TopTenREVIEWS Best Ads of Super Bowl XLIII

Another Super Bowl has come and gone. The entire office seems to be a little bleary-eyed. Maybe it’s the disappointment of seeing the Steelers “steel” the game in the final minutes. Maybe it’s the Extreme Buffalo Ranch Doritos wreaking havoc on our digestive systems. For me, I just keep daydreaming about hanging out with the Boss, sad that it’ll never happen. That was an incredible half time show! How does he still look so good?



All in all, I suppose it was a pretty satisfying Super Bowl. But what about the ads? How well have the focus groups learned to read our likes and dislikes? Are Budweiser commercials still funny after all these years? We had some heated discussions this morning to try and select TopTenREVIEWS crew’s favorite commercial.

People don’t seem to dig the Cash4Gold spot as much as I do. I tried to push it through, but was overruled. The user created Doritos ad got some laughs, but was just a bit too irritating to garner our collective seal of approval.

Utimately, an Alec Baldwin-alien hybrid scheming to rot our brains in the Hulu ad came out on top.



Baldwin-Zorxox-762 was the group favorite, but everyone had their personal favorite. Keep reading for our individual favorites.

Bridgestone Astronauts Driving in Space



In my soul I have to believe that one day space suits will be advanced enough to allow dance moves. What kind of life do we have to look forward to if human expansion in space kills the hip hop dance movement? Minimal gravity and stiff suits should never stand in the way of your groove.

-Dan Hope

Bridgestone Potatoheads


As for my favorite ad, it had to be the Bridgestone spot with Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head. I can’t decide if I liked the “SHEEEEEE...P” or the angry eyes best. It was a clever leveraging of Disney’s Toy Story II and the resulting popularity of the Potato Heads toy.
-Lecia Monson

Budweiser Clydesdale Generations



I don’t even have a drop of Scottish blood in my veins, but man, bagpipes and slow motion never fail to jerk tears from me. Even when it’s supposed to be a joke, I get all emotional. Everyone else in the office was chuckling through the ad as I was literally holding back tears and flushing red with feeling. Freaking bagpipes!

-David Aamodt

LMAO Promo


It was random and different and not only did the commercial make me laugh, but the first five minutes of the special Office episode – the commercial was promoting The Office among other NBC laugh-out-loud shows – right after the show just about had me rotflmbo (children may be reading this post, we have to keep it tame).

-Andrea edmunds

E*Trade Shankopotamus



E*Trade has managed to pull off some excellent marketing in the past year or so with it’s use of the “pint sized” stock trader. Cute babies mixed with good writing and a bit of CG seems to be a real crowd pleaser and this ad was no different. Using golf as another element that would appeal to E*Trade’s target market, the combination of golf slang and nature came together to form “shankopotamus “ and will likely be used on fairways for months to come.

-Mark Hardin

Pepsi Forever Young



Bob Dylan and Gumby. This one had better nostalgia than Race to Witch Mountain, the right amount of Jack Black, and the girls drinking at the end aren’t orcs.

-Taylor Thomas

Those were some of our favorites. We'd like to hear from all of you. Which commericials did you like? More importantly, which did you hate?

Leave your comments and then be sure to check out our other coverage of Super Bowl XLIII, the Boss and this year's commercials:

Commercial Analysis: What Happened to the Super Bowl Ads?

Super Bowl Movie Trailer Round-up

Top 10 Geeky Super Bowl Ads