SURVEY SAYS: What Was Your Favorite Super Bowl Commercial?

February 4, 2009 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - It may have been the quality of the game, or the closeness of the score...

Regardless, for the first time in a long time, during last Sunday’s Super Bowl I found myself using commercial breaks for their “traditional” purpose, rather than making a point of sticking around for the commercials (I know, too much information).  

All in all, I think that was the right choice (for me, anyway).   Still, there were some commercials worth sticking around for – and some that, unfortunately, I missed.

This week I asked readers to share which one(s) were your favorite(s) – and which you thought was the worst.  

And the winner(s) are… This week’s survey answers are HERE


If you can’t remember the commercials – didn’t see them the first time – or just want to relive the moment(s), try  HERE

If you can't remember the commercials - didn't see them the first time - or just want to relive the moment(s), we've got most of them below:

The most popular commercial was the Doritos: Crystal Ball, and, though it drew just 17% of the total votes cast, that was nearly twice as many as Monster's "Need a New Job" (the one with the moose head hanging in the boss' office, and the "rest" looming over the non-boss), which garnered 11.24% .


Budweiser's Clydesdale "fetch" was third with 10.11% , and E*Trade's talking babies were fourth with just under 9% of the total.

Careerbuilder.com's "Tips" (the one that incessantly replayed situations that ostensibly proved it was time for you to think about changing jobs) was fifth-most highly ranked ( 5.62% ) - but ironically was also one of the most highly ranked among the "worst" (more on that in a minute).   Meanwhile, Budweiser's Clydesdale Circus and BudLight's "Me eting" tied for 6 th , with 4.5% each.


Now, just to make things "complicated" (for me), I also asked folks to rank their second favorite commercial.   Not everyone had one of those, but most took the time to pick one, and of those, Budweiser's Clydesdale's Fetch was the most frequently cited second choice ( 12.66% ), while Budweiser's Clydesdale Circus and Doritos' Crystal Ball tied for second-most cited second choice (try saying that five times fast), with about 9% each.  

Bud Light's "Meeting" was the fourth-most cited here, followed by Firestone's "taters", NBC's LAMO, and Pedigree's "Crazy Pets" tied for fifth-most cited.

Now, as for the worst commercials, Cash4Gold.com's "Here's Money took "top" honors ( "Poor, poor Ed McMahon" noted one reader), cited by 12.5% , with GoDaddy.com's "Enhanced" a close second ( 11.25% ), followed by (as noted above) CareerBuilder.com's "Tips" (8.75% ).

All of those closed ahead of the 7.50% who said there were "too many to count" in the worst category - and that tied with a rare black eye for Budweiser, whose bit with Conan Obrien's vroom, vroom party starter for fourth place.   GoDaddy.com's "Shower" drew 6.25% , while Teleflora's Talking Flowers, Pepsi's Pepsuber, and E*Trade's Talking Babies all tied with 5% .

Verbatims

There were some fun verbatims this week to give the survey results some "flavor':

"When the Bridgestone/Mr. Potato head commercial came on, someone commented that it sounded like our mother. When she lost her lips at the end of the commercial and couldn't speak, my dad was laughing so hard, he almost choked."

"Car companies promoting luxury vehicles driving recklessly? No thanks! I hope PETA is on Career Builder's case over the poor koala!"  (from the Careerbuilder.com "Tips", in case you were wondering).

"Thank you" to Go Daddy and their catchy tune that my 5 year old quickly started to sing. There seems to be a fine line between commercials and wardrobe malfunctions."

"Coke and Clydesdales were the best. Many of the rest of them were in questionable taste, at best. Sorry to sound like a fuddy duddy, but if I'd been watching with pre-teens, I would have been furious."

"The Doritos Crystal Ball was the funniest, and the fact that some random guys made it for $2,000 makes it even better. The Pepsi Anthem was awesome - great music, and it was fun to see the then/now. I do kind of miss the Bud Bowls. We used to bet on which team would win - Bud or Bud Light. We bet on everything at our Super Bowl Parties."

"Just about every man I've asked loved the Doritos crystal ball commercial. When I asked them why seeing another male in such pain is so amusing to them, the response is typically, 'because it wasn't me'. But then again, I'm female and truly enjoyed the Mr. and Mrs. Potato head commercial. And no, I don't nag my husband about his driving. I did once and he pulled over (on the interstate) and insisted that I drive the rest of the way."

"Must be a tough economic situation we're in when we can still debate over million dollar commercials for products we do not want, or cannot afford."

"I also didn't watch many, but the E Trade babies made me and everyone else in the room laugh out loud! I don't want to sound like a prude, but I was pretty disgusted by a few very sexist and insulting commercials. One in particular for Doritos showed a man blasting off a young woman's clothes to reveal lingerie. Please. That little gem was followed by the GoDaddy ad where two college punks have special powers to make "anything happen" and they use it to make two women shower together. Now, I'm not a party pooper, but those seriously made me mad."

"It must be the economy. Looks like budgets might be a little tighter than usual. The Clydesdales are always good to watch, the careerbuilder ad was hysterical, and the football ballerinas were funny and different. GoDaddy has sunk to an even more puerile and offensive level than before, and I'm sorry, but the baby trading stocks has outlived his shelf life."

"A diversion. They interrupted the game."

"After watching the "Teleflora: Talking Flowers" commercial, I turned to my Husband and said, "You better not send me flowers from a box for Valentine's Day." (hint hint)"

But this week's Editor's Choice goes to the reader who said, "Thanks for the "Too many to count" category. It fit my take on the commercials perfectly. Watching the commercials I have to think "Female, Over 50" is not a target audience for most of the advertisers."

Thanks to everyone who participated in our survey!

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