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Pain, Humiliation Dominated Super Bowl Ads

Each year advertisers spend millions to make an impression on viewers of the Super Bowl and this year advertisers used physical violence to get their point across.

It was a Super Bowl smackdown," Barbara Lippert, a writer at Adweek magazine told The Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith. "Every time you looked up, someone was hitting someone else. A lot of men getting hurt — pain, humiliation, bruised."

One of the more successful commercials was the Doritos ad made by husband and wife team West Phillips, 22 and Dale Backus, 21, for only $12.95. Lippert said the couple couldn't afford a dolly so they had friend on roller-blades shooting the commercial. According to USA Today, the commercial was one of the top 10 most popular ads. It wasn't alone — several other commercials were made by regular people.

"I think it was a bad year for ad agencies, and maybe a good year for ads," Lippert said.

Commercials for beer and even for heart disease focused on violent slapstick humor but one that stood out was the Budweiser ad that featured a dog that was down on his luck. Lippert said it came across as something different than everything else because it had heart. According to an America Online poll, 28 percent of voters preferred this ad in the second quarter and USA Today found that this commercial was one of the top 10 most popular.

"With so much violence and hitting, the only expression of humanity was with the animals and the suicidal robots," she said.

Another successful ad was a promo for CBS's "The Late Show with David Letterman." It featured Letterman sitting on the couch, snuggling with his former enemy, Oprah Winfrey.

"You want the Bears and I want the Colts but we both win because we are in love," Letterman said.

"Honey, don't talk with your mouth full," Winfrey said.

"I loved them snuggling — a new Oprah," Lippert said.

The Sierra Mist commercial didn't get the best reviews, but Lippert said the man sporting a beard comb-over, ultra-short jean cutoffs and rollerblades killed when he said "suddenly there's some norm I just don't get."

A lot of people have been voting online for the Snickers commercial that Lippert called "Brokeback mechanics." Before the Super Bowl, Snickers posted a clip of the beginning of the ad. It gave viewers several options of endings for the ad. Two men were consumed by their desired for a Snickers bar that they started eating it at the same time from different ends, a la, "Lady and the Tramp." To counteract the fact that they just kissed, the mechanics ripped out chest hair in an effort to be manly.

"Little boys all over are going to pull out their chest hair now," she said. "They learned something new."

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