2009 Super Bowl XLIII Commercials in Review

Every year advertisers take advantage of the world's most watched sporting event, the Super Bowl, to win viewers over with their most creative commercials. In the past, Super Bowl commercials have ranged from funny and touching to silly and bizarre. Babies, horses, monkeys and aliens, have all showed up to catch your eye and maybe some of your cash. The 2009 Super Bowl XLIII commercials were no exception. This year Super Bowl ads went for $3 million for a 30 second spot¹. For advertisers it's worth it. Close to 100 million Americans tune in each year to watch the championship game². Some tune in for the commercials alone. Every year some commercials rise to greatness, others are best forgotten. Below is a list of the best of the 2009 Super Bowl XLIII commercials.

Best Movie Preview: This year movie trailers showed up in force. The one that earned top billing is Land of the Lost from Universal Pictures. This trailer dished out equal measures of sidesplitting Will Ferrell humor, heart stopping suspense, and jazzy special effects. As a bonus, fans of the original Land of the Lost TV series will love the new Sleestak. Runner up: Fast and the Furious (2009) from Universal Pictures. This trailer didn't have it all, but it did have Vin Diesel and tricked out nitrous burning muscle cars. The action and effects left heads spinning and people ready for their next testosterone filled car chase movie.

Best Cutie Patootie: Nothing is quite as cute as a talking baby and E*trade knows it. This is a format they've worked for a while now. In its latest talking baby bit, we are treated to a second talking baby who just wants to sing Take These Broken Wings. The result is funny and incredibly adorable. Runner up: Universal Studio Parks pours on the sweetness with its entry in the field of 2009 Super Bowl XLIII commercials. A small boy in a makeshift superhero costume represents the inner hero in all of us. It's not clear why our inner hero is a boy with a green blanket for a cape, but he wants us to go to Universal Studio Parks. Who would want to argue with such delightful kid?

Best Appeal to the Lowest Common Denominator: Sex sells, like it or not, and Godaddy.com nailed it with their commercial. Godaddy.com sells domain names, probably the most boring thing you could advertise during the Super Bowl. Godaddy.com evens things up with a mildly humorous, but titillating skit dubbed Enhanced that steams up the TV screen with full-breasted women testifying to a congressional panel. In the end, some guys might not remember exactly what Godaddy.com sells, but they will go to the Godaddy.com website to check out the version too hot to get past NBC censors...and maybe buy a domain name. Runner up: Godaddy.com does it again with its other Super Bowl Commercial entitled Shower. In this commercial a group of three college-aged guys seem to have the ability to control the actions of Danica Patrick through their new Godaddy.com domain name web site. The result is a spicy Danica Patrick shower scene with special guest, Miss Schmidt the German woman from the Dean's office. That's one heck of a web site.

Best Gratuitous Use of Celebrity: The 2009 Super Bowl XLIII commercials had its share of celebrities. Of these, the ad that gets the most bang for its buck is delivered by Hulu. Hulu, offers your favorite TV shows online for free. Alec Baldwin, the quintessential Hollywood celebrity, is the face of Hulu in this humorous ad. Alec plays himself as an alien plotting to take over the world by rotting our brains with TV, something many people may have suspected all along. Alec and Hulu score big with this great use of his celebrity and the scene's vague resemblance to the Men in Black movies. Runner up: Bud Light and Conan O'Brien bring celebrity hilarity in the ad called Swedish. Conan agrees to do a Swedish Bud Light commercial despite his best instincts. The embarrassing commercial features techno music and a sultry Conan in clothes best described as peculiar. To Conan's horror, the ad is shown in Times Square for all to see. Conan's delivery shows us why he's such a beloved celebrity and why Bud Light was wise to use him in a Super Bowl commercial.

Best Humor: Funny sells, especially for Super Bowl ads. The ultimate achievement of a Super Bowl commercial is to be declared the funniest. The commercial that stands head and shoulders above the rest as the uproarious winner is Pepsi's entry Pepsuber. In this ad we are treated to a MacGyver knockoff called MacGruber made famous by Saturday Night Live. Filled with retro charm, a hackneyed theme song, and Richard Dean Anderson, MacGruber makes getting blown to pieces fun. Is he sponsored by Pepsi? Oh yes he is...and that's Pepsuber! Runner up: H&R Block hits the funny bone with this surprisingly funny piece called Death and Taxes. When an accountant screws up Death's taxes, Death calls a meeting. The premise is silly but the way the actor playing the luckless accountant does it is priceless. The last thing Death needs is an audit.

2009 Super Bowl XLIII commercials did not fail to entertain. Most viewers will connect with at least one of the ads aired between time outs. Whether they get Americans to buy their products remains to be seen. But for $3 million for 30 seconds your time, advertisers are counting on it.

1. http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssTechMediaTelecomNews/idUSN0644484220080506

2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Bowl#Television_coverage_and_ratings