Overall, they were all pretty dumb. It's amazing how moronic the humor needs to be to appeal to the masses. Last year, farts; this year, monkeys. Ugh. I thought the Pepsi ads were fine, and will probably play better during regular programming. They weren't enough to cut through the Super Bowl clutter. (I think Gwen Stefani is vastly overrated, so I don't care for that one.)

That's it, Guest. For a Super Bowl ad they were pretty...plain. I think they'll be noticed more in regular programing.

For the record, my favorites were FedEx (Top 10 things that must be in an ad) and the two for that investment company ("Don't Jump To Conclusions." The guy with the tiny cell phone who says "You're being robbed" in the store, and the guy who grabs the cat while holding a knife.)

Compared to stuff like that, both the music ads seem like "normal TV" kind of ads. At least the Pepsi one will work on other shows. The Napster one was made FOR a football game so I wonder if we'll even see it again.

They know how to advertise, whether thanking our soldiers, or amusing us with noble animals who want to be greater (ok, the pig got to me!).

Good job. Go have a Bud.

I was watching Mythbusters on the Discovery channel. Then I spent time looking for mac deals on ebay. No better way to spend a quiet Sunday afternoon!

Where I am at, by the time the superbowl started, I was already asleep in bed.
Who was playing again?
Who is the world champion of a sport only played in such a small part of the world?

PS: I'm American, but I don't get the hype about this one game...

Budweiser does have the best commercials. No doubt about it, but I still drink Miller Lite and watch the Bud commercials.

I saw that Napster commercial twice (second time right after the superbowl) and I was not impressed. Not that the Pepsi Givaway was so great either, but Napster's new $15/mo. comparison to the $10,000 iTunes purchase opperates on too many obvious falicies to be a resonable competitor:
(1) People will dump their iPods to use Napster
(2) "But I already have so many CDs I wouldn't need to _buy_ 10,000 songs
(3) The 10,000 songs would never be sold by album
(4) "Napster" used to mean "Free MP3s". Then it went away. Now the brand just means "digital music" but while Napster was out of commission, Apple jumped in with meaning "Digital Music Player".

The Super Bowl is a bit like the Mac, I think, in that when anyone mentions it people will go out of their way to comment on the fact that they don't watch/use it.

I don't quite understand it myself, I don't seek out conversations about things I don't care about just to tell the people there that I don't care about it...but as you can see from some earlier comments, the Super Bowl draws these people out. And as we can see with Reality Check, the Macintosh itself has a similar draw.

I'm not quite sure why some items have this mystical property while other items don't...anyway, just an observation.

The better question is why did Apple not have a Mac Mini Commercial. Remember the good old days of 1984, Lemmings, Macintosh Office? This would have been awsome to see a well done Apple commercial of the Mac Mini. All in all the commercials were rather lame for the amount they spent.

I wonder how much of that 3+ million ended up in Stefani's pocket?

IMO, there is something curious about a media event where the ads are the highlight.

the Pepsi ads were weak. Definitely Pepsi ads - NOT Apple ads. They were a tad better than last year's, though, which were embarrasingly bad.

I think (as others here) all the ads were pretty mediocre this year. Backlash from last year? Trying to stay away from controversy? Let's hope this isn't the beginning of the end for the great Superbowl ad tradition.

And yeah - why wasn't Apple in this year? You would think they'd want to keep the momentum going. Did I miss it? Was there an iPod Shuffle spot?

And lastly, I fear the Napster spot was actually pretty good. Not a good ad, per se, but a good concept. Let's face it - most people will NOT "do the math," so Napster LOOKS like a great deal. Usually it's enough just to flash (false) low price claims to get people motivated. I think they will get a good response to the free month. A free month of anything you want to listen to? Not a bad deal.

Here's hoping I'm wrong!

I think we Mac/iPod users should orgainze a boycott of USA Today. They obvoiusly have an anti-Apple bias. iTunes is the greatest service on Earth - how could they rank it so low. Please everyone - cancel your subscriptions now to send them a message!!!

The Pepsi commercials were pretty lame. Don't read USA Today. Blah.

Quote

Billy K wrote:
I think they will get a good response to the free month. A free month of anything you want to listen to? Not a bad deal.

So they'll get their free month and download a bunch of stuff, as much as they can stand. Having not read the fine print, they figure, "Hey, cool. I got all this stuff for free and now it's mine." They blow off the rent payment. One day, they discover that all their stuff isn't theirs anymore; it doesn't work. They complain. Napster tells them, "Too bad, RTFM, no pay, no play." BIIIIIGG stink ensues; Napster sinks from sight, never to be seen again. Microsoft slinks off, hoping no one notices. The RIAA vows to make subscriptions mandatory; no more of this "buying" music. They fail miserably.

Nice story, eh? It might even work out.

Quote

Guest wrote:
I think we Mac/iPod users should orgainze a boycott of USA Today. They obvoiusly have an anti-Apple bias. iTunes is the greatest service on Earth - how could they rank it so low. Please everyone - cancel your subscriptions now to send them a message!!!

Yeah, and next time we should shoot all the poll workers when the election doesn't go our way!

(Not sure if original post was a joke)

Quote

Anonymous wrote:


(Not sure if original post was a joke)

I vote "yes."

Yeah, after Janet's "wardrobe malfunction" nearly tore the nation apart, it looks like they really toned down the ads this year. I gotta say that my favorites were CareerBuilder (monkeys!) Lays, where they threw MC Hammer back over the fence, and the one where the dad lied to his daughter about the nuts.

The crowd I was with did notice the Napster commercial, but when I mentioned the fact (also shown in the teeny tiny print at the end of the ad) that one had to keep paying a subscription fee to continue to listen to the music, one person in the group exclaimed "Hey, that's false advertising!"

I'm with Small White Car - the two ads for the "Don't Jump To Conclusions." investment firm (shame I don't remember their name - lol) were my favorites, especially the spaghetti cat!

One thing I thought was hilarious (in concept, if not in execution) was the airing of the GoDaddy.COM (Internet DNS registrars) ad with the hot chick falling out of her spaghetti straps top at the "C-SPIN" fake "Congressional" hearing. Pretty bold to make that one after Janetgate!

What no one in the Mac world seems to recognize is that people who download these Napster songs can "re-record" them into a non-copy-protected format with extreme ease (and without extra payment or ongoing fees). Not that you should ever do that, of course. Legal disclaimers apply, not that this ever stopped this sort of thing....

Quote

Anonymous wrote:
One thing I thought was hilarious (in concept, if not in execution) was the airing of the GoDaddy.COM (Internet DNS registrars) ad with the hot chick falling out of her spaghetti straps top at the "C-SPIN" fake "Congressional" hearing. Pretty bold to make that one after Janetgate!

Totally! This one really did stick out against the bland ones that tried to stay away from anything controversial after the wardrobe malfunction.

I also enjoyed the "don't jump to conclusion" and lays (MC Hammer) ads.

Like I've stated in another thread, the Pepsi/iTunes ones were one of two sets of ads that drew 0 reaction from the crowd of 13 people watching the game at my apartment.

Quote

Guest wrote:
One thing I thought was hilarious (in concept, if not in execution) was the airing of the GoDaddy.COM (Internet DNS registrars) ad with the hot chick falling out of her spaghetti straps top at the "C-SPIN" fake "Congressional" hearing. Pretty bold to make that one after Janetgate!

I just visited the godaddy.com site and apparently their ad was supposed to run twice, but it got yanked after the first airing. they also have a more, um, "explicit' version of the ad streaming...and it makes a little more sense (things usually do when their not censored). I guess this is the world we live in now.


(Oh, and yeah - Cat Killer was easily the best of the lousy bunch.)

At least they aren't last...

Napster Feline icon at football game holds up sign comparing price of new Napster service with rival iTunes. 4.37

I liked this commercial. I liked the music and seeing
regular people (not always stars) and thought the "garage band" guys were cool and it had a funny ending with the
guy singing in the bathroom!

Pepsi should sign Ashely Simpson to endorse the iTunes give-away: She appears to be singing along, until somebody closes the top on a Pepsi bottle, the music stops and she's left standing there lip-syncing.

"USA TODAY assembled 289 adult volunteers in Austin, Texas and McLean, Va."


Oh, now THERE'S a valid, unbiased sample pool.

I don't care whether the Pepsi ads are good or not, it's just that you CAN'T TELL from this 'survey'...

Not enough people from not enough places...

I only watched on and off, but there is a good reason the ads were all boring. The more clever ones were bounced because the NFL is a bunch of chicken$%^ censors. There were more creative ads offered, such as the Ford ad that featured a priest lusting after an SUV when a kid leaves the keys in the collection plate. Not allowed - lusting priests is too controversial. Give me a break. They got what the wanted. No one was offended, and no one was entertained. Nice work.

WONDER HOW MANY LEFT-WING DEMOCRATS WILL DENOUNCE THE SUPERBOWL BECAUSE THE MONIES PAID FOR ADVERTISING DIDN'T GO TO THE TSUNAMI VICTIMS' FAMILIES! GO BUSH...

...first, is this the target audience of the ads? Are they even representative of the Super Bowl audience? Also, what type of person "volunteers" to watch the ads during the SB? The type that has no friends?

The Apple and Napster ad are targeted at a young market, not necessarily adults, and a more urban market, not necessarily Austin or McLean, VA. Of course, Austin does have a thriving local music scene.

Remember, these Apple ads are going to appeal to people who "get it", ie, those who have iPods and want some free tunes, or those who are considering it. So, that's a limited part of the population that might be interested.

The new Napster is a joke. If I understood the ad...which was poorly constructed and basically incomprehensible...(what was that fine print at the bottom?) They're saying it's better to rent than to own? Hardly... Napster (has) To Go...

It's funny that Napster was in last place, but that survey is meaningless. It's only a measure of what was most popular among 289 people, not the millions who watched the Super Bowl. Maybe the Pepsi ad was wildy popular. Maybe the Napster ad was, although I doubt it. Nobody can tell from USA Today's poll.

Quote

Guest wrote:
"USA TODAY assembled 289 adult volunteers in Austin, Texas and McLean, Va."


Oh, now THERE'S a valid, unbiased sample pool.

I don't care whether the Pepsi ads are good or not, it's just that you CAN'T TELL from this 'survey'...

Not enough people from not enough places...

Agreed. For such an event with such a large audience in so many parts of the world, a less than 1 per cent sampling in such a geographically limited spread amounts to an insignificant sampling, IMHO.

FWIW. I didn't watch Superbowl. I didn't see the ads. I don't really care for it much. But that sampling methodology really does suck.

From upthread: "WONDER HOW MANY LEFT-WING DEMOCRATS WILL DENOUNCE THE SUPERBOWL BECAUSE THE MONIES PAID FOR ADVERTISING DIDN'T GO TO THE TSUNAMI VICTIMS' FAMILIES! GO BUSH..."

I totally agree. Those loony liberals, with their ridiculous concern for other people, and their idiotic charitable giving to those greedy tsunami victims. For example, look at that typical Hollywood liberal Sandra Bullock, who stupidly gave $1 million to help combat the worst humanitarian crisis in modern history. For that much money, she could have paid the greens fees at The Quarry five times over. Really, those left-wingers need to get their priorities straight. If the choice is between a year's worth of golf at a luxury club, or helping thousands of people to pick up the pieces of their shattered lives, I say "tee it up, baby!"

Quote

Guest wrote:
What no one in the Mac world seems to recognize is that people who download these Napster songs can "re-record" them into a non-copy-protected format with extreme ease (and without extra payment or ongoing fees). Not that you should ever do that, of course. Legal disclaimers apply, not that this ever stopped this sort of thing....

Oh, yeah, they can legally record them -- *IF* they pay an additional $0.99 per song. Otherwise, they'll have to record the streaming audio and re-convert it to some form to keep.

Want a real kicker? Sunday evening, I was in a local CD store, one of the better in the area. (They also carry used DVDs, which I check about weekly.) The shift leader showed me a new device, based on a eMac, that lets customers scan the UPC on a CD and listen to clips of each track. (Sounds a bit lik iTMS!). That led to a discussion of iTMS and Napster, etc. The store employee said that *HE* regularly downloads pirated "free" songs from peer-to-peer networks. I wonder if his employer knows that? It would seem to be counter to his own business interests.

Quote

gslusher wrote:
The shift leader showed me a new device, based on a eMac, that lets customers scan the UPC on a CD and listen to clips of each track. (Sounds a bit lik iTMS!).

This isn't at all new, if that's what you were getting at. The Borders in town lets you listen to every track the whole way through by scanning, as do the Virgin MegaStores. Of course, if it's neat that it was actually based on an eMac somewhere in the store, then that's really awesome.

As for the downloading on P2P networks being counter to his business, I'm sure he gets a discount at his store anyway, and people will always do that stuff.

Quote

spxyu02 wrote:
This isn't at all new, if that's what you were getting at. The Borders in town lets you listen to every track the whole way through by scanning, as do the Virgin MegaStores. Of course, if it's neat that it was actually based on an eMac somewhere in the store, then that's really awesome.

This is a system designed for small stores, rather than the proprietary systems for big chains. It uses a broadband Internet connection. He said that it cost something like $10K. The eMac was the display/touchscreen terminal for the kiosk. Once the store fully implements the kiosk, the customer will be able to order CDs by scanning a credit card. It wouldn't take much to give the customer the ability to make her own CD from a playlist of songs. I'll go back and get more info, including the name.

BTW, the kiosk puts a frame around the eMac screen, but the eMac sits right on top and there's a cutout for the Apple to show through--they WANT it to be recognized as a Mac! They could have used a separate display and the guts from a Mac (a Mac Mini would be perfect, but this predates the Mini, of cours), but chose to use an eMac, instead.

Quote

gslusher wrote:

Quote

spxyu02 wrote:
This isn't at all new, if that's what you were getting at. The Borders in town lets you listen to every track the whole way through by scanning, as do the Virgin MegaStores. Of course, if it's neat that it was actually based on an eMac somewhere in the store, then that's really awesome.

This is a system designed for small stores, rather than the proprietary systems for big chains. It uses a broadband Internet connection. He said that it cost something like $10K. The eMac was the display/touchscreen terminal for the kiosk. Once the store fully implements the kiosk, the customer will be able to order CDs by scanning a credit card. It wouldn't take much to give the customer the ability to make her own CD from a playlist of songs. I'll go back and get more info, including the name.

BTW, the kiosk puts a frame around the eMac screen, but the eMac sits right on top and there's a cutout for the Apple to show through--they WANT it to be recognized as a Mac! They could have used a separate display and the guts from a Mac (a Mac Mini would be perfect, but this predates the Mini, of cours), but chose to use an eMac, instead.

Woah, that is really awesome!

does ne one have ne non-used caps that i can use the code for?