Giants 17, GoDaddy.com 0: Commentary from a disinterested third party

Thank God for exciting fourth quarters, because this year the Super Bowl ads were a snooze. A word of advice for anyone who is contemplating spending $2.5 million on a Super Bowl ad: have a concept first. It ain't worth it if the commercial sucks.

Some had promise--you always have to give CareerBuilder a chance, but geckos performing the dance theme to Michael Jackson's "Thriller"? What was Sobe thinking? That ad left us all scratching our heads and wondering what decade we were in, and who was the model dancing with them? One vote was for Naomi Campbell, another for Rhianna.

Speaking of throwbacks from the 80s, why Tom Petty? I respect the man and his music, but, well, why? I kept wondering if there would be a special cameo or toss-in performance. Where's Timbaland when you need him? Just hearing a little verse or two of "The Way I Are" would have been enough to push the half-time show into the 21st Century.

I get it--Tom Petty won't cuss or have a wardrobe malfunction on stage, but the intro to his set with the arrow approaching and penetrating the heart struck me as 1) too literal, then 2) kinda phallic. Jordin Sparks: great voice but still thinking we're all going to hop on the phone and vote when she's done: she looked nervous before she sang the National Anthem. What's the first thing to remember in the Superstardom handbook: Fake it till you make it, baby. We can't smell you from our living rooms. Make it work.

This year the planning committee seems to have lost its sense of surprise or appropriate nostalgia. Remember Prince jamming to Purple Rain in a torrential downpour? Ca c'est perfection.

Comments

[crockpot lady]

I totally saw the arrow as phallic. And apparently pointing that out in front of my parents and grandparents isn't considered very classy.

[Bill]

My wife swears that Sparks lip synced the National Anthem. Evidently she gets nervous even before non-performances.

[Going Like Sixty]

Arrow into heart is phallic? Oh jeez, Edith, stifle. (Keeping with the ancient history theme)
What day is February 14? You need to stop traveling so much!

[genevieve]

Oh, Prince in the rain. That sounds sublime.