Intelligencer Journal/Lancaster New Era

Good or bad -- Super Bowl ads get their messages across

Teen Editorial

Thousands of fans tune in to the Super Bowl every year, even if they care very little about the sport itself.

Commercials are what draw a good portion of people to the screen that particular Sunday of the year. With each spot costing companies no less than $1 million for 30 seconds, the audience expects only the best from the advertising teams that develop these commercials.

This year, more than 108 million Americans turned on their TVs to see whether it would be the Ravens or the 49ers taking victory, and to be entertained by the commercial spots.

From an astronaut baby to a Doritos-crazed goat, humor was definitely the key theme to the ads, as usual. However, the best commercial of 2013 voted on by viewers was the sentimental Budweiser Clydesdale endorsement in which a man and his horse were reunited in the streets after a parade.

Companies of all kinds take advantage of this exposure, be it for cars, insurance or snacks. But it seems that the overall message of these commercials can often times get lost in the content of the ad. What does a wolf have to do with cars.com? And what does Kate Upton in skimpy clothes have to do with Mercedes-Benz? Did these commercials serve their purpose of making people want to buy cars? My guess is probably not.

As always, there were some controversial commercials that were even leaked on the web before the official airing on Super Bowl Sunday. Go Daddy always seems to push the limits, and this year's was certainly jaw-dropping, as well as completely revolting. The screen depicted a beautiful model locking lips, loudly I must add, with a boy I believe we can all agree was not up to her standards as far as appearance goes. Usually Go Daddy uses its commercials as a tool to get its viewers to go to its website for continuations, but I highly doubt anyone wanted to see anymore of this disgusting display of affection.

The Volkswagen commercial, "Get in. Get Happy," also caused a stir among Bowl viewers. It was called insensitive and offensive by some, according to news reports, while others said it was a good concept idea and even made them laugh a bit. In the commercial, a man takes on a Jamaican accent to imply that his car is what makes him so happy. The accent spreads to his colleagues as they get a ride with him. Some felt that the commercial stereotyped all people of Jamaican descent as always happy and carefree. Is this a terrible thing for which to be known? Not really. But assuming something about a certain group of people, no matter what the thought, can always be taken the wrong way and viewed as racist.

Everyone who watched the commercials of Super Bowl 2013 has his or her opinion of which ads were funny, cute, dumb and taken way too far. But in the end, the companies achieved their goals. Whether good or bad, their ads were talked about the next day and for many days after that.