Even if you’re not a football fan, there are still lots of reasons to look forward to the the big game. The parties with your friends and family with the promise of delicious junk food, the unforgettable halftime shows almost guaranteed to stir up some controversy, and of course the famous, and sometimes infamous, Super Bowl ads. This year there was no shortage of feel-good, funny, and down right creative commercials to keep us entertained while the game failed to do so. From Jason Bateman’s Hell-evator ride for Hyundai to a mashup performance featuring Chance the Rapper and Backstreet Boys for Doritos, there are many fan favorites to choose from. But there were also many that missed the mark. Let’s take a look back at the least memorable commercials from this years Super Bowl coverage that probably weren’t worth their 6 million dollar price tag.
- Persil’s “Deepest Secret”
If you’ve seen one laundry detergent ad, you’ve seen them all. And the same holds true for this year’s Persil commercial. In their 15 second spot, spokesman Peter Hermann, visits the “stain lab” where they hide their deepest secrets about how they clean their deepest stains. Spoiler alert: it’s inside of a washing machine. (Yawn) This year’s ad takes a creative step back from their 2018 Super Bowl commercial, lacking both the originality and humor we saw last year.
- TurboTax’s “RoboChild”
TurboTax is really pushing their brand this tax season and why not, Tax Day will be here before we know it. But their attempt at humor for this year’s spot came across as creepy and kind of sad for many viewers. There’s just something about putting a child’s face on a robot and then giving it human emotions that is a bit unsettling.
- Norwegian Cruise Lines “Good To Be Free”
While this Norwegian Cruise commercial did get us thinking about our next vacation, it didn’t give me any reason to choose their cruise line over one of the more affordable options for setting sail. It’s honestly hard to tell the difference between their brand and any of the others. In fact, if we blurred out the company’s logos on commercials for Norwegian, Carnival and Royal Caribbean and played them for a focus group, the vast majority wouldn’t be able to match the brand with the ad. The same holds true for this year’s Super Bowl spot. It’s just too bad the british airways american express premium plus card didn’t run an ad this year.
- WeatherTech’s “Scout”
Now, we all love dogs, especially golden retrievers, but featuring them as the focal point for your commercial doesn’t always guarantee success. Though, it’s fairly obvious that was hope for WeatherTech this year. While no one is going to complain about watching Scout run around a warehouse for 45 seconds, it didn’t really help explain the company’s brand or make the connection between car accessories and pet bowls any less strange.
- Wix.com “Karlie Kloss”
Wix was another company that was hesitant to feature any new tricks in their ad this year. And frankly at this point, we probably won’t ever see much of a deviation from their current pitch (2017’s Super Bowl aside). Putting a celebrity in front a computer and having them show the ease of Wix’s website builder seems to be working for them, but it doesn’t make for exciting TV.
If you missed these or any of the favorite commercials from this year’s Super Bowl, here’s a playlist featuring all of them. Which Super Bowl ads do you think totally missed the mark?
