Another day, another Super Bowl commercial released on the Internet. One of these days, I may reach out to an ad exec to ask why these companies spend $3.5 million and more to air their ads during the biggest sporting event of the year, only to show them on the Internet for weeks in advance. Until then, Acura is the latest company to “leak” its huge Super Bowl ad, and it’s clear that the car company is swinging for the fences in the wake of Honda’s Ferris Bueller revival. Acura enlisted comedian Jerry Seinfeld as a man hellbent on being the first person to receive whatever the company’s brand new model is, and the results are… a commercial.
I’m not much for the idea of criticizing commercials, as most of them suck. I’d say that 98% of regular, day-to-day commercials are absolutely horrible, and while Super Bowl ads used to be a time-honored tradition of creativity, they’re probably running a 60/40 good-to-suck ratio these days. Obviously, we’ve declared the Volkswagen “Dark Side” ads to be Hall-of-Famers with the “leaking” of this year’s ad teaser featuring dogs singing the Empire theme from Star Wars. But while I can appreciate a good Soup Nazi cameo, Acura isn’t giving me anything that I can’t already see every night on TBS and my local UPN channel. And Jay Leno? Ugh. Even if I could afford an Acura, this commercial would turn me off.
And in case you haven’t seen it or still haven’t joined sides in the increasing battle over whether it’s funny or not (seriously, this might be our next Civil War), I’ve got the Honda ad on the next page.
