Super Bowl ads: Groupon creates controversy, comedy and celebrities still rule

The giant spectacle that is the Super Bowl might be over for 2011, but the buzz created by the marketing around the big game is still being dissected today.

Figures revealed overnight suggest that this year the commercials (and supporting football game) reached 46% of US households, the most since 1996.

More than 60 companies shelled out more than $3 million to by a 30 second ad during the broadcast, but only a few managed to hit the right note.

After extracting five lessons from Super Bowl marketing for you yesterday, let’s take a look at this year’s best and most talked about ads.

Groupon

Group buying site Groupon was formed less than two years ago and this year made its Super Bowl commercial debut. It wanted laughs, but ended up producing the most controversial advertisements of the year.

Often comedy is about pushing this line, but many commentators and Twitter users said they went too far with a series of ads that makes light of the plight of the people in Tibet, the devastation of the Brazilian rainforest, and the ever reducing population of the world’s whales.

Tim Hutton – Tibet

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Elizabeth Hurley – Rainforest Devastation

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Cuba Budding Jr – Save the Wales

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