Bob Garfield’s Annual Super Bowl Ad Review
February 8, 2010 at 9:57 am Lori Shontz 1 comment
So it turns out that I wasn’t the only person who was underwhelmed by the quality of the Super Bowl ads. Advertising Age sage Bob Garfield ’77, who’s been rating the ads for 24 years, had this take: “We will say this: We are totally pro-TiVo.”
Garfield’s best grade was three and a half stars, and only three ads earned it: Audi’s green police (yes, I laughed), Chrysler’s ad for its new Charger, and Qualcomm’s FloTV. The last two went over bigger with the two guys I was watching with; I’m just a little tired of the ads that Garfield calls “being emasculated by the ol’ ball and chain.” He did, however, rightly call out Go Daddy for its incredibly sexist, juvenile spots; he gave the company zero stars and called it “a national embarrassment.”
I’m a little disappointed that Garfield gave only two stars to a consensus favorite in my living room: the Snickers ad with Betty White and Abe Vigoda. And, probably because his review is done Friday, he didn’t even mention our favorite: David Letterman, Oprah Winfrey, and Jay Leno at what certainly was the world’s worst Super Bowl party. (Here’s the story behind that ad.)
If you need to refresh your memory, you can watch all of the ads here.
Lori Shontz, senior editor
Entry filed under: Penn State alumni. Tags: Abe Vigoda, advertisements, Advertising Age, Audi, Betty White, Bob Garfield, Chrysler, David Letterman, Jay Leno, Oprah Winfrey, Super Bowl.
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1. Debra L Johnson | March 2, 2010 at 1:37 pm
I am so proud of Betty Jean Love Gibbs and of Penn State!
I was a Cheerleader at Penn State and happen to be African American. When I tried out for the squad in 1976, there was already 1 black cheerleader, Rita Frealing. We worried that they would reject the opportunity to to have 2 black cheerleaders. We both made the squad. Rita and I became roommates and remain great friends.
Right on Betty! You are the Rosa Parks of black cheerleaders at Penn State!