I thought it would be fun to give initial opinions of ads that are airing on Super Bowl LV. As they happen. I have not seen any of them yet. My critique will not be informed with lots of background on the companies. Its such a crazy year, with the pandemic and the shortened season. This is immediate comments and impressions which I believe to be important since consumers don’t dwell on advertising. That’s more of a job for marketers.
I wrote these reviews immediately on seeing these. i am even leaving my typos on purpose because rewriting / correcting would make me go back and evaluate further. Rating: 1 is Best, 5 is Worse. Then I sorted them to show the best first:
| Brand / Spot | Quick Comments | Rating |
| GM Electric battery | Norway of all places is beating us with electric technology. Will Ferrell is great and really mad. Not sure how this helps GM to know they are investing in batteries. But a very fun ad | 1 |
| Bud light Lemon Seltzer | 2020 gave us all lemons so they came out with lemonade seltzer. Good ad. Lemons falling through the sky ruining all the important parts of our lives. Over the top but in a fun way | 1 |
| WeatherTech | Proud of where I work – like it. Team work, diversity and industry in America. I think they pull this off authentically | 1 |
| Toyota and Team USA | Amazing swimming story of adoption of a paraplegic | 1 |
| Budweiser | Its never just about having a beer. It about friendship and sharing – good times and bad. Good spot | 1 |
| Jeep | Springsteen – meet in the middle. Good commercial for our times. Not political but authentic. But I am a huge Springsteen fan too | 1 |
| You Tube – One Day of Life | Good commercial. Would watch this piece of documentary. Most people do not use You Tube for TV so that is an effective way to get people to try it out | 1.5 |
| Doritos – 3D | Mathew McConaughey is two dimensional and gets to eat a 3D Doritos – very clever and tied to the benefit of the product | 1.5 |
| Pringles – | Everyone is putting the flavors together and they don’t get the space module in the sea that returned to earth. I like it. You get the point of the snack idea But the capsule landing in the seas is pretty 1970s | 1.5 |
| M Night Shyamalan – OLD movie | He always scares me. That will be a scary movie | 2 |
| Inspiration to Space | Your chance to go to space. What the heck is up with that? | 2 |
| Door Cash and Sesame Street | Good ad – I do not think this one idea motivates anyone to use Door Dash. Makes them legitimate as a service to people who do not know or use them | 2 |
| Bud Light | Legends from past commercials. Pretty funny. Everyone remembers those characters | 2 |
| Chipotle | Where our food comes from. Good commercial. Need to know the brand much earlier. A pet peeve of mine. | 2 |
| Indeed | We help Get Jobs. Like lots of pandemic commercials. Somewhat inspirational with music and real life epeople that you feel for. Very little branding except the end | 2 |
| Scotts Lawn and Garden | John Travolta and Martha Stewart and a bunch of others. Dancing on the lawn, barbequing, etc. Win the lawn of your dreams. Interesting | 2 |
| Tide | Jason Alexander on the teens sweatshirt. Makes you think how dirty everything is. Interesting | 2 |
| T Mobile | Gwen Sefani and Blake Shelton and Adam Levine, he heard the wrong thing on the phone | 2 |
| Paramount – #4 | Mount Paramount – last ad of three. Living on this mountain of entertainment – which is also a streaming service | 2 |
| Profile nutrition | Profile plan – good if you have never heard of them | 2 |
| Uber Eats | Wayne’s World – eat local with Cardi B. I think the idea is good, but Wayne and Garth have aged a bit here. | 2 |
| Rocket mortgage | Pretty sure 2nd spot – very watchable and fun. | 2 |
| Cheetos Crunch pop mix | Ashton Kutcher & Mila Kunis – fingerprints on the wall. Good use of product. Pretty good | 2 |
| Marvel | The Falcon – great action fun to watch | 2 |
| Logitech – Defy Logic | nice visuals, diversity and computer animation. Took WAY too long to get to the brand. Good ad what the hell is it for. And iPod? Defy Logic – for Logitech. People will think this is for Apple. | 2.5 |
| Paramount – #2 | The cast of actors and sports stars are back in another spot. Still weird | 2.5 |
| Hellman’s | Amy Schumer fairy god mother about what to make with Hellman’s. | 2.5 |
| Cure Auto insurance | Inappropriate sharing of his “opinion” in the office – crude humor. But was funny. Not sure what this has to do with insurance | 2.5 |
| Verizon 5G | Samuel Jackson | 2.5 |
| Rocket Mortgage | Just being “Pretty sure” has consequences. Are you only pretty sure you can afford this | 2.5 |
| M&M sorry / apologies | Not great. Give M&Ms to apologize for something?? | 3 |
| Paramount – #1 | not sure what that was about. Lots of actors in rols going through the Arctic snow. And Snooky. Not sure | 3 |
| Mountain Dew | Treet how many bottles in the commercial | 3 |
| State Farm | Drake from Stat Farm – lots of celebrities – Patrich Mahomes, Drake, didn’t do anything for me | 3 |
| Skechers Max Cushion | Boring | 3 |
| Oatly Milk | Oat milk ad. Singing in the field with the CEO. Weird. Wrong target although I appreciate their awareness building initiative | 3 |
| Paramount – #3 | Live sports – Beavis and Butthead. I don’t like these spots | 3 |
| The Equalizer | With Queen Latifiah | 3 |
| Stella Artois | Slick but not really compelling – | 3 |
| Dr Squatch – soap | Is it for real??. Not sure I would buy Seems like a set up for a future commercial | 3 |
Overall the ads were fun. First impressions are important. What did you think?
