Two Illini played big roles for the Giants in their Super Bowl victory. Dave Diehl, the Giants’ tackle, introduced himself as hailing from “the University of Chief Illiniwek.” God bless him. The Chief was killed by the bonehead NCAA bureaucracy because he was deemed un-PC. And, Steve Weatherford placed a couple of punts that pinned the Patriots deep in their own territory. Oskee Wow Wow! That's a pic of Diehl below.
My favorite commercial was the one that ended with the octogenarian, Betty White, coyly scolding the boys for looking at her boobs. Very clever.
The running gag throughout many of the commercials was switching in the middle or the end from pitching one product to pitching another. One commercial even featured a pitch for Twinkies in the middle of a pitch for the Chevrolet Silverado. Concealing the purpose of the pitch has been a conceit of commercials for some time. The product is just too boring, so you’ve got to jazz things up with graphics and animation.
Nobody had anything to say about the game at the shop this morning, but everybody was interested in the commercials. We’re in the biz… so, that’s what gets our attention.
I was surprised by how many of the pitches were for movies. Of course, movies are great products for pitches, especially action movies with fast moving trailers. The beer commercials were just awful. A sense of humor goes a long way in commercial production, and the beer pitches had none.
My wife and I thought the Twinkies were just a clever reference to Zombieland.
But maybe it was paid for.
Posted by: Tank | Tuesday, February 07, 2012 at 08:46 AM
The very careful presentation of the Twinkies convinced me that this was a product placement ad, but I could be wrong.
Beginning in the mid-90s, the theme of advertising became avoiding mentioning the product or discussing the actual merits or substance of the product in favor of droll irony and irrelevant showmanship and non-stop graphics and animation.
The product itself is just too boring to mention.
This year's Super Bowl ads were the apogee of this trend.
Posted by: Shouting Thomas | Tuesday, February 07, 2012 at 08:38 PM
Great game! thanks for sharing this video.
Alvin
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