The Best Super Bowl Commercials of 2007

It has long been known that commercials aired during the Super Bowl are watched by millions of people. Because of this, the prices for commercial spots during this time have drastically increased in the past years, as the popularity of the game has continued to grow. They were last reported at $2.5 million for a thirty-second spot.

Each year, the standards for Super Bowl commercials get higher. Whereas past Super Bowl commercials have placed a large emphasis on humor, Super Bowl XLI saw an increased attention to graphic design and popular health concerns. This means that many companies are on the same page. While it is still about money, at least the focus is slightly altered to appease the American public.

Technology has been increasing enormously in the field of media and communications. A large sector of this field includes commercial advertisements. As video technology increasingly gets better, we see much more of it in the mainstream media.

This year marked the introduction of a best animation category into the Golden Globes, which has become a significant event in the development of the field. This further paved the road for the future success of animation.

Mainstream media has recently begun to largely focus on environmental issues. Al Gore's documentary on global warming, An Inconvenient Truth, has been nominated for two Academy Awards and Gore himself has been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize for his work in the field.

To add to the focus on this issue, a couple of companies chose to tackle the environment in their advertisements as well. Both Acura and Honda aired commercials that showed how their automobiles are clean and green.

Acura's commercial, "Dreamer," can be found at IFILM and is also featured below.

Honda also joined the group with their "Fuel Efficient" advertisement, which can also be found at IFILM. It is no surprise that the price of gasoline in this country is off the charts. And they haven't even hit a plateau yet. Because of this, it was smart for Honda to advertise fuel efficiency.

Immediately following the Super Bowl, a Michelin commercial emphasized the importance of recycling. Although this doesn't exactly qualify as a Super Bowl commercial because it was after the game was over, its presence is still significant. Michelin's commercial was geared the most towards striving for a healthier environment.

The American Heart Association (AHA) created an advertisement for their website www.beatyourrisk.com. This website allows visitors to calculate their risk for heart disease based on various lifestyle and health factors.

The intended point behind the "Gotta Have Heart" commercial was to alert viewers of the dangers seemingly normal health problems can have on your heart.

AHA decided to address this issue by having a man dressed in a large heart costume get attacked by other men dressed in tights with the names of bodily conditions and diseases such as diabetes and high cholesterol pasted on their outfits.

The commercial was pretty straight forward, and while this is an important issue that needs attention, I must confess that I don't believe the method they chose was the best.

For those of you who are unaware, February is Heart Month. So this commercial has a little bit of a duality. It's the shortest month, as well. So that means only 28 days out of the year are officially (if you can call it that) dedicated to maintaining a healthy heart.

With this in mind, I could think of a million other commercial campaigns to highlight this fact. Plus, the response to this commercial from those who were around me was very negative. If you are interested, check it out by clicking here or by hitting play below.

Spirituality is becoming increasingly more popular lately. Another recent trend is food vitamins and minerals. Snapple combined both of these into one and went with it in their commercial "EGCG."

One of the best aired this year, "EGCG" is both informative and humorous. And it addresses a popular trend of today. It pretty much has it all. Check it out at IFILM or below.

I am tempted to compare these commercials to those of the past, and say that they were dull, but I realize that the focus was not on humor this year. It would be tricky to accomplish such a feat of measurement. Although this year's commercials were quite different, their purpose was as well. In this way, they worked with the times.

To catch all of the commercials, including those not mentioned in this article, and evaluate them yourself, you can visit the IFILM website at www.ifilm.com.