Best 2008 Super Bowl XLII Commercials

The millions spent on Super Bowl commercials in years past was often money poorly spent. Flashy ads full of special effects often do nothing to promote a product. Even extremely memorable ads may not boost sales. It looks like the advertising industry finally caught on and released Super Bowl commercials this year that actually showcased the product instead of wowing us with their big budgets. Of course, even companies with low-production budgets ended up paying generously for their spots. This year, each 30-second commercial cost about $2.7 million. Among the highlights:

Bud Light dominated the Super Bowl commercial scene with several humorous spots, all of which involved a twist ending. The first claimed that Bud Light could make you breathe fire. This involved plenty of special effects, but it still managed to keep the product showcased. The second had men attending a party with food gifts, all of which hid bottles of Bud Light. Another had a relatively uninspired plot involving cavemen.

One commercial that kept audiences guessing until the end showed people in a variety of settings nodding off during the course of the day. This went in for such a long time that it soon became a matter of principle to figure out just what was being sold. The product was Diet Pepsi Max, which apparently contains ginseng.

One of the oddest of the Super Bowl commercials features Naomi Campbell dancing to Michael Jackson's "Thriller" with a bunch of lizards. The strange spot did not showcase the product well, which was SoBe's Life Water. No, there didn't seem to be a point to Campbell or to the song choice.

The best spot of the night had to be Bridgestone's portrait of a man driving down a winding road at night. First, a deer appears in the road, forcing the driver to swerve. Then, Alice Cooper appeared in the road, prompting the same response. Then, Richard Simmons appeared, prompting the driver to gun it before deciding to swerve at the last minute. Whether the in-your-face tactics of many of the commercials results in product sales remains to be seen. In the end, the simple line drawing commercial presented by GM may prove to be just as effective as all the talking animals, "aerobicizing" pedestrians and fire breathers.