COVERITLIVE.COM

5:14

patrickstmichel - The Super Bowl commercial is dead. OK, that's a bit extreme -- got your attention though! -- but, regardless of the hype, the spectacle surrounding the ads you see on Sunday is no more. Long ago, during the '90s, a Super Bowl ad would be shown once (right after the Buffalo Bills gave up another touchdown). People would gather around "water coolers" the next day and talk about them, while USA Today would rate all the ads in their newspaper. "What's a newspaper," you ask? It's like Fark, except you have to turn the pages. The '90s were very odd times.

5:15

patrickstmichel - Today, though, an ad during the Super Bowl is just another ad -- an ad that costs $3 million, but an ad all the same. Most companies now run their Super Bowl ads throughout the year (see: this, this, unfortunately this, and most of the beer spots), and in troubled economic times, expect businesses to pinch as many pennies as they can. Thanks to the Internet, a large chunk of the ads destined for Super Bowl Sunday end up leaked or just on an Adweek preview page (though I haven't watched a single one -- gotta keep the liveblog pure!). Besides, most of the commercials just suck now.

5:16

patrickstmichel - Even with all these reasons to actually go to the bathroom during the commercial breaks, Super Bowl ads are still a huge deal, and somebody needs to liveblog them. Because who else is going to offer instant analysis about a beer ad where a guy gets hit in the nuts? We are also expanding coverage just a little bit, commenting on any sort of weird advertising during the NBC broadcast of the game or Bruce Springsteen's halftime show (sponsored by Bridgestone!). Plus, we've done this two years already -- why stop now?

5:28	patrickstmichel - Alright, we are at the coin toss now, meaning the commercials our only a few more minutes away. Stay tuned!

5:31	patrickstmichel - Though this isn't technically a Super Bowl ad, this car ad has a new Smashing Pumpkins song in it. Listen to that, it sounds bland and uninteresting!

5:36	patrickstmichel - There is the Smashing Pumpkins car ad, if interested.

5:39	patrickstmichel - Okay, here we go.

5:39	patrickstmichel - The first of many ads joking about the economy. Man thrown out of a window, nice. Not so good. (Watch it here.)

5:40	patrickstmichel - Glad to see the fact everybody hated The Da Vinci Code won't stop them from making a sequel. (Watch the ad here.)

5:42	patrickstmichel - My Internet actually crashed during that car commercial, so I didn't pay much attention to it. Looked like the guy from Crank was doing some gnarly stunts. (Watch the ad here.)

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