The official student newspaper of University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire since 1923.

The Spectator

The official student newspaper of University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire since 1923.

The Spectator

The official student newspaper of University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire since 1923.

The Spectator

Crass but memorable

So as I was watching the Super Bowl Sunday night, I saw a less than attractive male get some serious lip locking action with Sports Illustrated swimsuit model Bar Refaeli.

Was the commercial gross? Yes. But was it memorable? Definitely.

As I was talking to some buddies around the water cooler the day after the game, we started talking about how crappy some of the commercials were this year, but we couldn’t really name one commercial in particular.

That’s when the GoDaddy.com commercial was brought up and everybody said how terribly disgusting it was. But we were still talking about it, weren’t we?

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My point here is that to get an effective ad in the Super Bowl, where the prices have skyrocketed as of late, you do not necessarily have to have the best advertisement.

I remember a particular ad back a few years ago by FedEx that will prove my point here. I don’t remember the year of the commercial but I do know that it was an all-white screen for 30 seconds and at the end of the ad, FedEx simply threw up their logo and that was it.

Sounds lame, and in terms of aesthetically pleasing, it wasn’t anything to write home about, but I remembered it all these years and still talk about it during the Super Bowl. That’s what a good ad should do.

According to CBS.com, this year’s average dollar amount for a 30 second commercial during the big game this year was $3.8 million, up from $3.5 million in 2012 and $3 million in 2011.

Quadruple those numbers and that’s what you got from Samsung’s commercial featuring Seth Rogan, Paul Rudd and LeBron James.

I don’t know about you, but for me that commercial was forgettable and boring and to tell you the truth, I really have no idea what it was about.

They were having a two minute rant about whatever it was they were talking about and all I was thinking about was who the actor playing the talent agent was because he looked so damn familiar. (Ended up being the guy who plays Saul Goodman in Breaking Bad.)

Everywhere you go online will tell you their list of the best ads from the Super Bowl and it will be the ones by big corporations and buzzworthy material, but where is the “wow” factor?

Sure, I did like the inspirational story of the Clydesdale breeder that was reunited with his horse, but what do Clydesdale horses have to do with drinking a Budweiser anyways?

And yes, Kate Upton and Usher coming together on the Mercedes Benz commercial was cool but in three days, I’m not going to remember them.

What I will remember though, is Bar Refaeli kissing Mr. Nerd in that GoDaddy.com commercial and I commend GoDaddy.com for going out on a limb and doing something that other advertisers didn’t have the balls to do.
With the amount of money that is at stake for Super Bowl ads, GoDaddy.com made the most out of their time slot. I can’t wait to see next year’s!

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Crass but memorable