Super Bowl Sunday is the greatest unofficial holiday in the United States of America. It isn’t just about the football game, there’s so much more to the annual celebration than that. There’s the food: buffalo wings, chili, hot dogs, burgers, sausage, steak, sandwiches, and anything else high in cholesterol or fat that you can think of. There’s the gambling, an estimated $8.2 billion placed in bets last year with half of adult Americans putting their money on the line.
And then there’s the commercials, the best of the best commercials you will see each and every year. At a price of $3.5 million for 30 seconds of airtime, and over 150 million people tuning in, this is the one advertisement that marketing departments will spend weeks up0n weeks creating. Here’s my take on some of the best ever Super Bowl Sunday advertisements, in no particular order.
Apple – 1984
By far the most powerful commercial on this list, and probably the only serious one, Apple hired esteemed director Ridley Scott to introduce Macintosh to the world for the first time. Set in an Orwellian world in which it seems masses of people are blankly staring at a man on a screen, Apply boldly states that when their new line of computers launches just two days later, the world will see “why 1984 won’t be like 1984”.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYecfV3ubP8
Terry Tate, Office Linebacker – 2003
Employees taking too long on their lunch breaks? Did that guy forget to fill the water cooler, again? Well, the answer to all your workplace problems is here: Terry Tate, Office Linebacker. This is part of a series of Reebok advertisements that premiered during Super Bowl 37. The premise is that a business hired Terry Tate as an enforcer of sorts, who tackles employees who do wrong. Tate was played by Lester Speight, a former Morgan State linebacker that never made it to the pros.
The Force – 2011
Probably the most acclaimed television ad to run last year, it features a young boy dressed as infamous Star Wars villain Darth Vader. He walks around his house, trying to use “the force” on various household items but to no avail. When his dad pulls into the driveway in his shiny new Volkswagen Passat, Vader runs outside to give his powers one last shot. The result is a very clever showcase of VW’s new wireless engine-starting key.
Mean Joe Greene – 1979
Charles Edward Greene, better known as “Mean Joe” Greene is one of the greatest to ever play the game, a dominant defensive force in the league for years on the Pittsburgh Steelers. But his second claim to fame is starring in what is always mentioned amongst the greatest Super Bowl commercials ever to hit the airwaves. Watch what happens what a young fan shares his soda with Greene in this 1979 Coca-Cola ad.
McDonalds Showdown – 1993
This epic commercial starts inconspicuously with Michael Jordan entering a basketball gym and telling Larry Bird he has a Big Mac and fries. Bird challenges MJ to a game of H-O-R-S-E for the food, and the two superstars begin a never-ending battle for the greasy McDonald’s value meal. It doesn’t matter what it was advertising, anything featuring the two of them would’ve made this list.
Wassuuupppp! – 2000
You probably already remember this classic just from the title, but in case you don’t here’s a quick refresher. A couple guys are sitting around, watching football and drinking some Buds, your typical beer ad. But when one of them calls a friend, he answers by screaming out… well, you probably figured you it out. It only gets funnier as it goes on.
Budweiser Clydesdales Bow To NYC – 2006
I lied, one more serious commercial. Just months after the September 11th attack on the World Trade Centers, this ad showed the legendary Budweiser Clydsedale horses walking in front of the cityscape of New York. As the camera pans out, they bow down and a powerful reminder, “We’ll Never Forget”, fills the screen. The ad only aired this one time.
Budweiser Frogs – 1995
I see a trend developing here, and it’s that I really like Budweiser commercials. Or maybe they just have an incredible marketing team. In the last ad on the list, you’ll see a few frogs try and pronounce a new word. It’s just one of those memorable advertisements that you’ll never really forget.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wL218crs2ew
