Super Bowl 50 advertising winners and losers

This year’s crop of Super Bowl ads was disappointing – and not just because there weren’t enough commercials with dogs in them.

Not being a big fan of talking dogs, dogs in costume, or dogs being part of some monstrous hyperactive multi-species hybrid, I didn’t really have a favorite dog ad among them.

In first-time advertiser Henkel’s commercial for its Persil ProClean detergent, a tuxedoed spokesman told us that Persil ProClean beat rival detergents in a test – a generic-feeling ad people have seen many, many times before. Forty-plus advertisers – including newcomers like Amazon and stalwarts like Anheuser-Busch – have taken a $5 million gamble for a 30-second chance to wow viewers.

Other ads with offbeat humor: Bud Light featured Amy Schumer and Seth Rogen traveling around America promoting “The Bud Light Party“.

The ads were a tribute to Jeep’s legacy, 75 years of capability, craftsmanship and versatility of its cars, and the future. Two pharmaceutical ads highlighted unappealing digestive conditions.

However, while some people might be tempted to think that the ad slots are too expensive and their returns might not be worth it, others think the exposure is great and the slot flawless for their needs.

I didn’t keep a tally, but I’m pretty sure monstrous or otherwise fictional creatures far outnumbered dogs in this year’s ads – just as special effects far outnumbered moments of humanity, and flash far outdistanced substance.

But Mountain Dew spent its million of dollars on a spot that introduced the company’s new drink, Kickstart, infusing the nightmares of viewers around the world with the image of a pug… dressed up like a monkey… who is wearing a diaper and who is dressed up like a baby. Steven Tyler will sing “Dream On” with a portrait of Steven Tyler – one made of Skittles.

Super Bowl ads are famed for using cutesy-ness to sell. Another Budweiser ad featuring the actress Helen Mirren urged people not to drive drunk. “A Darwin Award-deserving selfish coward”, she says.

The Super Bowl is known for inspiring lots of eating and lavish spreads of food.

“There’s relatively little going over the top”, said David Berkowitz, chief marketing officer at advertising agency MRY. Many advertisers release online teasers and other promotions in the weeks before the game in an effort to get the most out of the money they spend.

Bernette has clear favorites from the Super Bowl 50. Game day ads were viewed 476 million times online, iSpot.tv reported, with 62.4 million occurring yesterday. The financial services start-up SoFi, a first-time advertiser, received negative feedback on its ad, which identified people as “great” or not great and ended with the line, “Find out if you’re great at SoFi.com; you’re probably not”.

Most ads managed to avoid the somber tone struck a year ago, when an ad for Nationwide about preventable household accidents bummed out many viewers. The ad was meant to draw attention to a program about making homes safer but was widely criticized for being too morbid. Another ad was for a drug to treat irritable bowel syndrome. Another sought to raise awareness about “opioid-induced constipation”.

“I thought it was hysterical”, he said. Another advertiser, Unilever’s Dove Men + Care, opted this year to run video ads on Twitter and on ESPN’s N.F.L. page.