‘Puppies and horsies and swearing, oh my!’

Ah, the Super Bowl! When two great foes battle it out for the prize. No, not that big honkin’ trophy. I’m talking about the TV remote.

See, The Dude and I record the darn thing, then spend the whole time wrestling over what to fast-forward: the football stuff (Me: ‘Is this the game with the pointy orange ball?’) or the commercials (Dude: ‘Who the hell is Mindy Kaling?’)

This cartoon, by the amazing Michael Maslin, from the incredible New Yorker, seems to sum things up nicely:

So We Whitmores usually end up wasting precious time rewinding and restarting, not to mention spatting. Thank goodness for the internet, where I can go to watch my favorites in peace.

Now, as for my faves, I’m not going to go into a whole ranking analysis of all that went on, commercial-break-wise this year. (Except to remark that I would have loved to have been in the room when that foot fungus spot was presented: ‘See, we’re going to put a football helmet on this big toe…’)

Instead, I’m going to give you more of what we all really want to see. That puppy, dammit. In case you’re a real Luddite and haven’t met this super-cute guy yet. Or (like me) you just can’t get enough, here he is again, in this year’s spot, ‘Lost Dog’:

Okay, get more tissues. Because here he was, in his Budweiser Debut during SuperBowl 2014. Who played? I forget. But I remember loving this commercial. I bet you did too. They called it ‘Puppy Love’:

This next spot — my personal favorite — is from SuperBowl XLVIII (Got carried away; 2013). While it stars no puppy, it features a baby horse to die for. And, in this Former Ad Girl’s humble opinion, it does the best job linking Baby-Animal-Adorableness to the Budweiser Brand. Because it cleverly answers a question no one had thought to ask: ‘Where do the Clydesdales come from, anyway?’ And makes you care. Here you go, it’s called ‘Brotherhood’:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDal09g-gow

Okay. Now, if your keyboard or mobile device isn’t too saturated with tears, and if you’d like to know more about the Bud puppies and horsies, click here for a cool AdWeek piece by Tim Nudd.

But if you feel the need for a change of emotional pace (and want to know why the heck I used the term ‘Effing’ in my title), here, from the very same company, is a (vastly different) commercial for Bud Lite that ran in, I’m thinking, the mid-aughts. No puppies or horsies were abused in the making of this spot. Though a bleeper was put to hilarious use. Watch for my favorite scene, the girl wanting to borrow a pen:

Now, wasn’t that just a goldarned breath of fresh air? If you’re not all Super-Bowl-spotted out, I’d love to hear about your picks (and your pans) in the comments.

And, if you’re interested in some non-Super-Bowl ad stories from my own illustrious past, check out ‘Old MacDonald Had a Silo’, ‘Winning money isn’t funny’ or the incredible-but-true ‘My head feels funny’.

New York City. February 2015