What happened to the Good Commercials???

Did anyone else notice the lack of creativity with the Super Bowl 45 commerical spots?  It has become a tradition with many viewers of the Superbowl to watch the advertisments each year and compare the creativity.  But this year it lacked!  The word "lacked" is a nicer way of saying it 'suc....ed' and you get the idea.   I found myself watching Animal Planet's Puppy Bowl more than the commericals! 

Perhaps the demographics of Super Bowl watchers have dwindled down to Doritos, Shoot-Em-Up Movies and Sleek Car Commercials.  But where was the creativity?  There were more commericals that reminded of "Celebrity Death Match" ie:  Roseanne becoming one with log.  I found the spots to be more reliant on violence, and cheap laughs. It was flash & glam, for what?  

The one saving grace was the Darth Vader commercial with the little kid.  That was cute and I'm sure with the amount of youtube.com hits it's already become viral, which means in this day and age it's become a 'classic' in a matter of days. 

I enjoy the well thought out commericials where instead of relying on computer graphics, and special effects, the actor(s) had to convey the message through a story.  Remember 'Clara Pella' 'where's the beef?'  She became an icon to the American Public Tv viewing audience.  Just a simple commerical spot featuing three elder ladies complaining about the lack of meat in the average fast food hamburger.  That commerical was so funny it was probably based in reality, somewhere out there - that there really were three elder ladies who did indeed open up the lid of a hamburger bun, look inside and really did say 'Where's the Beef?'

Sometimes simplicity goes along way!  Maybe the former writers of Saturday Night Live are now working as tv commerical spot writers.  Just like Saturday Night Live a few years ago where the writing quality lagged, our tv commercial creativity is weak. 

Maybe next year it will get better.

Mary Beth Wrenn

www.marybethwrenn.com