Funniest Super Bowl Commercials

This year advertisers are spending about $2,500,000 for each 30-second Super Bowl commercial and they believe the cost is fair. Why? Because their in-depth research indicates that viewers who watch the Super Bowl are “deeply engaged". That's ad-speak for emotionally involved. And they want to tap into that involvement and connect with you so that you will remember their product and their brand. Here are a few of my favorite funniest Super Bowl commercials. Let me know if you agree or yes, even if you disagree, with my selection.

The following Apple commercial appeared during Super Bowl 1984. The commercial subsequently won the Grand Prize at Cannes.It may not be the funniest but it certainly has its share of nostalgia.

Anya Major, the beautiful athlete, was chosen because she was experienced as a discus thrower, because she also looked the part, and perhaps most importantly, because she didn’t get dizzy when spinning around while preparing to hurl the hammer.

During the 2009 Super Bowl, PepsiCo advertised Diet Pepsi Max, a calorie-free, sugar-free, carbohydrate-free cola infused with ginseng which has twice the caffeine of other cola beverages. The commercial featured well-known rappers and others nodding off to sleep and then upon ingesting Max, vigorously bobbing their heads in sync with the rhythm of the song, “What is Love,” by Haddaway

In this funny commercial aired during the 1993 Super Bowl, Larry Bird and Michael Jordan go head to head competing with impossible shots for the big prize - Michael's Big Mac . . . and french fries.

This is my favorite of the 2008 Super Bowl commercials. It's funny but also engages and holds the viewer with emotional involvlement. That's the quality that pays advertising creative driectors those big bucks.

Have you ever had a day at the office where absolutely nothing went right? Then you can easily identify with the poor prehistoric schnook pictured in this 2006 Super Bowl commercial.. The ending, up to the final moment, reminds me of the old joke about the office worker who is yelled at by his boss. So he goes home and yells at his wife. She yells at their son. He goes out and yells at the dog. The dog bays at the moon. Some things never change.

Post Script: Somehow you had to know that any commercial that starts with a pterodactyl and ends with a brontosaurus just had to be something special and out of the ordinary.

© Copyright BJ Rakow 2010, 2011. All rights reserved.   B. J. Rakow, Ph.D., Author, "Nuch of What You Know about Job Search just Ain't So."