Elizabeth Grattan

Best Example Of Why The Sound Guy Is Important

It’s not easy pulling off a live performance on television. Ask anyone in the industry and they’ll tell you that they absolutely hate it. There is little control and a mess of potential problems. But it can be done. We’ve seen enough Super Bowl Half Time Shows to know that there is

this:

and this:

and this:

just to name a few.

So when the Black Eyed Peas came on stage it was more offensive than anything Justin Timberlake and Janet Jackson did.

Maybe Slash and Dustin Hoffman have the same agent?

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Best Way To Ruin Your Chances Of Getting Invited To The White House

The viral video that brings tears to any red blooded American has to be this beautiful rendition of our National Anthem:

When the mic went dead, the crowd picked up the slack and eight year old Elizabeth Hughes continued to sing her little heart out. And she didn’t forget a single word. So when Grammy award winning Christina Aguilera flopped the lyrics to the Star Spangled Banner it was uninspiring to say the least:

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Best Use Of The Dark Side

Any ad that includes Darth Vader wins:

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Best Trip Down Memory Lane

The sheer brilliance in production in weaving together the story board that had The Fonz getting the game on for Monica and Phoebe while Norm entered the bar means the NFL succeeded once again in winning their own ad game.

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Best Insult To The Twenty First Century

It’s great that cars come equipped with so many handy features these days. From GPS to DVDs, we’re getting rather spoiled in luxury. But is this really something we want? Or something we need?

No. Sorry Chevy. That isn’t what we were promised. That isn’t what we expected. That isn’t close to what we’ve dreamed of. Anyone born before 1975 knows that we don’t want our cars to give us status updates about a first date. We want our cars to fly. Yes. Fly. George Jetson would be ashamed.

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Best Example Of Mocking Your Own Customer

Groupon is getting a lot of flack for its trivialization of Tibet. And that’s the point. Anyone who got offended by the $3 million ad while sitting in comfy Lazy Boy watching a football game and stuffing their face deserved the mocking they got.

Remember folks, just before the big game came on, we all got news coverage of the menu being served at The White House.

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Best Throw Back To The Best Super Bowl Ads

Motorola tried, but it was no match for viewers who tune into Fox on Monday nights. Watching Gregory House hit a kid in the face with his cane will be lost on anyone not old enough to remember why Mean Joe Green brought us to our knees back in 1980.

The original:

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Best Use Of Hometown Pride

It could have been an ad for Pittsburgh, Green Bay, Cleveland or any other struggling city. But it was Detroit. Placed during a program that also had Empire State Of Mind appealing to luxury, Chrysler reminded us in this economy that roots run deep. Airing during a game between two blue collar towns was added value even Chrysler couldn’t predict.

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Best Example Of Why $3 Million An Ad Is Too Much

Almost every single ad. The brilliance of Groupon notwithstanding, we’ve all realized for a long while that the costs of advertising make our world perspective seem rather weak. eTrade showed us just how absurd it was getting a few years back:

But you’ve got to spend money to make money they say. And there’s no shame in capitalizing on the wants of your audience. However, it appears the creative budget took a hit based on the funds it would take to get a brand shown these days. Apparently. With no money left for brainstorming and innovation, audiences were exposed to some of the worst creativity in marketing. Most were so bad, I’m not even giving them free publicity.

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Best Reason For Brett Favre To Finally Retire

All Aaron Rodgers needs to do now to continue to be compared to his predecessor is start texting. Given it’s Rodgers, my guess is the only picture he’ll be sending is that of his trophy. Welcome home Lombardi.

*Getty Images

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