The Battle of the Super Bowl (Ads)
This year’s Super Bowl was a battle between two warring sides, the culmination of a long campaign. Yes, it was the fight between cynicism and sincerity, played out on screens across the nation. There may also have been a sporting event involved.
On one side we have cynicism, represented as always by Go Daddy’s finest. Build two stereotypes out of living, breathing people and have them make out, always an effective tactic. If you click through to the view count you can see this controversy baiting didn’t quite work out as well as the domain registrar had likely hoped—as of now it’s batting well under a million, and most of the reactions are negative. Go Daddy’s Super Bowl ads are almost always exploitive, but this one’s just unpleasant from any angle.
And so it is that sincerity won the day, with this tear-jerker of a Budweiser ad. I’m pretty sure I’ve never teared up while watching a beer commercial before, but here we are. Between the televised and extended versions of the ad, Budweiser has racked up nearly twelve million YouTube views —on top of the crazy viewership of the big game.
The company also ran an associated social media campaign to name the adorable Clydesdale foal shown in the first moments of the ad. You can watch it unfold through adorable videos on on Budweiser’s Facebook page.
