Ask HN: What ever happened to the GOOD Super Bowl TV commercials?
23 comments
They’re still GOOD to the target audience. You just got older.
ouch ... you make me cry. Of course I cannot argue with you on this.
i think the target audience has been conditioned to be happy with more innane entertainment. I frequently ask colleagues "what were you laughing about"- proceed to show me some tiktok meme...i sit blank faced...even after having it explained...still sucks.
yeah - i'm "old" - but i'm a pretty funny guy...
yeah - i'm "old" - but i'm a pretty funny guy...
Probably makes me old also, but so many TikTok memes seem to be painfully low effort and unfunny. Mostly basic observations overacted and/or staged, from what I've seen, yet has hundreds of thousands or millions of views.
First TikTok video when I went to the page just now (BTW, I went there looking to see if I could find a POV video example, so I could use it as an example): "POV You work at a restaurant, so you don't celebrate Christmas".
19 seconds of a woman you can barely hear because the acoustics in the restaurant aren't great, talking to the person filming her, who she's pretending is a stranger yet she clearly knows and staged this with ahead of time (since this is her TikTok profile), berating the person taking the video for asking if they're open on Christmas. 145k likes.
I've encountered so many of these POVs lately (not even trying to, I only go to TikTok if someone links me to a video, but they even pop up while scrolling on my Facebook feed now).
First TikTok video when I went to the page just now (BTW, I went there looking to see if I could find a POV video example, so I could use it as an example): "POV You work at a restaurant, so you don't celebrate Christmas".
19 seconds of a woman you can barely hear because the acoustics in the restaurant aren't great, talking to the person filming her, who she's pretending is a stranger yet she clearly knows and staged this with ahead of time (since this is her TikTok profile), berating the person taking the video for asking if they're open on Christmas. 145k likes.
I've encountered so many of these POVs lately (not even trying to, I only go to TikTok if someone links me to a video, but they even pop up while scrolling on my Facebook feed now).
even clicking on a tiktok video outside the app tracks you...basically avoid anything related to it like the plague. Disgusting company, normalised by society. I will vehemently argue about any "positives" people try to claim it has.
No generation has ever thought that they were pretty funny and then found the younger generation not funny before.
I don't know. I think pop culture in general has become so meta and self-referential.
The punchline of almost every single Super Bowl ad was the actors themselves. Not some witty line or scenario, but the actors themselves. Like "oh look it's that Friends actress playing herself pretending not to know that Friends actor, haha that's so funny and cute". So many commercials relied on the viewer knowing the actor, their personal life, and past work, as they'd attempt to highlight the irony of the actor being in some self-referential situation.
It was so horrifyingly cringe, and I can't even remember a single product any of them were shilling. All I remember is some of the faces and a lot of the cringe.
The punchline of almost every single Super Bowl ad was the actors themselves. Not some witty line or scenario, but the actors themselves. Like "oh look it's that Friends actress playing herself pretending not to know that Friends actor, haha that's so funny and cute". So many commercials relied on the viewer knowing the actor, their personal life, and past work, as they'd attempt to highlight the irony of the actor being in some self-referential situation.
It was so horrifyingly cringe, and I can't even remember a single product any of them were shilling. All I remember is some of the faces and a lot of the cringe.
I thought the Christopher Walken one was very funny. Has anyone seen that gag used in a commercial before? I found it charming.
I liked the April Ludgate + Ron Swanson one for Mt Dew. You'd have to be a Parks & Rec fan though to like it.
I'd much rather see sitcom characters rehashed in silly commercials like that than reunion style shows - those always tend to miss the mark. A 30s spot with some witty lines is enough for me to reminisce.
I'd much rather see sitcom characters rehashed in silly commercials like that than reunion style shows - those always tend to miss the mark. A 30s spot with some witty lines is enough for me to reminisce.
I don't think they ever existed. Which Super Bowl TV commercials do you consider good?
Paper or plastic. Absolutely classic, even today. (If you don't remember it, you can find it here: https://www.superbowl-ads.com/1999-bud-light-paper-or-plasti...)
Lol that was pretty good. I am sure I watched that Superbowl but didn't remember that ad.
Budweiser Frogs, Apple 1984, Cat Herding, Wassup!, Puppy-Monkey-Baby, etc.
Puppy-Monkey-Baby was a crime against humanity.
My definition of a good commercial is if 24 hours after seeing it I can recall the product or service that was promoted.
Tomorrow I'm most likely to remember that there is a new Reese's peanut butter cup.
Tomorrow I'm most likely to remember that there is a new Reese's peanut butter cup.
I agree, I especially liked that they guy asked if they were still making the normal peanut butter cups. No need to repeat the debacle of 'New Coke' aka Pepsi.
That one and the Arnold Schwarzenegger one were pretty good. But I'm no more likely to buy either of their products as a result...
The Apple one is truly painful this year. Very off-brand and expensive for the wrong reasons. A clear indicator of the changes between the Steve Jobs years and the Tim Cook years.
And, as another poster pointed out, that's from the company that had arguably the best Super Bowl commercial of all time, for the original Mac.
And, as another poster pointed out, that's from the company that had arguably the best Super Bowl commercial of all time, for the original Mac.
Wrong question.
Should be:
Whatever happened to GOOD entertainment?
Should be:
Whatever happened to GOOD entertainment?
They were banned.
Ask the Budweiser Frogs.
Ask the Budweiser Frogs.