While the Saints and Colts were fighting for the Vince Lombardi Trophy, Doritos and Budweiser were duking it out in their own Super Bowl. Doritos purchased four ads on the night, while Budweiser went all-out for a staggering seven spots. However, quality reigned over quantity on this night, with Doritos producing some hilarious ads.

General Comments:

Paul: This was a down year for Super Bowl commercials, judging by my own personal opinions and those of the 75 or so people that were watching the Super Bowl with me at Donovan’s Pub. Groans, indifference and stone-cold silence were the norm for many following the ads, each of which cost $2.6 million for a 30-second spot. By the way, one can buy over three million cans of Bud Light with that amount of money, in case you were wondering.

Victoria: I think Paul is exaggerating a little. Sure, there were no manatee rides in any of the ads this year, but I still stayed very entertained. Besides, the game was exciting enough that we didn’t need the commercials to provide tension relief in hysterical laughter – we (read: Saints fans) were cheering our lungs out all night.

Best Overall:

Paul: The best commercial overall was easily the Google ad, because it sold multiple aspects of its product at a minimal cost while tugging at the heartstrings of the 106.5 million Super Bowl watchers. Simple and effective, just like the product itself. Remember when Ask Jeeves was the big search engine in the late 90’s? Those days are long-gone. I don’t miss Ask Jeeves, but I definitely do miss the Spice Girls, good Nickelodeon shows and not having to write 100 pages every semester.

Victoria: While I’m not sure how Paul waxing nostalgic about the 90’s is relevant to the Google ad, I do agree on all counts. Google’s subtle, humorous and oh-so-sweet ad used little more than text and some sound effects to paint the picture of a Parisian love story. With all the China-related press that Google’s been getting, I was glad to see such a wonderful ad. On a side note, Kia gets my vote for runner-up. Who doesn’t love sock monkeys?

Funniest Ad:

Paul: The Doritos Warrior commercial takes the cake, where two gym rats steal the cheesy chips from a friend’s locker and pay the price. I think I’m dressing as the Doritos Warrior for Halloween as long as intoxicated people don’t try and eat my costume.

Victoria: The Auto-Tuned Bud Light commercial had my entire group of friends laughing hysterically. Granted, we’re all music junkies, but still, I thought their ad was surprisingly clever. And as a huge NCIS fan, I loved all the CBS self-promotion. I just do not get tired of watching the Gibbs slap.

Best Beer Commercial:

Paul: The Bud Light Asteroid commercial where scientists have a party after thinking the world was coming to an end. If I knew the world was coming to an end, I’d probably buy 1,000 wings from Slices and wait it out in the McGregory sub-basement. I definitely wouldn’t try and fight a guy with a fire extinguisher. Seems counter-productive.

Victoria: There were so many beer commercials. How do I choose? As previously mentioned, the Auto-Tuned Bud Light ad was great, but this might be another rare instance where I agree with Paul. Same beer, different ad. Those scientists definitely knew how to party; what better way to go?

Worst Ads:

Paul: I have six. First, Teleflora, GoDaddy and Cars.com fail miserably for essentially copying the same formula two years in a row. Secondly, Dockers and Career Builder especially fail for thinking that producing advertisements featuring grown middle-aged men without pants would be a good idea. Who are you reaching out to here? Unless all these men look like Fabio or me, it doesn’t really make sense to do that.

Victoria: The Dante’s Inferno videogame ad gets my vote for worst of the night, hands down. The ad itself wasn’t utterly terrible, but I am horrified that this game exists. Horrified. I would much rather have seen a promo for Bioshock 2 or another trailer for Russell Crowe in Robin Hood.

Best Food/Soft Drink Ad:

Paul: Bonus points to Denny’s for showcasing screaming chickens, but the Doritos “Don’t Touch my Mama” ad was fantastic. I wouldn’t want to mess with that kid, or any kids really. My brother gave me a bloody nose at my 20th birthday party. He was 11.

Victoria: The Denny’s ads made me smile, especially the chicken screaming noiselessly in space, and I rather liked the Coke ad that used The Simpsons.

Strangest Ad:

Paul: Boost Mobile Shuffle ad. This was a parody of the 1985 Chicago Bears Super Bowl Shuffle music video, which the NFL team made in the middle of their Super Bowl XX-winning season. Seeing former Head Coach Mike Ditka give a thumbs-up after a shot of a man wearing a leopard-skin thong is not okay. Thanks for scarring me for life.

Victoria: I truly do not understand the Go Daddy ads. Danica, why? Just why?

The Big Game’s Big Ads might not have been as top-notch as its teams, but enough quality commercials appeared to keep us entertained when our eyes weren’t on the field.

After all, with a Super Bowl that good, who needs commercials?

Contact Victoria Cubera or Paul Kasabian at [email protected] and [email protected].