On Super Bowl Sunday, there are two types of people in America: those who watch the biggest football game of the year to actually watch the biggest football game of the year, and those who stick around for the puppies and celebrities that grace our screens in between the tackling. As one of the latter, I thought I’d share the three commercials that I think made touchdowns of their own this year.
1. Bud Light’s Real Life PacMan
Besides the sheer awesomeness of a life-size PacMan game, the work that went into these 90 seconds earned it a spot on my list. According to the behind the scenes video, everything was done to the scale of the original maze. The creators even accounted for the floating quality of the ghosts by having them wear roller skates under their costumes.
This commercial evoked emotions, but what set it apart in my mind from all of the other tear-jerking ads of the night was that it turned those emotions into a call to action to “make #LikeAGirl mean amazing things.” Unlike many others, this commercial had a mission, and to that I say: mission accomplished.
With Budweiser’s ad about an adorable yellow lab getting lost and equally adorable clydesdales rescuing him being the most watched Super Bowl spot this year, it should come as no surprise that it was my favorite, too. This commercial shows that no matter who the friendship is between – man and man, man and dog or horse and dog – one friend will always have the other’s back when he or she is in a rough patch (or in this case, a field where hungry wolves are lurking). Besides, the ad is just too darn cute to not love eternally.