Super Bowl 2018

Two Super Bowl ads made me LOL at my desk this morning. That’s good going considering last year’s dominant political theme. It seems that most advertisers have since sensed the mood and opted for a safer, more light-hearted feel in general.

I doubt I’ve even scratched the surface when it comes to watching them all. But I helpfully categorised some of them to share with team Razor:

Funny coz it’s true
Amazon – Alexa loses her voice and is replaced by bat-crazy celebs. Cue chaos. But it’s the six-second silence that makes me go all <insert face-with-tears-of-joy emoji here>.

Guac World – An avocado cult, first world problems, and a dirty protest. What’s not to love?

Spoof
Tourism Australia – I deep-sighed last week when I saw what I thought was a trailer for a Crocodile Dundee reboot. Imagine the relief – on a global scale – when the big reveal happened. Fair dinkum. (But seriously…enough with the reboots, Hollywood!)

Tide – It’s impossible to play ‘guess the ad’ when you’re playing catch-up on YouTube but I’d imagine these spots were fun to watch ‘live’. Tide took the bloke from Stranger Things, threw him into as many ad scenarios you can imagine, and he pulled them off brilliantly. Naturally, Twitter went mad for him. And just look at those clean clothes!

Rivalry
Sprint and Wendy’s brought the sass by taking shots at their direct competitors. I’m all about the robots, but can take or leave the beef.   

Heart-warming
Budweiser – Turns out they’ve been shipping water to disaster areas since 1988. Of course, Anheuser-Busch isn’t the only company to provide this level of service. But when you consider the devastation caused by recent hurricanes and wildfires, it’s comforting to know that certain multi-billion dollar companies are doing something substantial to help those in need.

Eh?
Toyota – A beautifully inspiring video about Paralympian, Lauren Woolstencroft…with a logo at the end of it. No car, but mobility is the key word apparently. (I’ll let them off because I enjoyed their ‘One team’ ad.) 

Honourable mentions
NFL – I probably would have loved this Dirty Dancing spoof about touchdown celebrations had He-Man and Skeletor not taken to the floor over here already for Money Supermarket. Sorry, fellas.

Doritos & Mountain Dew – Peter Dinklage and Morgan Freeman lip-synching to Busta Rhymes and Missy Elliott respectively. Nuff said.