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The best and worst commercials from Super Bowl 50

This is the first time in a while that we can come away from the Super Bowl without criticizing the commercials. That could have to do with the game itself being a snooze fest. It could also have to do with the fact that most of the commercials from this year's game were actually pretty good.

From an awesome Doritos ad focusing on an unborn child wanting to take a bite out of the chip to disturbingly memorable puppy monkey baby, there was a relatively stellar crop of ads that aired during Super Bowl 50.

On the other end of the spectrum, there were some feeble attempts at creativity. A specific spot surrounding Heinz comes to mind first. Here are your best and worst commercials from Super Bowl 50.

Best: Doritos pregnancy commercial

Talk about teaching your child early. The scene is a man and a pregnant woman in the hospital as she's going through one of those regular check-ups.

The man decides that bringing Doritos into the room with them made perfect sense because that's how things work in commercials. When he noticed the baby moving around in the woman's stomach in the direction of the chips, he decides to play a game — moving the chips in his hand as a way to force the baby into kicking.

Fed up, the woman takes the chip and tosses it across the room. You can pretty much conclude what happened after without us telling you. Don't ever make a pregnant woman angry. That's rule No. 1, gents.

Best: Marilyn Monroe Snickers commercial

Actor Willem Dafoe standing over a subway platform in a dress pretending he's the great Marilyn Monroe. He eats a Snickers, and the "real" Norma Jeane shows up.

It might have been a bit corny, but we have to give Snickers some credit for originality here. The commercial was made when a gust of wind blew Dafoe's skirt up to expose his undergarments to recreate Monroe's iconic image.

For those with an understanding of film history, Monroe absolutely hated filming this specific scene for "The Seven Year Itch." That's what gave the spot a nice touch of reality for film buffs. Well, that and Dafoe making an utter fool of himself for the sake of pushing a few candy bars.

Best: Puppy Monkey Baby

Yes. Three awesome things combined. Mountain Dew hadn't done a Super Bowl commercial in nearly two decades. So when it decided to advertise the energy drink Kickstart, you knew the plan was going to be big.

Speaking solely to an audience that have shown themselves to enjoy Jack in the Box commercials with marijuana overtones, Mountain Dew kicked this one out of the park. Who in their right mind would think of a puppy monkey baby combination? No one. That's kinda the point here, isn't it? Sure, many found the commercial to be 'weird' or 'creepy', but this is also likely to be the commercial that people remember from this game, so to that extent, consider Mountain Dew to be this year's winner.

Best: "I am not that kinda of marmot" 

So many sexual innuendos here. In case you didn't know, a marmot is a rodent that's seen here in North America. It's also not human. Just to clarify all of this weirdness for you.

The commercial depicts a man and a marmot going on some sort of a bromance camping trip together. When the man gets the wrong idea and leans over to kiss the rodent, the furry creature simply responds, "I am not that kind of marmot."

If nothing else, this put the clothing line on the national map. That's the genius of advertising, as this ad will be on my mind from here on out whenever I hear 'Marmot'.

Best: Whitney Houston's "Independence Day" trailer 

Showing Houston's rendition of the National Anthem prior to Super Bowl XXV in 1991, this trailer for the sequel to the 1996 blockbuster hit got off to a rip-roaring start.

The rest of the ad didn't disappoint, as generations of Whitney and "Independence Day" fans were teased with what should be a pretty darn amazing Hollywood spectacle this upcoming summer. Well played, indeed.


Worst: Audi moon commercial

Equating a car with landing on the moon. Doing so while portraying a former president that seems depressed after leaving offense only to lighten up when his son takes him for a drive in an Audi.

There is a certain level of ridiculous involved here, even by Super Bowl ad standards. More than that, this commercial pretty much insulted the intelligence of every Super Bowl viewer. It was not creative, nor was it smart.

Worst: Avocados from Mexico

It's the year 2016. Do we still really care what color that dress was?(did we ever?) One of the most important aspects of advertising is keeping up with the times. This advertisement failed in every possible way when it came to that aspect even though it tried REALLY HARD to be the commercial that captures the zeitgeist of the time.

Worst: Deathwish Coffee

It is pretty cool that a small-business was able to actually advertise during the Super Bowl. Unfortunately, this specific commercial left a whole heck of a lot to be desired.

It lasted a total of 20 seconds and included the main character drinking coffee. Really, there wasn't much more here. Well, unless you want to count the ad fading to some sort of an unexplained voyage at sea.

Pro tip. Next time you decide to feature a small business, actually make it a halfway decent commercial.

Worst: Heinz hot dog commercial

At the risk of trashing a commercial that featured adorable dogs in costumes, do we really need to see actual hot dogs  dressed like the food to get viewers to think about Heinz condiments? Do we then need to see actual humans dressed like ketchup and mustard to nail the point home? This was an absolutely waste of money for a company that failed to get creative at every possible turn. 

Worst: Axe

Remember when the Axe fragrance company was the in thing? Me neither. Either way, Axe seemed really desperate to have people talking about it following this horrendous example of a television ad.

When rhyming goes wrong. That's pretty much the best way to depict this dumpster fire. The entire commercial was spent rhyming one word with another, none of which had anything to actually do with the product the commercial was pimping.

There was a time when Axe actually put out some pretty darn good commercials. Much like the quality of its product, that's taken a deep nosedive.

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