My Two Favorite Super Bowl Ads Last Night

William Sydney Porter

120 years ago, William Sydney Porter made his mark as a writer by creating stories with a surprise twist at the end. We know him today as O Henry. My two favorite commercials last night had the same "Aha!" effect that O Henry was famous. 

The first, if you watched the commercials, followed a motif that a friend of mine shared with me several years back. Claude is from Switzerland, and I don't know if this ad made American airwaves or not, but it was memorable even if I never saw it. 

He was at a movie theater where they run commercials while the theater seats get filled. On the screen it looked like a Marlboro commercial was beginning. The angle of the camera was down low as the famous emblem for Marlboro cigarets came riding toward the audience on a horse.

Suddenly the camera switches to the river and we see a man in a rowboat, the mascot for Camel cigarets, Joe camel rowing toward the shore. The natural reaction would be, "Is this a Marlboro commercial or a Camel commercial?" As the camera follows the rowboat toward the shore we see both company mascots. What's going on here? 

Finally, they're near enough to talk and one says to the other, "By the way, what tooth whitener do you use?" The other replies, holds out a tube and they both affirm it's the best.  

Well, that tooth whitener commercial came to mind after I watched the Miller Lite and Coors bar fight. Is it a Coors commercial or a Miller commercial. Naturally, this are the big kahunas in the major U.S. brands beer brawl. It really had me going. I almost wondered if they were getting ready to announce that Anheuser-Busch and Coors had merged. 

The spot begins with two guys seated at a bar. One turns to the camera and says, "For the first time in 30 years, Coors Light has an ad in the Super Bowl." The second guy swings around on his barstool and says, "Actually, this is a Miller Lite commercial." The first guy then slugs him in the face and a brawl ensues, with dramatic music. 

Coors commercial? Miller commercial? "Actually...." Watch it here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fe4zS3y9PeI

The other commercial is titled Jack's New Angle. You don't have to know who Jack is, but in this story he takes up the triangle as a musical instrument. It's a 90-second spot and hilarious, with shades of Being John Malkovich. Like the previous commercial cited here, it uses story-telling and humor to keep viewers' eyeballs engaged till the dramatic reveal at the end, another surprise ending with an "Aha!" Watch it here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYPYfEVU62U

Now how fun was that? 

There was a lot of action in the Super Bowl ads last night. While some commercials worked better than others, it was fun seeing companies pulling out all the stops. 

Meantime, life goes on all around you. Laugh a little and it will lighten your load. 

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Did you watch the game? What were your favorite commercials?