Best and Worst Super Bowl Commercials - 2009

This is the third annual review of the Super Bowl commercials. Believe it or not, this year's crop was actually better than those that ran during last year's game. Here are the best and the worst ads of Super Bowl XLIII (Click the link to watch the commercial):

Best

1. Free Doritos. This spot was created by two amateurs who won an online contest sponsored by Doritos to create a Super Bowl Commercial. It features two co-workers who possess a crystal ball and trying to predict the future. The future told them they would be eating Doritos. So what do they do? They throw the ball at a vending machine containing the snack and volia! Free Doritos! Very funny stuff.

2. and 3. Bud's Clydesdales. Two spots finished second and third, respectively. The first one (Clydesdale Circus) features a Clydesdale romance with a circus horse in a funny but touching story; the other features a story regarding generations of Clydesdales (Clydesales Generations). Both spots were a hoot.

4. High Steppin' (NFL) This one features the New Orleans Saints' Usama Young, who discovers his talent is more suited to football than being a snow-cone salesman. You suppose he was fired from the gig because he was high steppin'? Or because he allegedly sold yellow snow-cones?

5. Mean Troy (Coke Zero). This funny ad is a sendup of the 1979 Super Bowl Coke commercial featuring Troy Polamalu in the Mean Joe Greene role - only with quite different results.

Honorable Mentions: I'm Good (Pepsi Max), Lizard Lake (Sobe), Refresh Anthem (Pepsi), Tips (Career Builder), Pepsuber (Pepsi), One Second Ads (Miller High Life.)

Worst

Go Daddy. The alleged hotness of Danica Patrick sells Go Daddy again in two forgettable spots: 1. Enhanced and 2. Shower, both forcing us to go online to see the rest (which was quite lame.) Hey kids, you can grow up to be Danica as well: all you have to do is drive around a track and never win and show your T&A to 100 million viewers. What a great role model. And no, she's not hot. Or talented.

3. Cash4gold. Wait, this advertiser actually had money to buy time on the Super Bowl? The advertiser that has never bought any spots outside of Judge Hatchett reruns? Maybe we should ask the two financial experts who were in this commercial on how to do exactly that and not lose your shirt - or your house. One of them used to be a spokesman for Publishers Clearing House. Man, how times change. Maybe he could use the million dollars...

4. Teleflora. Talking flowers in a box insult a woman. Would've been funnier if it was Rod Blagoveich receiving the flowers instead. Or Danica Patrick.

5. Vizio. The Little Guys Home Electronics in Glenwood advise you to steer clear of Vizio high-def sets. This self-absorbed commercial for these junky TV sets just proves them right.

Halftime show: The halftime show this year featured Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, performing a few songs and promoting his new album, Working on a Dream. His energy and enthusiasm made the halftime show quite fun to watch. And to this critic saying he "misread the national mood" - lighten up. Who do you think was more appropriate to perform, then? Helen Reddy or Debbie Boone?

Further Reading

-Bob Garfield from Advertising Age reviews the spots. Click here to read his reviews.

- USA Today's annual Ad Meter ranked Free Doritos first, ending the ten-year reign of Anheuser-Busch. On the other hand, Vizio ranked far and away dead last.

- For the third straight year, YouTube is rating the Super Bowl spots in its Ad Blitz promotion. You have until February 4 to pick your favorite.

- Of course, there's always someone saying how bad the Super Bowl Ads are. Click here and here and find out. Their assessment is about as tiresome as some of the ads.

Past Super Bowl Ad Reviews: 2007 (best), 2007 (worst), and 2008.