview--wear a dirty shirt. The ad, "Interview," produced by Saatchi & Saatchi, plugged Tide To Go as a means of ensuring you show up clean for the interview. In the spot, the job interviewer can't even look at the candidate because the stain on his dress-shirt pocket speaks louder than his words.Read 5 Job Interview Do's and Don'tsto learn what else not to do in an interview.
3. Coca-Cola, No. 4 in the Top 50, featured several popular ads, but one featuring basketball star Shaquille O'Neal as a jockey who wins by his own nose, not the horse's, is a strong recommendation for vitamin water. The ad, "Jockey," for Glaceau's Vitamin Water was produced by Berlin Cameron United, New York.
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