I know everyone is making a list of favorite Super Bowl commercials this week, but being trained in the black arts of advertising I couldn't resist making my own.
Culled from the dredges of YouTube and my memory, here are my eight best food and drink Super Bowl commercials of all time.
Number 8: After losing the '96 election to Bill Clinton, Bob Dole showed he can shill product with the best of them. Here he is promoting his "little blue friend."
Number seven: A good commercial can help the career of the celebrity endorser just as much as it can help the product. Nowhere is this more true than with Mean Joe Green, who was able to reverse his mean persona within the span of 30 seconds.
Number six: A lot of other lists have the Bud-weis-er frogs and while the frogs are iconic, they weren't particularly funny. These Louie-the-Lizard ads, in which Budweiser attacks its own product, started off hilarious but unfortunately Budweiser took the joke too far.
Number Five: All right, I'm not sure if this exact commercial ran during the Super Bowl but the series of ads for Miller certainly did and this one stood out. George Steinbrenner officially fired and rehired Billy Martin five times and their love/loathing relationship makes them a real-life odd couple. The gist was Steinbrenner treated Martin like crap and Martin was always drunk. This commercial seems to prove that both charges were correct.
Number four: Oh for a more simple time, when you could just put an animal, some rock music and a foreign announcer into a commercial and watch people buy your beer. Many late-'80s and early '90s beer ads haven't stood the test of time (Bud Bowl anyone?) but adorable Spuds McKenzie is still fun to watch, even if you have no idea how he's connected to the beer.
Number three: While both brands now focus on hope and joy, Pepsi and Coke used to go after each other claws outstretched. That is until this Pepsi commercial. Like many great commercials, there's no dialogue. Just the perfect song -- "Your Cheatin' Heart" -- and a great scenario.
Number one: It's been 17 years since this commercial aired, yet every 20-something still knows it by heart. There's no telling just how many games of H-O-R-S-E this one commercial inspired.
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