Super Bowl commercials aim for college bucks using humor, sex, MC Hammer

The impressionable Super Bowl viewer went to sleep Sunday night dreaming of beer, soda, movies and MC Hammer. With beautiful women, celebrities, a heavy dose of humor and a certain parachute-pants wearing former has-been, the Super Bowl commercials Sunday night peddled the wares of Budweiser, Diet Pepsi, Ameriquest and some of this summer's biggest upcoming blockbusters.\n"They were good, they were funny," said sophomore Emily Biederman, who had to watch the commercials for an advertising class. "A lot of them were very humorous. There were a couple Budweiser commercials I liked -- especially the one where the airplane pilot jumps after the beer." \nThat commercial kicked off the Super Bowl regulation ads and \nBudweiser spots ran throughout the rest of the game. Upcoming movies "Constantine," "Robots," "War of the Worlds" and "Batman Begins" all ran ads and MC Hammer appeared in two different spots -- one for Lays and one for Nationwide Insurance.\nStill, not everyone was pleased with the ads. Senior Jason Robbins said the commercials were disappointing, barring a few exceptions.\n"They were very lackluster," he said. "A lot were not new and others were just directly reporting (the product). Most of the time there is some shock value to them, but there were just like two that were OK."\nAmeriquest sponsored the halftime show and ran ads that seemed to deliver the most laughs. One featured a store clerk mistaking a man talking on his hands-free phone for a thief. When the man says into his phone "You're getting robbed," the clerk attacks him with mace, a bat and a broom. In another, a man is cutting food in the kitchen when his cat knocks over a pot of red pasta sauce. The shot then pauses with the man picking up the red, sauce-stained cat in one hand and his big cutting knife in the other and the narrator saying "Don't judge too quickly. We won't."\nFreshmen Diane Gumina said she liked the Ameriquest commercials best, even though the Super Bowl advertisements as a whole were a letdown.\n"I really liked the cat one, but the whole series was funny," she said. "But, I didn't like the Super Bowl commercials as much as past ones. I thought they were subpar."\nGail McDaniel, an adjunct instructor in the School of Journalism who teaches Principles of Creative Advertising, had her students, including sophomore Biederman, watch and analyze the commercials. McDaniel said the variety of commercials this year focused on attracting college-aged males and had a few surprises in store. Still, she said she was disappointed there was no big, impressive ad as in years past. \n"There was no breakthrough, really creative ad," she said. "You had times when Michael Jordan was on, the 1984 spot that put Mac on the forefront. (Sunday), you didn't see anything like that."\nBut for McDaniel, there was a handful of high points. She said a Volvo commercial featuring Virgin founder Richard Branson flying a spaceship with a bumper sticker reading "My Other Vehicle is A Volvo" is the first time she's seen the car company focus on anything but safety in its ad campaigns.\nMcDaniel said she also enjoyed a McDonald's ad featuring a french fry that looked like Abraham Lincoln and a FedEx Kinko's ad detailing the top 10 things a Super Bowl ad should have. Among those depicted, celebrity Burt Reynolds danced with a talking bear in front of scantily clad cheerleader, complete with a humorous punchline finale: "I really liked you in 'Smokey and the Bandit'," the bear told Reynolds. \n"I thought that was really cute," McDaniel said. \nAs for the overall result, McDaniel said she doubted the ads were effective.\n"What really makes a good commercial is one that makes the cash register ring," McDaniel said. "I haven't seen too many that made me want to buy the product."\n-- Contact Staff Writer Gavin \nLesnick at glesnick@indiana.edu.