Like many viewers, I often find the Super Bowl commercials as interesting, if not more so, than the actual game. The 2011 Super Bowl’s batch of commercials are an eclectic mix of misandrist (man-hating/bashing) ads, ads that tried to be funny, but were not, trippy visual ads and only a couple cool exceptions to otherwise forgettable spots. Here are some of the worst ads that use men as punchlines/punching bags:
Pepsi Max: Love Hurts
[youtube ZVQrH0aHGAc Pepsi Max: Love Hurts 2011]
Would the wife have shown remorse if the can had hit her intended target—her husband? What’s the message? It’s okay to assault your boyfriend or husband if he admires an attractive woman? Not okay.
Pepsi Max: Torpedo Cooler
[youtube gGh-W1ge2Ok Pepsi Max: Torpedo Cooler 2011]
Because it’s also “funny” for a man to get cans of soda whipped at his testicular region. Why did this man get clipped in the groin? Because he ogled a woman and any man who looks upon a woman with lust deserves to be physically hurt and publicly shamed? This doesn’t happen to the female cast members of ABC’s Cougar Town when they salivate over young men who are 20 years their junior. It just adds insult to injury that they have a man harming another man because he looks at a woman lasciviously and makes a cat call.
SafeAuto: Man Gets Kicked in the Testicles Repeatedly
[youtube j5nP6AURrgY AutoSafe Anti-Male 2011 commercial]
Is this an ad for auto insurance or Jaco Guardian Protective Cups? Now imagine a woman being kicked in the vagina repeatedly throughout a commercial. Would that be funny?
HomeAway: Test Baby
[youtube k24N5DQ_XaY Home Away 2011 Test Baby]
The test baby gave me the creeps. A mother and father are in a simulated hotel room with their kids. Dad, of course, is clueless and can’t control the kids. As a result, he causes his test baby to fly across the room face first into a glass wall. Nice. Mom sets the baby down for one second and dad’s negligence causes the baby harm. What’s the message? All fathers are incompetent?
Doritos: Pug Attack
[youtube hpjaOUjUPUc Doritos 2011: Pug Attack]
Okay, the pug is adorable, but the boyfriend/husband is portrayed as a buffoon.
Pepsi Max: First Date
[youtube 3N1aOZTTA-c Pepsi Max 2011: First Date]
It’s a stereotype, but I think it pretty much sums up female first date agendas, of which men should be aware.
Snickers: Lumberjack
[youtube jj-n49pNkyw Snickers 2011 Lumberjack ad]
Didn’t think this one was all that funny, but props to Roseanne for “taking it like a man.”
What are your least favorite ads?
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There was another ad that I saw, but I couldn’t find it on any Super Bowl ad list. Maybe it was a local spot? (Were those given out at all?) Anyway, the implication was that you had better buy your soon-to-be wife the right diamond or you were going to get smacked. That one didn’t rate too highly for me. Of those you listed, the first was definitely my least favorite…brought back too many bad memories of having something thrown my way and a spouse who goes from smiling to attacking in 0-2 seconds.
I looked for it, too, but couldn’t find anything with diamonds int it. There’s a Diamond District advert from 2010, but that’s probably not it.
The Pepsi first date ad was excruciatingly bad. The rest were merely sucktacular. And I don’t mean just the ones you noted, Dr. Tara, I mean all the ads shown. The Chrysler ad with Eminem looked good and had a nice tagline in “Imported from Detroit”. Except Chrysler is owned by FIAT of Italy, and the vehicle in the ad, the Chrysler 200, is a rehash of the mediocre Sebring. The Timothy Hutton ad made me cringe. The ads overall were so bad I had to pay attention to the game.
The Darth Vader ad was cool. Reminds me of a guy I work with that thinks he can move objects with his mind. No success yet.
Baby toss? Send the guy that wrote that to me. I have plans for him and a friend with a large catapult it his yard.
The BUD adds were good as usual.
The Pug add…well I have seen some pretty stupid things from buffoons who happened to be men. The guys listed below wish it was only the pug.
Like:
Blinding oneself with a welder. The same guy threatened a US Congressman. (Bad end)
Blowing up large trash bags filled with propane. (That ended badly burned)
Foolish use of gasoline to start fires. (Yep…more burns)
Shooting at your dog because it jumped through a bonfire (like he trained it to) and knocked over his beer. ( The dog was ok. Offender not so much)
Bow. Arrows. Duct Tape. Quarter sticks of dynamite. You figure out the rest.
Sinking your boat, trailer and brand new jeep cherokee whilst loading boat on trailer. (Yes the tow driver used the classic line from Risky Business, “So, who’s the u-boat commander?)
Occasionally the stereo type of buffoon fits. It is usually painful. Now how do we get it out of the gene pool?
This had to have been one of the worst years of SB commercials. I liked the Darth Vader one…it was cute. Bud usually has pretty good ones, but this year, they were lacking. Only one horse one, of their running legs, then a cheesy rendition of Tiny Dancer after one sip…huh?!?!?
I missed some of the others…thankfully! But I did pick up on a theme of violence. I never understood that…like on America’s Funniest Home Videos…the ones that always ‘won’ were of people getting injured and/or humiliated. I don’t understand why people think those things are funny!
Yeah, watching people do stupid things is funny, especially if they seem like jerks / are engaged in criminal activity at the time…but watching someone being assaulted? not so much!
You know, I did not think of my ex in those commercials, but, the throwing the Pepsi one, that pretty much sums up my six years with her. Once, on Valentines day, I surprised her, skipped my hockey game, brought her her favorite dinner and flowers. Her reaction? She yelled at me for buying flowers from someone on the street, (you know, on corners all over are people selling flowers on Valentines day), called me all kinds of names. I should have gone to hockey. Maybe that will be a commercial next year.
I was snapped at for buying a half dozen roses instead of 12. I forget the occasion, but I think it may have been just out of the blue…no reason, and they were from an expensive floral shop. I was told how cheap I was. She once was pissed because I didn’t offer to pick up the tab for a group of us at a dinner. Weeks later, as she was reciting a litany of my short comings she said:
“if we are at a dinner, and the bill is $400.00, and YOU pay it, that’s a turn-on.” A buddy of mine said later “ya think if the bill was a thousand, she’d have an orgasm on the spot?”
I’m having a flashback to the restaurant scene in “When Harry Met Sally” =)
Chester, I had a similar experience. In January, she told me that I did not have to get her anything for Valentine’s Day. In February, she changed her mind.
The best I could do on such short notice was six red roses instead of a dozen.
Carpet bombing to commence in five, four, three…
Well, apparently, it’s not only OK to physically harm men for entertainment purposes, but now, it’s encouraged to emotionally abuse them for political purposes:
Belgian senator asks wives of MPs to withhold sex until deadlock broken
A female Belgian senator has called on the wives of all politicians to ban sexual intercourse until a deadlock, which has left Belgium without a government for 241 days, has been broken. Marleen Temmerman, a Socialist senator, has urged the bed partners of MPs, senators and party political leaders to keep their “legs closed” until the deadlock, which is closing in on a world record of 249 days, is ended. Belgium has been without a government since May 2010 after splits between Dutch-speaking and francophone, political parties precipitated early elections. Talks to resolve the crisis have remained deadlocked. By Feb. 17 Belgium will have beat war-torn Iraq to set a new world record of more than 249 days without a government
Read more: http://www.nationalpost.com/Belgian+senator+asks+wives+withhold+until+deadlock+broken/4247796/story.html#ixzz1DU8e7LhJ
When I saw the women throw the pop can at her “man”,I could not believe it.It will be a long time before a Pepsi comes into my hands.The anger displayed by the women is so frightening.On my next purchase of a cola,that is what I am going to remember,walking past the Pepsi display.
The “Love Hurts” commercial is socially irresponsible. I’ve read here and there that “it’s just a commercial”. If that were the case, then a commercial portraying a man doing the same thing to a woman would be funny too right? Yeah, no. The message it sends is that’s it’s funny when a woman hit’s a man. Let me tell you, it’s not funny at all.
I completely agree. The commercial is a good reason to give up diet soda altogether. It’s bad for you anyway.
The commercial trend is disturbing, I am much more sensitive to it now after my 2nd marriage to a BPD/NPD (whole ‘nother story there but lets say the 2nd one is 10x worse than the first and hid it wayyy better) and it seems to be in almost every sit-com and commercial these days.
I was just watching a basket ball game the other day (one of the few things I can even watch on what goes for TV these days) and saw this commercial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46Vy5qdOc-E. Its an ad for the NBAStore where a guy is dreaming about making a winning shot and wakes up energized out of a dream when his alarm goes off and he’s wearing his favorite players jersey. His wife is lying in bed next to him and what does she do? She rolls over and hits him in the chest and that how the commercial ends. Was it necessary to throw that in? What purpose did it really serve? I don’t know any more.