My top five 2020 Super Bowl ads are: Google, Hyundai, Jeep, Cheetos and Amazon. All of theses ads either connected with me through humor or through deeper emotions. Google’s ad did not feature celebrities or jokes. An elderly begins looking through pictures and memories of him and his wife using the Google Assistant feature. The pictures that he pulls up and the things he tells the Assistant to remind him of, could tear anyone up. While the ad is very emotional and heartwarming, it also shows all of the ways the Google Assistant can be of help around your house. They do a great job of combining a touching story of an elderly man with their product. Google’s commercial was my personal favorite from the Super Bowl. My second favorite commercial was Hyundai. Hyundai brought together there famous Bostonians: actors Chris Evans, John Krasinski, Rachel Dratch and baseball legend David Ortiz. They centered the ad around the new Hyundai Sonata’s ability to “smart park”. However, the Bostonians pronounced it as “smaht pahk”. I thought that the joke was a great way to connect the new car’s features especially through the use of famous celebrities. My third favorite commercial was Jeep. The 2020 Super Bowl fell on Groundhog’s Day. Jeep took the opportunity to show off their new Jeep Gladiator. Legendary actor Bill Murray took Punxsutawney Phil on a few adventures in his Jeep. He showed off the versatility of it as he did something different every day. My fourth favorite commercial was Cheetos. Cheetos had a guy eating Cheetos but he can’t help people in simple tasks because he has cheese on his fingers. Every time he can’t touch something MC Hammer’s famous line “You can’t touch this” plays. It was an amusing but straightforward way of promoting Cheetos. My fifth favorite commercial was Amazon. Amazon has Ellen use Alexa for a simple task of turning down the thermostat. Ellen then asks “What do you think people did before Alexa”? The ad then shows several clips of people, with names similar to Alexa, completing tasks that the smart speaker can do instantly. The ad does a good job of showing the viewer everything Alexa can do while also providing humor to make it funny.
My bottom five Super Bowl ads are: Secret, Avocados from Mexico, Kia, Genesis and Yellow Tail. The worst super bowl ad was Secret. Secret has a football game come down to a final field goal. The kicker makes it and when two players take off their helmets, the crowd realizes they are women. The crowd is initially shocked but begins to cheer. The ad is trying to promote equality between men and women, which is a perfectly good issue. I think that the way they promoted deodorant was very awkward. The ad was extremely off topic and there was no connection. At the beginning of the ad there was no clear conclusion no what the commercial was promoting. The second worst commercial was Avocados from Mexico. The commercial has someone promote items to accompany your avocados with. The avocados seem like background items to the fake items that the “food network” was promoting. The third worst commercial was Kia. The car company has standout rookie running back Josh Jacobs talking to his much younger self. He tells his younger self to believe in himself because it will be difficult growing up homeless. While I am extremely happy for Josh Jacobs’s success and his ability to overcome adversity, I think that Kia did not promote their car as much as they should. If the commercial was to inspire young kids to pursue their dreams even if they are not as fortunate as others, then it would have been a perfect commercial. A thirty second ad in the Super Bowl costs millions of dollars and Kia could have promoted their car more while still sticking with Jacobs’s story. The fourth worst Super Bowl ad is Genesis. Genesis has John Legend and Chrissy Teigen arrive at a party. The party is supposed to be a going-away party for “old luxury”. Teigen pokes fun at multiple people at the party and she expects Legend to make a grand entrance. Legend shows up late in a new Genesis car. After Legend and Teigen exchange banter, the two drive off in their new car. The commercial felt extremely awkward because you had no idea what it was about or why they were at this party. The introduction of Genesis’s new car was awkward. Teigen seemed to take up too much of the spotlight and she became annoying which took away the object of trying to sell the car. The fifth worst commercial was Yellow Tail. The ad was very uneventful and forgettable because I did not know what Yellow Tail was before the ad. After the ad, I still was unclear about what it was. Yellowtail should try to inform people about what they make instead of just showing a couple clips of being having a good time.
Jacob Sanders 