There are some Super Bowl ads out there that people just love but we don’t.

First, let’s just address the ones that we merely “like” but didn’t like enough to make the top 15 list.

Overrated

Coke - Mean Joe Greene (1979)

Mean Joe trades his jersey for a coke. Awwwwww. But greatest Super Bowl commercial ever? outpost guy, release the wolves.

Budweiser - Wazzap (2000)

Look, we don’t hate it. We liked it when it first came out, but then most people did, because everybody went around for an entire frickin’ year shouting “Wazzzap!” to each other. Then there were the endless parodies involving old ladies, aliens, yuppies, and wasabi.

The rest of the world loved the ads too. Bill was in Switzerland in 2001 and they wouldn’t shut up about it over there. But in retrospect, the ads are kinda dumb. Certainly annoying. Maybe that’s what makes for an effective ad campaign.

McDonalds - Bird vs Jordan (1993)

Yaaawwwwwwwwwn.

Budweiser - Spuds Mackenzie (1987)

Yes, overrated. But after seeing all the horrible CGI animal commercials since, we rather miss the real thing.

Tragic

This one’s pretty horrible but it’s hard to hate, given the amount of people who were probably fired over it.

Burger King - Herb (1986)

“Herb” was revealed as the only guy in America who hadn’t tried a Whopper. During Super Bowl XX, he made his appearance. Folks, it was a $40 million dollar failure. Perhaps this 1986 ad can explain it better:

Yeah, Really. If it’s good enough for Gary Sirotzke, it’s good enough for us!! This was the culmination of the whole campaign - Herb the Nerd, with special guest star Gary Sirotzke. Talk about forgettable icons. And with that, Burker King committed one of the gravest sins of marketing - encouraging apathy in your target audience.

With those out of the way, here’s a few we totally hate:

Hated

Visa - Yo! (2003)

I hope they paid Yao Ming a lot of money. What this commercial is telling us is that everybody in New York is retarded and only speaks in “Yo!”s. Well, I guess we’re all retarded now after watching it. YO.

McDonalds - Dryer Sheet (2004)

Yeah, that’s what we like - our clothes smelling like Big Macs. Have these people even stepped foot inside a McDonalds? The smell is slightly more appealing than that inside a busy men’s room. What’s next, Happy Meal cologne?

Sierra Mist - TSA (2006)

This ad is the very polar opposite of hilarious. Kathy Griffin is not funny. Neither is the joke, unless you’re 5 years old. And the threat of cavity search from the TSA guy brings to mind disturbing thoughts other than the idea of having only Sierra Mist to drink - namely, the authority given to the TSA and their tendency to abuse it. It could be an icebreaker for conversations about the abuse of power, but mostly it’s just dumb.

Anheuser-Busch - Welcome Home (2005)

We love the troops too. But we’re not gonna exploit people’s patriotism just to sell some fucking beer. Some companies have no shame.

Pizza Hut - Jessica Simpson Pizza Bites (2006)

God, we hate Jessica Simpson. She’s not attractive, she’s not talented, and now she and Pizza Hut have insulted the good memory of Nancy Sinatra.

Speaking of Britney…

Pepsi - Britney Spears (2000)

Ba,ba,ba,ba,ba-bye, Britney. Your fifteen minutes are up. This commercial is the quintessence of the kind of rah-rah-boom-boom-buy-our-product freak show that television has become. It has forever linked Britney Spears and Pepsi in our minds, and that freaks us out. Speaking of freaking people out, there’s another version out there featuring Bob Dole.

Completely creepy, for many reasons. Ape Culture gives a great analysis of it.

And now, here it is, the all time Odd Culture’s most hated Super Bowl Commercial:

Budweiser - Frogs (1995)

We just had our straightjackets removed last Saturday. But seriously, those frogs are good … with bearnaise sauce!

We’re sure there’s a lot more crappiness to cover, but frankly we’re mentally drained from watching all these commercials. And we need to get prepared for the new ones in a couple of hours.

Enjoy the Bowl.