Greatest Ads in the History of the Super Bowl

10. Career Builder.com “Monkey Business” (2005)

This commercial goes to the heart of what America wants in a Super Bowl ad. Monkeys. Let’s not stop there. Monkeys as businessmen. This spot led to a series of CareerBuilder.com commercials featuring the same downtrodden guy trying to survive day to day at a job he can’t stand because he works with a bunch of monkeys. The character in commercial may not have realized it, but the rest of the country did. He had the greatest job in the world. The Career Builder chimps are expected to make their triumph return to the Super Bowl this year. Welcome home old friends.

.

9. Tobasco “Mosquito” (1998)

Never has a commercial made their own product look so unattractive. Tobasco’s Super Bowl commercial featured close-ups of a sweaty guy slurping down a slice of pizza as he smothers it in Tobasco sauce on a hot bayou night. He then lets an annoying mosquito bite him as we see a close up of the little blood sucker drawing blood out of his leg. None of these images are particularly appetizing, but the pay off comes as the mosquito takes off, hits a bug zapper and explodes into a ball of fire. Somehow, with sweat, stinging insects and possibly malaria, this commercial made us hungry for Tobasco sauce.

.

8. Apple “1984” (1984)

It only aired once during daytime television and that was during Super Bowl 18. This was a take off of George Orwell’s “1984”. And ushered in an era of Super Bowl ads that were stylized and started people asking “What was that commercial about?” The spot let the world know that the MacIntosh was coming. And made us a little scared to not find out what that was all about. With “1984”, big budgets for Super Bowl ads were now here to stay.

.

7. Budweiser “Wassup” 2000

You can’t have a list of great Super Bowl commercials without Budweiser being represented. But is it frogs that say “Bud, Wize, Er”? That’s really for children. Well, children who like beer. Or is it Clydesdales that play football? Yawn. No, it’s the commercial that started the country saying “Wassssssup!”. That phrase was everywhere. People who didn’t want to say it, still found themselves saying it. We thought “Wassup” would be here forever. Wassup with that!?

.

6. Reebok “Terry Tate: Office Linebacker” (2003)

This commercial took Super Bowl ad slapstick to a new level. Terry Tate, office linebacker terrorized every annoying office stereotype that can be found in any company. Terry Tate should have had a place in commercial icon history like Mr. Whipple, Madge the Mancurist and the “Where’s the Beef?” lady. And it didn’t hurt that at this time, defenses were huge again in the NFL. The best part of this commercial is the trash talking Terry Tate does by calling everyone by their very mundane, everyday, one in every office, first names. “Doug”.

.

5. Master Lock (1975)

The most effective ad in Super Bowl commercial history. No other company would dare show how it’s product holds up under gun fire. It features an experiment from two years earlier to see if a Master Lock padlock would withstand a rifle shot. And through the magic of slow motion replay, we see that it did. Master Lock would run this spot for several Super Bowls to come. It became a Super Bowl tradition. And it was the one commercial the company would run each year. You would think this ad would grow old over the years. But with it’s deadpan seriousness and scientific look, no one got tired of seeing this lock get shot no matter how many times they ran it. Because it did not open. Repeat. Did not open.

.

4. McDonald’s “The Showdown. Bird versus Jordan” (1993)

It’s icon versus icon in this McDonald’s Super Bowl commercial. This ad actually started during the pre-game with a promo piece to stay tuned, because it was going to get good. The best line in this whole spot where Larry Bird and Michael Jordan compete for a Big Mac is Bird saying “No dunking”. A great commercial, but in reality it’s hard to believe all that effort going into a bet for a fast food burger. They both do quite well for themselves and could have had a butler just go get them another Big Mac.

.

3. Volkswagen “Young Darth Vader” (2011)

George Lucas used his powers for good by licensing Darth Vader’s likeness and his theme for this Volkswagen commercial. The spot featured a little kid obsessed with Star Wars and using the dark side of the force by trying to move things with his mind around the house. Baby Darth Vader somehow makes the best faces throughout the commercial all while wearing a Darth Vader helmet. The next day on the Today Show, we found out the kid in the ad was born with a heart defect. No need to pull on our heart strings any further, all of America was already in love with the little Sith Lord.

.

2. The Late Show with David Letterman “Oprah, Dave, Jay” (2010)

This promo spot for the Late Show with David Letterman left Super Bowls fans wondering if they really saw what they thought they just saw. Letterman and Oprah sitting on a couch and then there’s Dave’s long time enemy, Jay Leno. It was 15 seconds of shock and awe. Because who would have thought the two of them would even speak to each other again, never mind do a TV spot together. It also marked the end of the fued gimmick for most people who realized there obviously wasn’t as much bad blood between Leno and Letterman as had been promoted. A great Super Bowl ad moment, but the next day reality set in when we saw that they really didn’t hate each other.

.

1. Coca Cola “Mean Joe Green” (1979)

There is no better Super Bowl commercial. It’s a Super Bowl ad that actually involves football. In 2012, the thought of a young child making his way to a football locker room alone would be horrifying. But this commercial featuring a kid meeting his Pittsburgh Steelers hero and the two having a moment over a Coke not only brings a smile, but a sentimental little tear. Also, it’s interesting to go back and see a time when glass bottles were allowed in a stadium.