"Let's All Go Out And Buy Stuff!!"

Okay...now that I've got your attention, which is exaclty what the dozen or so companies pointedly conspired to do with their varying array of Super Bowl commercials, I would be disappointed in myself if I did not offer a few passing comments on those that I appreciated for their artistic approach and/or comedic content. Super Bowl 42 was indeed a "great game," which kept me firmly planted on the couch and reluctant to take those necessary potty breaks, made doubly more so because this year's commercials were for the most part in and of themselves most entertaining. Now for the highlights...

Hands down the winner for the best commercial once again was garnered by Budwiser's "Rocky" commerical. Animals and heartstrings always seems to be a winning formula and Budwiser has once again further perfected that art from. The Audi offering made me salivate like a Pavlovian dog...so esquisite was that automobile. In my dreams could I only wish to drive much less own such a fine piece of automotive engineering. But reality dictates that much like reading of all the exotic places in the world in my monthly edition of National Geographic I, alas, will never get to visit any of these locales first hand. I do agree with another blogger that perhaps the Godfather reference was most likely lost on the younger generation and that perhaps also the front end of a Ford Mustang would have been a better option to place at the foot of the bed to invoke more clearly the namesake movie's image of a severed horse's head. To each his own...

Bridgestone Tire's offering of the screaming squirrel in the middle of the road was fun, as was Dorito's mousetrap commerical. I laughed out loud when the giant rat burst through the wall and began to beat the living daylights out of the smug would be assassin. Planter's Nuts had a winner with their unibrow vamp who wooed her many admirer's with the alluring scent of cashews emanating from her person. Never again will I view the lowly salted peanut with the same casual disregard. For pure entertainment value Pepsi Max's commerical with the bobbing heads was an obvious winner. Watching the otherwise austere sport's comentator Joe Buck bob his head in rhythm to the song "Don't Hurt Me" was indeed a fun spot to watch and enjoy. My personal award for the best special effects goes to FedEx and their carrier pigeons entry. Having giant piegons pick up full sized automoblies and slam then into the side of a building was most inventive.

Being an example of the typical male, when a commercial break comes on the tube I am quick to command my remote to scan for anything but. The trusty remote during this year's Super Bowl was treated like an unwanted stepchild. I was happily engaged in escapism for three hours Sunday evening, only being pulled back to reality when Victorian Secret's commerical aired offering more than a subtle reminder that there is far more to life than football. "Let the games begin," they suggested, and being a red-blooded consumer of American enterprise, I dutifully complied. The "Boob Tube" never had a finer hour!