When Abe Vigoda is the best you can do….
Your humble blogger watched the Super Bowl and found it both surprising and entertaining. I’d read so many paeans to Peyton Manning over the past week that I’d come to believe that the game itself was just a formality. Oops. The ads, however, have made me fear for America. The Super Bowl is the place ...
Your humble blogger watched the Super Bowl and found it both surprising and entertaining. I'd read so many paeans to Peyton Manning over the past week that I'd come to believe that the game itself was just a formality. Oops.
Your humble blogger watched the Super Bowl and found it both surprising and entertaining. I’d read so many paeans to Peyton Manning over the past week that I’d come to believe that the game itself was just a formality. Oops.
The ads, however, have made me fear for America. The Super Bowl is the place to launch memorable campaigns. For most of my adult life, I can remember laughing pretty hard at a couple of the ads at the very least.
This year? Dear God, they were abysmal. It’s telling that the funniest one was the Snickers spot featuring Betty White and Abe Vigoda. And the Coke ad featuring The Simpsons was kind of intriguing, with a very anti-populist message.
Other than that, the ads showed as much snappiness as The Who’s halftime show — which is to say, none at all. There were back-to-back ads where the joke was not wearing pants. My son described the Intel ad as "kind of creepy." The Audi Green ad was so over-the-top about eco-protection that for 90 percent of the ad I thought it was trying to covince Americans to block any measures to halt global warming. This Bridgestone ad was downright offensive. And, as near as I can figure, all of the Bud Light ads were designed by people forced to imbibe at least a keg of their product.
Screw the National Export Initiative — the Obama administration should set minimal quality standards for Super Bowl ads.
Daniel W. Drezner is a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School at Tufts University and the author of The Ideas Industry. Twitter: @dandrezner
More from Foreign Policy
A New Multilateralism
How the United States can rejuvenate the global institutions it created.
America Prepares for a Pacific War With China It Doesn’t Want
Embedded with U.S. forces in the Pacific, I saw the dilemmas of deterrence firsthand.
The Endless Frustration of Chinese Diplomacy
Beijing’s representatives are always scared they could be the next to vanish.
The End of America’s Middle East
The region’s four major countries have all forfeited Washington’s trust.
Sign up for World Brief
FP’s flagship evening newsletter guiding you through the most important world stories of the day. Delivered weekdays.
By submitting your email, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use and to receive email correspondence from us. You may opt out at any time.