Puppy meets Clydesdale in Budweiser’s commercial.
America’s favorite Sunday finally arrived complete with snacks galore, Bruno Mars and the best commercials aired on television. Of course, watching the game and the halftime show is great, but what the majority of viewers look forward to the most is the commercials. However, according to Murray State students, the commercials this year were a little disappointing.
“I thought the Super Bowl commercials this year weren’t very good compared to previous years,” said Kelsey Henderson, senior from St. Louis, Mo. “There were no shockers.”
Past Super Bowl commercials have shocked and awed their audiences. That is how they got their reputation of being the best commercials aired all year.
The commercials are oftentimes one of the main reasons why people watch the Super Bowl, especially if their favorite team is not playing. Of course, the Puppy Bowl is a close second. This year, students agreed it was sad to see the commercials lacking.
“Overall, they could have been better,” said Erin McCallon, sophomore from Kirksey, Ky. “I was upset they leaked the commercials beforehand, which took the surprise out of it.”
However, there were definite diamonds in the rough.
According to students, some of their favorite commercials either tugged at their heart strings or made them laugh.
“My favorite commercial was the time machine one from Doritos,” said Lane Northcutt, junior from Frankfurt, Ky. “It was funny and didn’t really push the product, but it was a memorable commercial.”
Others enjoyed the return of the Budweiser Clydesdale. Last year, the horse befriended a child and the commercial portrayed the child growing up and the bond between the two. This year, Budweiser took a cute and cuddly approach.
“My favorite would be the puppy and the horse one because it was cute and I’m an animal person,” Henderson said. “Also, Budweiser makes me think of home because I’m from St. Louis.”
Other students enjoyed the celebrity endorsements and found them more entertaining and creative than the other commercials on game day.
“The Tim Tebow commercial was by far the best,” said Lena Hartlage, junior from Lousiville, Ky. “He talks about not having a contract and he runs through fire carrying puppies. He’s a rock star and a doctor. He basically does everything you can do without a contract. Plus, he’s hot.”
According to news sites, the top five commercials are similar to the ones that students chose. The media chose commercials such as the Muppets driving a Toyota and Budweiser’s to salute our troops.
Although some commercials pulled at viewers’ heart strings or got a good laugh out of them, this year had some controversial commercials, too.
Social media posts regarding the controversy surrounding Coca-Cola’s “America is beautiful” advertisement in several languages caused more of an uproar than expected. However, many students found it creative and inspiring.
“My favorite was the Coke commercial with the different ethnicities singing ‘America the Beautiful,’” said Tyler Burch, Senior from Belleville, Ill. “It is basically a song about how awesome America is.”
The languages that showed up in the commercial were the most common immigrant languages used in the U.S. including German, Irish, English, Spanish, Tagalog, Senegalese, French and Hebrew. The commercial served as a tribute to the diversity of America in religion, culture and language.
“We pride ourselves on being diverse and being a melting pot of different cultures,” said Olivia Dreckman, junior from Louisville, Ky. “I liked that they used #americaisbeautiful and that it highlighted what makes (Americans) most beautiful.”
Although the commercials had their high points, they also had some flops. The worst commercials, according to students, were GoDaddy and CarMax.
Viewers have high expectations each year, but this year students agreed the commercials were almost as disappointing as the game. Sorry fans, maybe next year.
Story by Madison Wepfer, Contributing writer