The Business Journalism class was assigned to watch the Super Bowl commercials and review the best and the worst. Here are their ratings. Feel free to tell us whether you agree or disagree:
Summer File, staff writer
Best
Thirty seconds and Colgate created an emotional, eye opening commercial. Dirty hands washing off fruit, older hands holding a bowl and little hands scooping up the four gallons of water that a person can aste in a single act of brushing his or her teeth. Colgate promoting turning off the faucet to preserve water that people around the world find as a precious item.
Budweiser has been killing it lately with commercials promoting safety and no drunk driving. Actress Helen Mirren vividly describes what she thinks a person is who drinks and drives. Using the hashtag #GiveADamn to promote safety and responsibility for all people. Just a simple meaningful commercial!
Worst
Apartments.com, could win an award for collaborating the most random bits of nothingness into a single commercial. A man playing a piano being pulled up a building, all while being followed by a gospel singing choir, who is carrying random people to different levels of the building. Finishing with lil’ Wayne in a large interesting hat. Congratulations Apartments.com you won the worse commercial about nothing.
Avocados from Mexico used aliens mocking human items as a promotion for their product. Silly humans using emojis for communication and the “god and white dress” that looks blue and black. Producers picked interesting things to show but it just was not a commercial that worked with avocados.
Hope Rogers, staff writer
Best
Heinz “#MeetTheKetchups”: The only thing cuter than a mob of dachshunds, known as ‘weiner’ dogs, is a mob of them in hot dog costumes. Their happy faces and wagging tails could melt the sourest cat lady’s heart. They soon jumped into the arms of humans wearing Heinz bottle costumes, making a perfect match.
Hyundai “First Date”: Comedian Kevin Hart lets his daughter go on a date in his new Hyundai, which has a feature that allows the owner to track its location. Hart’s hilarious wide-eyed ‘angry’ face, which appears in a movie, helicopter, and pile of stuffed animals, intimidates the boy to take her home early.
Worst
Mountain Dew Kickstart “PuppyMonkeyBaby”: Mountain Dew’s attempt at comedy is even worse than their attempt at soda. A nightmarish creature with a puppy’s head, monkey’s body, and baby’s feet repeats the phrase “puppymonkeybaby” robotically to the beat. It’s so bizarre that it’s easy to forget what the point of the commercial is.
Xifaxan: Seeing the animated human intestine with irritable bowel syndrome is enough to make anyone stop eating. As Super Bowl fans enjoyed the game with pizza and wings, they simultaneously watched a body part rush to the bathroom to relieve itself. It was uncomfortable and probably ruined some appetites.
Cierra Smith, staff writer
Best
Mini Clubman Car: The car ad was designed to breakdown stereotypes that plague many people throughout the world. The ad features a great deal of celebrities who have been the recipients of such stereotypes and by calling out those stigmas, they were able to make the commercial meaningful.
Budweiser: This ad featured wellknown actress Helen Mirren. It was geared towards the “drink responsibly” campaign and also not drinking while under the influence. The commercial was a good watch, because Mirren was speaking on a serious topic, while also adding a good deal of sarcasm, which made the ad funny as well as informational.
Worst
Snickers ft. “Marilyn Monroe”: All of the Snickers ads in general were a bit much. With this ad in particular, it seemed as if they were mocking transgender people. I felt as if they were taking such a serious topic in today’s society and treating it as a joke.
Turbo Tax: although I personally use the online tax agency, the commercial was a bit dry for me. The emphasis was set on “not selling” you a product, but the entire time, they were talking about you using their services. Also, Turbo Tax is not free, so the ad was definitely misleading.
Jenna Turner, staff writer
Best
Doritos: I thought that the commercial with the ultrasound was a good one because it goes with their slogan of “For the Bold.” It shows what extremes people go to for the amazing chips, that even a baby would propel themselves out of their mother for one. I think it has a cuteness factor that will make people remember it.
Mountain Dew Kickstart: This commercial was very weird. The point was to show that three things combined can be awesome so they made a puppy monkey baby bring the Mountain Dews out. I think this commercial was a good advertisement because it had a factor in it that will stick in your mind.
Worst:
SoFi – This was not a very effective commercial because it is only implying that “great” people can get loans through their company and that not everybody is great. The end of the commercial even says “See if you’re great, you’re probably not.” There may be a meaning that I do not see in this but I am not a fan.
Skittles: I think the skittles commercial with Steven Tyler was okay but not really anything that I would remember. I totally forgot about this commercial until I saw it again on youtube. I think that they could have done this commercial with a rock theme many different ways. When I think of Rock, I think of something that is going to stand for a long time and not shatter easily.
Rachel Rose, staff writer
The Hits:
My No. 1 spot goes to Honda’s Ridgeline Truck Commercial. As one of the top 11 commercials from SuperBowlCommercial 2016.org, I find this commercial was overall received well by viewers and has been acknowledged for its success. Animals always tug at the heartstrings, and Honda’s use of sheep was very delightful. With sheep singing to Queen’s Somebody to Love, who can resist?
The No. 2 spot goes to the controversial Mountain Dew Kickstart commercial. Though one of my least favorite commercials of the night, I have to say it is one of the most talked about commercials out there. “It was disturbing, and overall I didn’t like it,” said Kasara Lear, a student at Wingate University. “But I just couldn’t look away!”
Mountain Dew’s #puppymonkeybaby was one of the biggest hashtags used for the night. Love it or hate it, this commercial is being talked about everywhere, making it one of the most successful ads.
The Misses:
Quicken Loans Rocket Mortgage commercial was by far the No. 1 iss of the night. Their commercial was overall boring and unsatisfying compared to the other commercials shown. The whole concept was not received well by audiences. Time.com even scored the commercial an F for its performance.
No. 2 on the miss list is Social Finance’s ad. Though slightly amusing, the commercial was mostly confusing. Calling some people great, and others not, there was no given definition to why these people were considered one or the other. Since the company could have done more with the time they were given, I placed this commercial on the miss list.
Brooke Griffin, staff writer
Worst
One of the most talked about commercials was the “PuppyMonkeyBaby” commercial, which I found particularly disturbing. I would label that as my least favorite commercial but it has people talking even 4 days later so it did the job it was meant to do. I think the more commercials that are done, the weirder they get. Which makes them stand out and stick with people but they also have absolutely nothing to do with the product they’re advertising.
Best
My favorite commercial was a tie between the Dorito Dogs and the Heinz Wiener Stampede. If you know me at all, you know that I am a HUGE dog person. I love all sizes, shapes, ages, colors, and kinds of dogs. I also own a dachshund so the wiener stampede really tugged at my heart strings. These were both geared toward the “aww” crowd and meant to target apparent pet lovers in the crowds watching on Super Bowl Sunday.
Wingate Triangle 