About Headline Season 4, Episode 9 :
Companies shell out big bucks to air a commercial during the Super Bowl. The 30 seconds you see of chips, beer, cars and more run about $4 million dollars. It'll all be worth it to them if it gets viewers to buy their product. So which commercials fumbled and which ones left a lasting impression? The Best Commercials Maserati Quvenzhane Wallis narrated a powerful commercial that felt more like a cinematic picture. It was dark and a little haunting about walking out of the shadows to strike. Not like any of us can afford one of these Maseratis, but Quvenzhane sure can once she's old enough to drive. RadioShack Self-deprecating humor is the way to go, especially when you mix in some serious '80s nostalgia. There's Hulk Hogan, Alf and more. The fun is in trying to identify all of the characters. I applaud their Hail Mary pass to stay relevant. T-Mobile Despite the fact that he's no longer in the NFL, here's Tim Tebow making himself relevant again with an amusing/clever commercial that ties in the fact that he doesn't have a contract in the league with having a no-contract cell phone plan. Plus, he tackled Bigfoot. Insert joke about completing a pass on the moon. Coca-Cola Apparently, there were seven languages featured in this commercial as they sang "America the Beautiful" in their native tongue. Because nothing brings people of different cultures together quite like a drink made of high-fructose corn syrup. I mean, what? In all seriousness, this was beautifully done. Honda Did you hug someone when Bruce Willis asked you to? This car safety commercial was great in its simplicity and hilarious when the camera slowly panned out to ... is that? Yep, Fred Armisen, not letting Willis go. Chrysler Perhaps being from the Detroit area makes us biased, but this pro-Detroit/America commercial starring Bob Dylan (why not?) made us reach for our Coca-Cola. I mean... Budweiser Hope you had the tissues nearby, as this one tugged at our heartstrings more than any other commercial. Not just puppies and horses but puppies and horses in love. Honorable mentions: Cheerios and Doritos. The Worst Commercials Ford Fusion Even James Franco and his pet tiger couldn't save this set of back-to-back commercials for the very first spot of the game. Even though Rob Riggle was telling me what was going on -- there's a thing called don't tell me, but show me -- it was just reaching a bit too much in a short period of time, equaling to one looong, boring commercial. Bud Light The first commercial was such a bore that it wasn't even going to be included here -- it wasn't even a thought. But it came back another time to continue the story of Ian and his "anything can happen adventure," which apparently includes Don Cheadle with a llama, defeating Arnold Schwarzenegger at ping pong and going on stage with OneRepublic. Stop trying too hard, Bud. Beats We love Ellen. But this commercial, not so much. So she dances, that's nothing new. But what was with the fairy tale characters coming to life? GoDaddy In what feels like the first time ever, GoDaddy didn't feature scantily clad women. So, progress. But a woman quitting her job on television for her puppet business wasn't the way to go either. Maybe next year. Squarespace When no one knows what your company is, this probably isn't the commercial to introduce yourself to the world. Heinz The fact that they didn't market their product the right way is a fail. Hitting a ketchup bottle from the bottom is so not the right way to get ketchup out. Everyone knows that -- except apparently Heinz. And ending it with a fart joke? Okay, so the grandma was cute, but still. Image courtesy of RadioShack Source: BuddyTV and Youtube
Note: The following video streamings link(s) of Headline S04E09 will open another window and leave the page upon click.