Boy is this kid weird!

One of my most supportive friends is a retired art director—one of the best in the business— in Boston. He said he was surprised that I didn't have a posting about the Super Bowl commercials. Since my blog is about advertising, he felt it would be a chance to comment on the best work of leading agencies. Well, first of all I don't watch the Super Bowl. Secondly, the commercials are always overrated and often pathetic. The Darth Vader spot, which everyone seems to think is so cute, I find kind of creepy. Here we have a lonely 6-year old wandering through the house in a complete Star Wars outfit trying to, I suppose, have some control over the exercise equipment, dog and sandwich. I would think this child needs pyschiatric care especially when he believes that he somehow had power over his father's car.To make it even creepier his parents, watching from the kitchen window, think it's adorable that their son is so weirdly gullible. Forgetting everything else what does this tell us about the VW? What car today doesn't have remote control. How is this a brilliant spot? In the early days of television, many shows had one sponsor: Kraft, Philco, GE, Winston, etc. There were usually three to five commecials. We didn't mind. It was the price you paid for free television. Today we pay to watch television. And though it was suggested there would be fewer or no commercials, there are more than ever. Between the local news tonight and arrival of Brian Williams, there were nine commercials. Many network shows have as many as 16 during a break. There are even commercials while you are watching your favorite shows thanks to swipes, popups and other visual gimmicks. We should be outraged about being so misused by greedy broadcasters. But instead we just sit back and take it. I don't because I rarely watch commercial television. But what really offends me is that once a year—during the Super Bowl—advertisers try to make you feel grateful for commercials and act as if they are doing you a favor by letting you watch these 10-, 20- and 30-second "gems." And most Americans fall right into line and make it the following day's topic of discussion. So, dear friend in Boston, I have no love for commercials, but do enjoy critiquing them and will continue to do so, probably more crankily than not