OT: Super Bowl Commercials vs. the World

[BoyScoutKevin]

Friday, February 4. CBS. 7:00 p.m. Central Time. The best American commercials, as seen on the Super Bowl, versus the best foreign commercials. Did anybody see this?

If the Super Bowl commercials won, it might be because, we Americans do not recognize a superior commercial, when it is foreign.

The foreign commercials are superior, because the humor is better. The humor is better, because the sex is better. The sex is better, because the restraints are less. And more violence, too.

The foreign commercials are superior also, because of direction. Most American commercials are straight forward. Once you know what direction they are heading, they head there. Foreign commercials, on the other hand, once you see where they are heading, they might not head that way. They might head off on an obtuse lateral.  For example, the Brazilian superglue commercial, the Swedish car commercial, and the Australian beer commercial, were all this way.

I would say that American commercials are better with sentiment. And American commercials know how to make good use of music.

As a final note, surprisingly, or perhaps not, some of the best television commercials are now coming from Mexico. Last year's beer commercial. And this year's mattress commercial.

So, what is your favorite commercial? Either seen on the Super Bowl or foreign?

[Menard]

Like anything that is imported, we usually see a select few. The foreign commercials that we see on program specials are a select few from a boatload of commercials that probably suck as much if not more than the American commercials.

The American commercials generally have a consistency to them. When we get used to something we usually have a tendency to look at something different as potentially better. These same foreign countries from which these commercials come look upon the American commercials as the cream of the crop. Much the same as Americans look upon British programming as having class and style, the British look upon American programming as the tops in entertainment.

Sex and violence may work to make a commercial entertaining, but what it comes down to that makes a commercial successful is whether or not it sells its product. American commercials have the edge with that regard.

[Ozzymandias]

One thing we studied in media courses about the difference in foreign TV ads and American is they rely more on visual and cinematic creativity rather then hard sell script.  The reason being America has always had commercial radio, so radio style commercials eventually became TV style.

[Sendich]

What did they advertise this year?

[raj]

Maybe, but our commercials were coached by a mini-Ditka.  That trumps anything else.