Super Bowl Commercials That Made Touchdowns
Because the Super Bowl is one of the few events on American television that a critical mass of viewers (covering almost all demographics and age groups) watches simultaneously, getting a spot during the big game is like scoring a touchdown for advertisers.
As such, there’s a lot of pressure to make a commercial that people will remember. In 2015, Dish Network went as far as allowing the “Primetime Anytime” and “AutoHop” features on its Hopper digital video recorder, which automatically record programming from the major networks and trims the commercials for them, to function in reverse and allow users to view a recording of the Super Bowl that only shows the commercials.
The best of the commercials gain a fan base of their own, and in recent years have many have gone viral on the internet. At Gephardt Daily, we complied a list of our choices for the five best and most influential Super Bowl ads of all time.
1. APPLE (1984)
A nod to George Orwell’s distopian classic “1984,” this ad was designed to make people view computers not as something that would enslave us, but rather set us free. Directed by Ridley Scott, the man behind “Blade Runner” and “Gladiator,” this ad has been called a watershed event and a masterpiece in advertising In 1995, The Clio Awards added the spot to its Hall of Fame.
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2. PEPSI (1991)
Supermodel Cindy Crawford goes to a soda machine and buys a Pepsi, while two preteen boys look on with wonder and awe – not for Cindy, it turns out, but for the Pepsi can – in this clever ad that combined humor with sex appeal to create an iconic piece that got is own sequel in 2002.
3. MCDONALDS (1991)
Michael Jordan and Larry Bird have a trick shot contest, in which the winner gets lunch and the loser has to watch the winner eat.
4. BRIDGESTONE TIRES (2011)
Advertising creative director Bill Cochran used his own mistake in hitting “Reply All” on an email to his art director rating their competition, and sent it out to the very people he was insulting. Rather than letting this mistake ruin him, he used it to create an adverting classic.
5. BUDWEISER (1995)
Gore Verbinksi, who would go on to direct the first three “Pirates of the Caribbean” films, created this spot that forever changed what we hear when frogs croak.
