Ads left a LOT to be desired

[probowlBAILEY]

I thought that one where everyone was slapping eachother was funny.

[Kapaibro]

Blockbuster mouse, Bud Light hitchiker/rock-paper-scissors, and probably the Snickers one.

Man, it stirred up the old ****-phobes!

[Kapaibro]

From Yahoo

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Super Bowl ads, which cost $85,000 per second during this year's game, fumbled overall as they failed to connect with viewers or just scared them, according to researchers who tracked people's brain activity.

Researchers at the University of California Los Angeles scanned the brains of five men and five women between the ages of 18 and 34 as they watched Super Bowl ads to measure the emotional impact. Participants viewed the commercials through goggles as they lay inside a donut-shaped machine called a functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI, machine.

The fMRI images show increased blood flow to specific areas of the brain that are activated by outside stimuli. Dr. Josh Freedman, one of the researchers who conducted the brain scans, said he saw a lot of activity in the amygdala, an area of the brain associated with anxiety and fear.

"We saw huge activity going on in the amygdala -- the threat detector -- so much so that we had to go back and double check our software," Freedman said in a telephone interview.

Among the top anxiety-producing ads, he said, was one for General Motors aimed at drawing attention to the automaker's 100,000 mile warranty. The ad features a robot working on the line at an assembly plant until he drops a screw forcing the line to shut down. Angry workers kick the robot off the line, rendering the robot jobless. "It's got everyone at GM obsessed with quality," the ad concluded.

"That one got people's attention. But they did not feel good about the message. It produced big spikes of anxiety and perhaps ... feelings of economic insecurity," Freedman said.

A controversial ad for Nationwide Insurance featuring Britney Spears' estranged husband, Kevin Federline, as a failed rap star working in a fast-food eatery also generated anxiety and feelings of insecurity, he said.

The most ineffective ad was from Honda, which showed participants were less engaged during the ad than they were when they looked at a blank screen.

Even ads for Budweiser beer, traditionally known for good-humored advertising, generated negative emotions, fMRI scans showed.

The commercials that produced the most positive feelings were those by Coke and Doritos, Freedman said. But compared with last year's lot of commercials, this year's Super Bowl ads fumbled.

HOW CAN THEY TELL?

Each area of the brain has specific functions. Some areas generate emotions, like hope, trust or fear, while others process information. When an area of the brain becomes active, the vascular systems shunts additional blood to that area and the fMRI measures the increase.

So when the amygdala, the region of the brain that controls "fight or flight," is engaged there is an increase of blood to that area and is detected by the scan, showing in real time what is happening inside the brain.

This technique enables scientists to watch the brain while it processes information.

Such scans can provide valuable information to advertisers. Businesses probably will use these tools first, said UCLA's Dr. Marco Iacoboni, who also conducted fMRI scans during the football game.

"Politics will come next. I'm pretty sure some (politician) will do something with this in the next presidential election," he said.

"You can't trust people to say what they really think and there are a lot of reasons for this. There's social pressure. They try to say things so they'll look smart. In focus-group situations, people tend to imitate each other. And people are not very in touch with understanding why they make the decisions they make," Iacoboni said.

Kate Sirkin, global research director for Chicago-based Starcom MediaVest group, said she does not doubt the credibility of information revealed by fMRI scans.

"I think they tell the truth, but we've found we get similar findings with paper and pen research," she said. "And the technology is too expensive to be practical."

[Geandily]

I liked the Coke one that had the guy from Grand-Theft-Auto being nice to everyone, giving out flowers etc etc, I think that was really the only good one.

Usually there's a lot of good commercials but this year really was bad, especially the fan made ones and the heart one, those ones just bummed me out.

[The Dark Knight]

The Snickers one was just stupid.

If you are going to do gay humor, try to at least be funny while your doing it.

Otherwise you're just doing it for shock value.

Which I think was their true intention.

[sbutk]

Why would anyone want to watch commercials!? Isn't that what we all hate all season? I watched the first 3, saw how lame they were and then skipped through the rest of them with my nifty tivo!!

Ordinarily I'd agree with you, but Super Bowl commercials are an exception. ...I was under the impression most people felt this way.

[xX-Bronco-Xx]

The english class thing for Bud Light was funny.

"When someone asks you for a Bud Light you say?"

"Me no speak english!"

[sbutk]

The Fan's Super Bowl ad was the one right after the 2 min warning in the 2nd half. It was the one of all the fans putting away their gear after the season was over i believe. You know, the raider fans with their crazy outfits high five each other, the redskins man is slumped in his chair, the Bears fan is taking his fan chair to the garage, the colts fan washes his horse that was spraypainted with the colts logo on it....

Something about the season being officially over now and everyone looking forward to next season. It was a bum commericial. There were a lot better ideas, some funny and some creative. I cant believe they chose that one. I guess it fit alongside all the other ones.

Gotcha, thanks.

[Jared]

That Doritos one with the check out counter couple was funny. "We need a clean up at register 7"


As was the Bud Light ax murderer.

CareerBuilder.com had a solid day.

I can't even remember most of the others.

The face slapping one was weird.

[sbutk]

That Doritos one with the check out counter couple was funny. "We need a clean up at register 7"


As was the Bud Light ax murderer.

CareerBuilder.com had a solid day.

I can't even remember most of the others.

The face slapping one was weird.

I dunno about that, their monkeys were 100X better.

[BroncoManiac_69]

Blockbuster mouse, Bud Light hitchiker/rock-paper-scissors, and probably the Snickers one.

Man, it stirred up the old ****-phobes!

My favs too but Snickers really went out there with that one. I liked the gorillas at the zoo.

I expected more but mostly I grade them overall at a C+

[xX-Bronco-Xx]

My favs too but Snickers really went out there with that one. I liked the gorillas at the zoo.

I expected more but mostly I grade them overall at a C+

Ha I remember the Gorilla one!


That smile just absolutely got me laughing on the floor.

[xX-Bronco-Xx]

And I think they should stop showing the commercials BEFORE the Superbowl.

I saw like what? 1/4 of the commercials a week before the SB.

[BroncoManiac_69]

And I think they should stop showing the commercials BEFORE the Superbowl.

I saw like what? 1/4 of the commercials a week before the SB.

Agreed. The previews etc. take away the surprise factor.

I liked the Sierra Mist one when the guy asked his karate class what they should do if someone took their Sierra Mist. A few silly answers and then the lady says "rip their arms out of their sockets?" He says "better" Then the other lady says "bash em in the face with a lamp?"

LMAO!

[Kapaibro]

Mouse Click’ spot touting online rentals features rodent-on-rodent violence

There were two Super Bowl winners: The Colts, and the mouse.

Blockbuster’s first-quarter commercial featuring longtime computer-generated pitchmen Carl and Ray (the former a rabbit, the latter a guinea pig) easily ran away with the popular vote on MSNBC.com's highly unscientific readers poll.

As of this afternoon, the spot led the field of 32 ads with 18 percent of the vote. Budweiser's "Rock, Paper, Scissors," was a distant second with 12 percent. More than 80,000 readers cast votes.

The Blockbuster ad features the duo attempting to access the company's new Total Access online rental service by clicking and dragging a mouse. The cheese-eating kind, not the one cubicle drones have their hands permanently fixed to. They don't succeed, with Ray finally yanking it up by the tail saying, "We didn’t plug it in," and the abused rodent quickly responding, "Don't even think about it."

The ad, dubbed "Mouse Click," was an important part of the campaign to get out news about Total Access, said Margaret Landis, Blockbuster's vice president of advertising and customer communications.

"We really had a big venue like the Super Bowl in mind. … We really wanted to wait for the right time," she said. "What better way to talk about online rentals than with Carl and Ray?"

James Woods is the voice of Carl, Jim Belushi is Ray and mouse (he hasn't been given a name yet) is played by Bob Goldthwait. Carl and Ray made their debut in a 2002 Super Bowl Blockbuster spot that won numerous industry awards.

The ads have proved a hit with viewers as the characters are "very entertaining, unexpected and lovable. People always say, 'I can’t believe they said that.’ They’re just fun," Landis said.

She said the company would consider creating another mouse spot: "We'll see, if reaction is as positive as it is today, possibly."

MSNBC.com readers voted by using our unique brackets format, which allowed them to advance ads to different matchups, or simply vote for the best one.

Rounding out the top 10 were Budweiser's "Dogs," Nationwide's "Federline," Snickers' "Manly," Bud Light's "Slap" and "Class," Doritos' "Checkout," GM's "Robot Arm," and Coca-Cola's "Vice."