Super Bowl XLV provided plenty of entertainment on the football field, and just as much during commercial breaks. Which ad won the night? Let's take a look at the best and worst of last night's ads.

The Good

1. Volkswagen, The Force

Volkswagen's commercial for its Passat sedan leaked during the week and proved very popular during the broadcast itself. Combining an iconic film character with the cute concept of a child trying to use The Force--and displaying some remarkable physical acting skills--the spot was a winner through and through. In-depth discussions of the commercial led to some thinking the character in the costume might even be a girl, which was seen by many as an even neater twist. This one is a classic and will be remembered for some time.

2. Chrysler, This Is Motor City

Chrysler surprisingly scored the longest ad of the night with their two-minute spot about Detroit that featured the rapper Eminem which extols how Detroit, downtrodden as it has become, is still capable of making a comeback, as embodied by the new designs Chrysler is producing.

3. Doritos, Powder


Doritos scored one of the more clever ads of the night with this one which hypothesizes that sprinkling Doritos can resurrect a dead fish, plant, and even a loved one.

4. Bridgestone, Reply All

Bridgestone humorously took one of the biggest faux pas an office-dweller can make--accidentally sending a presumably embarrassing-or-worse reply-all email--and turned it into a joke, showing the lengths that one man will go to make sure his email isn't read by the wrong sets of eyes.

5. NFL, Sitcoms


The NFL's own spot very smartly used two things that people love for one of their own commercials: the NFL and iconic TV characters. It makes for a tremendous commercial. While some of the combinations didn't work--Alf, who left the airwaves in 1990, wearing a Carolina Panthers shirt, a the team that debuted in 1995, chief among them--seeing all those characters as excited about the big game as the fans at home was a real treat.

The Bad

Here are some of the commercials that for some reason or another just did not sit well with the fans at home.

1. Pepsi Max, First Date

Pepsi Max's commercials were very bizarre last night. Their first spot featured a couple where the man was constantly trying to sneak snacks before finally getting caught by his partner drinking a Pepsi Max. The commercial ended with the woman throwing a can of the soda at another woman and the two running away before the police arrived.

Their second ad was somehow worse, combining tired cliches and dating stereotypes for a rather crude ad.

2. Groupon, Tibet

Groupon, the site where people can find deals for just about anything in their town, had a series of commercials that poked fun at the idea of celebrity activism. This ad reappropriated Tibet's history of persecution for a joke about saving money on a Himalayan restaurant. While the ad is certainly in bad taste, the Groupon site does have information about charities connected to each of the subjects their commercials made light of during the broadcast.

3. Bud Light, Product Placement

Bud Light's ad poked fun at product placement in such that they filled this commercial with a lot of its product, circuitously becoming the very thing it was poking fun at. Yet, with commercials that skewered home makeover shows and having a dog bartender, as well as their commercials that were on all season in which bartenders made fun of people who did not drink Bud Light, it might have been the best ad from the beer brand in a while.

4. Chevrolet, Misunderstanding

This ad for the new Chevy Cruze lamely tackles one of the most tired tropes in all of entertainment: the fact that elderly people might be hard of hearing and therefore misinterpret what is being said to humorous degree. This was not one of those instances.

5. Doritos, Finger Licking

Doritos' commercial where a young man licks the fingers of someone that has just eaten Doritos--and calls that the best part--and then smells the pants of someone who has wiped Doritos crumbs off on said pants was probably the weirdest ad of the night. What the firm that produced that ad was thinking will probably never be known, but it's unlikely they score another big stage ad with the company, and you have to hope the actor in the commercial has a good agent.

Did we get it right or wrong? What spot was your favorite? Let us know in the comments section.

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