Super Bowl ads: The favorites and the flops
(CBS News) The Super Bowl ad war is now considered must-see TV right along with the main event on the field and companies shell out upwards of $4 million for one commercial, looking to reach their key demographic of 18-49 year-old viewers.
CBS news analyst and pollster Frank Luntz said that while it's "pretty easy to make people laugh at the Super Bowl," the real difficulty is in making them cry. According to his focus group data, the most successful Super Bowl ad achieved just that.
Anheischer Busch's ad featuring a Clydesdale foal was the favorite of the night, Luntz said, followed by a car advertisement for Kia.
One of the evening's flops? The Calvin Klein ad failed to deliver to a predominantly male audience, according to Luntz, who asked, "Do you really think that men watching the Super Bowl want to see other, almost naked men?"
Luntz said GoDaddy once again made a splash, with an ad featuring a "nerdy" man kissing swimsuit model Bar Rafaeli. "The guys went 'Ew' and the women said, 'This is just offensive,'" Luntz said, but added that despite the gross-out factor, "we're talking about them," so the ad may have achieved its purpose to generate buzz.