Super Bowl 2012 Ad Smorgasbord Review

Ideen asked its talented Associate, Monica Witzig, to evaluate this year's Super Bowl ads from a twenty-something's perspective.  What follows are her critiques...Enjoy!

By Monica J. Witzig

The average cost of a 30-second ad during Super Bowl 2012 was $3.5 million. Are the impressions worth it?

The Catchy

Hyundai's employee sing-along to "Gonna Fly Now" (aka the Rocky theme): How do you resist running up and down your apartment complex's stairs? How do you not "DA DA DA, DA DA DA!" along with everyone?

Samsung Galaxy's "I Believe In A Thing Called Love": Darned if I can sing that high, either, but I know I'm among thousands who try — and enjoy doing so. JUST LISTEN TO THE RHYTHM OF MY HEART!

The Sexy and Sexist

David Beckham for H&M: I have to admit hitting the Web to figure out what exactly this was advertising; I was distracted. I was distracted by the skin, the muscles, the tattoos, the sex ... We finally had one that appealed to those of us who are not the stereotypical Super Bowl ad base — and I am grateful. I think it was for guys' skivvies. I guess. I am merely dubbing it a favorite and moving on.

Adriana Lima for ... everything else: OK, no, just two items — Teleflora and Kia. Back to the stereotypical Super Bowl ad base. Bye bye, equal time.

Justfab.com: Actually, let's assign the "maybe it's your first time and you're trying too hard" sub-bullet here. Orgasmic shoe shopping? I'm going out on a limb and asserting that few women who hear two other women heaving and oohing on the TV will enter the living room joyously to find out what's on. The shoes, by the way? Ugly.

GoDaddy: You knew what you'd see the second the logo appeared: The general sex and sexism that sells enough domain names to give us similar ads each year.

The Annoying

The Etrade baby: He must be stopped.

Dannon's Oikos yogurt: John Stamos, it was cute the first 472 times. Getting old. (Stamos or his "keep the yogurt playfully" ploy? Your call.)

Acura: Jerry Seinfeld's methods, although excessive for comedy, just made me wish he were given the 2015 car — and on top of that, Jay Leno swept in and made it even worse.

"Pepsi for all": Flashy and loud and all for a soft drink. I admit to getting a headache until the end, when Flavor Flav was in the dungeon. Worth our brain cells, though?

The Funny

Hyundai smokes a cheetah in a race: Man-screams and slapstick humor. I think we're done here.

VW's "two-fer" commercial: A dog working out is funny. Viewers almost even feel bad for the guy as he ignores morsels dropped to the kitchen floor. Felt a little hiccough as VW transitioned from its commercial-within-a-commercial to the cantina scene to remind everyone of last year's Vader kid. (He found your lack of faith disturbing.)

"Matthew's Day Off" for Honda's CR-V: This was among the most-anticipated ads this year — if not the most anticipated, sprinkling lines an entire generation has quoted for 25 years. "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."

The Poignant

Clint Eastwood nails it with a message backed by the Dodge vehicle family: "How do we come from behind? ... This country can't be knocked out by one punch ... and our second half is about to begin."

The Obligatory Mentions

Audi's "daylight in a headlight": Over the vampire craze? Maybe Audi is, too: Kudos for killing 'em off. Too much glitter and too many fangs these days.

Coke: Coke and polar bears have had this relationship for decades. Is it cute, or do we think all that high-fructose corn syrup might end them?

Downy: The play on the nostalgic Mean Joe Green commercial ... didn't flop. In fact, it was very realistic in how rank I'm sure NFLers are after hustling, but I don't expect to talk about it on Monday.