What Is Funny?

Is there any lie more pernicious than the “people watch the Super Bowl for the ads” lie? It is not now, nor has ever been true. (If people loved watching funny ads than World’s Best TV Commercials would air on NBC Primetime rather than on TruTV on Tuesday afternoon).

But, people have been telling this lie for so long that everyone believes it, which is why it is always amusing the day after the Super Bowl to read the VERY SAME STORY where people are mostly disappointed with “this years” Super Bowl ads, comparing them against some mythical time when they enjoyed the Super Bowl ads.

Here is the thing: you never enjoyed the Super Bowl ads. There might have been a few funny ones here and there (though I doubt you remember what brand they were for: hearding cats anyone?), but overall, you have never enjoyed Super Bowl ads for a very simple reason: You don’t enjoy ads.

Look, if it was easy to make ads you enjoy, advertisers would do it all year round. You don’t have to drop $3.5million on an a Super Bowl spot to make a funny ad.  But the problem is, ads are held to a standard other than entertaining you. They are designed to sell stuff, so the entertaining bit is always secondary. Even when people are trying to entertain you for no other reason than to entertain you, they mostly fail (see TV midseason replacements).  So to entertain you AND sell a product or service is nearly impossible.

So please repeat after me: You do not like the Super Bowl ads. You have never liked the Super Bowl ads. And next year, when the Super Bowl airs, if you don’t want to watch the game, just watch this instead. Guaranteed to be better than any Budweiser ad.

-

Update: One exception is the Bud Bowl. That actually was awesome (too bad it didn’t sell any beer).

Lots of talk about the Honda Ferris Bueller ad, in which Matthew Broderick reprises his role as Ferris to sell cars.

The ad itself is fine. Some of it’s funny. Some of it is uninspired. Matthew Broderick definitely doesn’t seem to be having much fun throughout. It’s a little weird because the premise is he’s playing hooky from coming into work. What work? Hasn’t he been playing hooky for like the last 10 years?

Also, this is one of those tricks you only get to play once, so it’s kind of a shame it had to be in a commerical for a rather boring car.

Speaking of which, in all the debate over whether this ad is good or a travesty, what I don’t hear people talking about is the car. I have seen the spot several times and I still can’t remember the name of it. I think it’s like an SUV like thing? I don’t know. I don’t know any of its features or any of the things it does. Sometimes I think it was a Toyota until I remember Toyota only makes boring ads that sell cars.

But why worry about a little thing like working? If advertising were held to that standard, all of us who make a living at it would be taking many, many days off.