For those of you who watched the Superbowl this past Sunday, you may have noticed that the commercials lacked a certain something this year. That something was humor. The commercials lacked originality and certainly didn’t leave me on the floor laughing with cheap jokes either. Whether they were missing the element of suspense or the punch line, the ads this year just weren’t what they used to be.

There were some that snuck in for a few chuckles, though. So with millions of dollars spent by big corporations for a thirty second spot, which commercials were worthy of the Superbowl, and which ones belonged in the toilet bowl?

The Superbowl:

#5 – Diet Pepsi. They could have done better for such a standard in Superbowl commercials, but they were good for a few laughs. The “What is Love?” ad was inventive and humorous to see Chris Katan haunted by a former character, and of course it’s always funny to watch Justin Timberlake get hurt.

#4 – FedEx. I wouldn’t give this one a standing ovation, but it was fresh and original and a pretty funny idea. It was a good start for FedEx, earning them a top spot for this year.

 #3 – Dorritos. One of the few commercials to go for a Cheap laugh, the Dorritos had a good set up and delivered on the punch line, in more than one way. It certainly wasn’t as high-brow as Fraiser, but it did what too many other commercials failed to do, it was funny.

#2 – Bridgestone. Any commercial that can pull off Alice Cooper and Richard Simmons in the same thirty second spot is a success in my book. It was creative, funny, and dared to offend. They weren’t afraid to imply that they wanted to hit Richard Simmons – guts that commercials these days seem to lack. They even managed to make their commercial relevant to their product, a feat all too rare in today’s ads.

#1 – Bud Light. This beer company has stood atop the masses and has proven that an adult beverage can make ads funny to all ages. Bud Light started the night on a good note with the continuation of their “student” series and developed their characters to make a funny commercial with a bit of a surprise ending.

They ran away with the show when they aired the “cavemen” piece, using a topic that has proven to work for several companies, but making it fresh and exciting. There was good acting, a story and humorous characters, all of which made us laugh at their stupidity. Bud Light earns the top spot this year for reinventing the wheel.

The toilet bowl:

#5 – Ice Breakers. Yes, we all know how many people think Carmen Electra is hot. We get it; it was funny five years ago. To spend millions of dollars to say nothing more than, “Hey look, it’s funny what people do around Carmen Electra because she’s hot,” is ridiculous and a waste of our time. They didn’t even bother to do anything else with the commercial. Nothing new, nothing creative, this ad was an insult to the intelligence of anyone watching the Superbowl.

#4 – Godaddy.com. For an emerging company who just recently came on the scene with a funny, shock-filled ad campaign, Godaddy really didn’t have much of anything this year. Their pitch was to simply look at Danika Patrick because she is good looking.

They tried to get people on their computers and away from the other ads on TV because they didn’t have anything else to offer. Even if a company is going to use the sex sells approach, they could have used a celebrity with more sex appeal than Danika. Godaddy fails because they try to entice the audience with the promise of unclothed women but fall drastically short by just putting the idea in the heads of football fans.

#3 – Coke. For the number one most recognized product in the whole world, Coke really missed the boat on this one. Their idea that Coke can magically bring archrivals together failed to get its point across. They forget that this was the Superbowl and not the Presidential debate.

 Most people, especially those outside the U.S. are not going to recognize Carville and Frist as political enemies, and thus the commercial fails. There were so many better options they had to choose from. For instance, Brittany Spears and sanity, a subject that no company dared to touch this year.

#2 – Salesgenie.com There really isn’t much to say about these ads. They were blatantly racist and were not the least bit funny. For a new company, they had no business placing ads during the Superbowl. These are the types of commercials that should not be allowed to air.

#1 – Miller/Budweiser. With the risk of an ulcer, I will explain how these commercial giants landed the number one spot in the toilet bowl. Although Bud Light, made under the same company as Budweiser, made the top spot in the Superbowl, these two companies did not come through with a commercial that made us laugh until it hurt, not a one.

There were no catch phrases, no awesome ideas, no frogs or lizards, no what’s ups or how ya doin’s; in fact, there were no commercials at all for Miller this year. Only a few years ago these heavyweights slugged it out for the national title, creating lines that would annoy teachers and coworkers for months to come. Is a French bread beer holder really the best they can come up with? They left me with only one thought in mind: where have all the funny commercials gone?

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