Super Bowl Commercials 2012: Vote On The Worst Ads Of The Night (VIDEOS)

Not only is a Super Bowl ad a tremendous financial commitment for any business but it also brings with it far more risk than most types of advertising. With so many eyes glued to the television during the Super Bowl, there can be pressure to try to push the envelope to create buzz. From time to time, someone will push too far and find themselves doing more damage than good to their brand.

Just look at all the negative attention that Groupon drew for a series of controversial advertisements last year. Having decided to make the big jump to television advertising, the Internet discounter dropped millions of dollars but only managed to rub viewers the wrong way. A tamer (and perhaps lamer) group of 2012 ads did not yield an immediate reaction as vociferous as the one that greeted Groupon, but there were still a few flops during the Giants' 21-17 victory over the Patriots on Sunday.

As is the case in most years, some ads were deemed sexist while others were merely deemed not funny. Still, the gravest sin of some of the least popular ads in 2012 was not that they were particularly offensive but that they were particularly unoriginal. Take CareerBuilder.com, who went for laughs by sending some chimps on a business trip with a weary human co-worker, as if people forgot that they had done that before. And let's not pretend GoDaddy ever had a great commercial that was worth re-hashing.

Without further ado, it's time to vote on the worst Super Bowl commercials of 2012. Which did you like the least? Was it bad for being bland? Or did it actually bother you?

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Comments

[Nannerpus]

09:01 PM on 02/08/2012

GO MR. QUIGGLY GO!

[Val Wolf]

08:51 PM on 02/08/2012

It is unconscionable that Skechers chose to shoot an ad at this notorious dog track where hundreds of dogs live lives of confinement and suffer injuries on the track. 
 
At Tucson Greyhound Park, greyhounds are kept confined in small cages which are barely large enough for them to stand up or turn around.  They are fed raw 4-D meat, the meat of downed, diseased, disabled or dead livestock.  This was documented in a recent video investigation.
 
While racing, greyhounds face the risk of serious injury. According to state records, between January 2007 and November 2009, nearly 1,000 greyhound injuries were reported at Arizona racetracks. The most common injury was a broken leg, and other reported injuries included fractures, sprains, dislocations, muscle tears and strains, lacerations, a cracked skull, broken backs, heat stroke, puncture wounds and paralysis. To learn more, please see our full report and video at http://grey2kusa.org/pdf/AZ2011.pdf

http://grey2kusa.org/azVideo.html

http://grey2kusa.org/azInjuries.html

V Wolf, Board Member GREY2K USA

[Robert 7906]

10:34 PM on 02/08/2012

More cut and paste lies from Val Wolf, board member of Grey2k. 4D meat? Perfectly safe for animal / pet use. Greyhounds have been eating this type of meat for decades, and there has never been a problem with it. The injury statistics don't point out that more than half of those were minor injuries. Her quoted 1,000 injuries over a nearly three year period consisted of more than 26,000 races involving well over 200,000 individual starts. One more note about the Grey2k organization ... Board member Karyn Zoldan was quoted on a public blog with the following statement: "Middle class educated white people don't go to bet on the dogs".

[SkyNet79]

07:11 PM on 02/08/2012

Are the people who are "outraged" and "offended" by the Doritos dog and Sketchers ad also mortified when they eat a hamburger, or maybe say bacon and eggs? Also, what are the comics teaching our nations youth when it's ok to show Garfield pushing Odie off the table!?

[selinak]

09:45 PM on 02/08/2012

i probably shouldn't even be replying to this ridiculous comment, but i just couldn't resist. first of all, everyone should be outraged by this commercial, whether they eat meat or not. the 'all or nothing' argument is total crap - do you really think it's wise to discourage people for doing one thing right just because they don't do everything right? this sort of attitude is just going to hold progress back. for example, when a friend mentions that he/she is cutting back on meat and/or dairy, i don't tell him that he should either be a vegan or not even try, i tell him that it's great he's cutting back on animal products, because that means a little less suffering of innocent animals.

second, and the reason i feel nothing i've said will get through to you, it's really inappropriate to compare the real suffering of sweet, innocent animals to a cartoon cat pushing a cartoon dog off of a table, which in their cartoon world does no harm to the dog. i hope you know that and you just thought this comment is humorous (it's not, by the way) but whether that's the case or not, the comment is inappropriate and i hope you will realize this now that you've had time to reflect.

[CharlieTuba]

06:48 PM on 02/08/2012

I thought it was interesting when one of the GoDaddy Girls was standing in front of "GoDaddy and you saw "GoD—ddy." Isn't God in Heaven?

[pjbobolink]

06:34 PM on 02/08/2012

Go-Daddy is at least better than those ugly Budweiser horses!

[jellybaby]

04:32 PM on 02/08/2012

i won't buy sketchers again..showing grey hound racing is not my idea of a way to push your product..Any sport that involves animal cruelty should not be made light of...Loved the Audi vampire commercial...

[Nannerpus]

08:56 PM on 02/08/2012

since wen is greyhound racing animal cruelty?

[geezernerd]

03:38 AM on 02/09/2012

When will we all learn to spell Skechers? There is no "t" in the brand name. Even the Youtube intro line had it wrong.

And I buy Skechers shoes regularly. Best I ever had.

[Reductio Ad Absurdum]

02:18 PM on 02/08/2012

I loved Old Navy's "Corporado" Docker's-digging spoof, but it would have been much stronger had we been shown some Old Navy-style alternatives.

[Peter David]

09:46 AM on 02/08/2012

I'll concede you the others, but the Audi vampire one? That was one of the best!

PAD

[Arlene Jara Strickland]

10:49 AM on 02/08/2012

I agree, Pete! And I got what the ad was about – the new headlights! I thought it quite clever. It made my top five list.

[geezernerd]

03:40 AM on 02/09/2012

Absolutely! I laughed and laughed.

[JackieMarks]

09:36 AM on 02/08/2012

Here's an ad that unfortunately did not air nationally during the Super Bowl. San Francisco Bay Area viewers got to see this ad during the pre-game, let us know what you think: http://youtu.be/YJEMR3uFPTI

[geezernerd]

03:41 AM on 02/09/2012

Sorry, did not get the message. Did not get ANY message. Nice pictures, though.

[Sol Rosenberg]

01:07 AM on 02/08/2012

The Super Bowl is a men's event and men do not tire of looking at attractive women--there is nothing wrong with the Go Daddy or Teleflora ads--those ads afe what guys want to see. The Career Builder ad w/ the chimps was also amusing--so what if they've used chimps before? How does that make it bad? Ads that are funny or show hot chicks are going to appeal to most men.

[Reductio Ad Absurdum]

02:22 PM on 02/08/2012

Love the chimps; they're much better actors than most of the humans in these commercials. I, like you, don't mind if they're a perennial Super Bowl fixture.

[headhuntnyc]

03:11 PM on 02/07/2012

The tax ad was the worst . . . where the kid peed in the pool . . . yuck

[pjbobolink]

06:31 PM on 02/08/2012

Agreed.

[geezernerd]

03:44 AM on 02/09/2012

You must be talking about an ad that was not in this list. Did not see it.

[headhuntnyc]

11:15 AM on 02/09/2012

it wasn't on the list but it was dreadful . . .

[CosmicDebris]

11:05 AM on 02/07/2012

Lighten up dog lovers...the Skeehers commercial was funny. We have the exact same French Bulldog and it is the cutest, funniest little dog. Laugh a little.

[Pamela Ivins Dobuler]

10:53 AM on 02/07/2012

I will put out for flowers.

[jejozi]

08:26 PM on 02/08/2012

There's a word for that.........lol

[garydwilson]

09:46 AM on 02/07/2012

What I thought was REALLY funny, in the middle of watching all of the commercials, I had to watch...................A COMMERCIAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[coombehill]

09:02 AM on 02/07/2012

bad taste award goes to Sketchers for highlighting the disgusting "sport" of dog-racing

[timrtz20]

11:32 AM on 02/07/2012

that was my favorite one