5 things I learned about dudes from watching Super Bowl ads
For guys, the Super Bowl is like Christmas, New Years and a birthday all rolled into one. Aside from the game itself, all the expensive advertising seems to celebrate this most dude-centric of days. As a woman, I found it fascinating to watch what advertisers think will be appealing and to take a look at what we learn about guys from watching the Super Bowl commercials, so I bring you this list of 5 things we learn about dudes from watching these commercials.
5. Dudes like cars.
Hyundai ran an ad that might have been more fitting in the WWII era with an Asian car company executive from Lexus and a German exec from BMW screaming at their employees like fascist dictators about Hyundai’s ranking as North America’s #1 car. Bridgestone had an ad that featured two astronauts cruising around in a pimped out space buggy while dancing to “Jump Around”. Toyota had one of its trucks driving up a metal tower of flames to prove how tough their vehicles are. Cars.com and Castrol chose the the humorous route to play to dudes’ love of cars. There was even a trailer for the next installment in the Fast and Furious franchise, or as I like to call it “Faster and Furious-er Redux”. All this was staggering evidence in favor of dudes being really into car performance and purchasing.
4. Just like everyone else in this economy, dudes are worried about money.
Hyundai ran several ads that played to the economic downturn by promoting their contract system that allows customers to return their cars if they lose their jobs. Overstock and Priceline ran commercials telling dudes how to save money by making purchases online and CareerBuilder and Monster reminded dudes that they don’t like their lame jobs. Monster even ran a big themed ad for their “Director of Fandemonium” contest that gives viewers a chance to win Super Bowl perks and $100,000. It seems that the economy has hit dudes hard and they are looking for ways to pay the bills so they can afford cars or tickets to movies with CGI explosions.
3. Dudes are into CGI characters.
Nearly every single one of the commercials featured some kind of computer generated character. The majority were in movie trailers for films like, Race to Witch Mountain, Monsters vs. Aliens, Disney/Pixar’s Up and even Will Ferrell’s latest, Land of the Lost, but even non-movie ads featured digital characters like Chester Cheetah or those Sobe lizards. With trailers for the Transformers sequel and JJ Abrams’ new Star Trek, this one could also be written as “dudes like CGI action” because of all the CGI explosions, crashes and the like. Also, dudes want to watch anything in 3D, even sitcoms.
2. Dudes like America.
One running theme in yesterday’s events was patriotism. It seems that, aside from CGI explosions and hot chicks, dudes also like America. While this kind of “America, Fuck Yeah!” attitude might have seemed like a redneck-only value a few years ago, the new pro-America vibe seems to have risen from genuine happiness in having a competent leader like Barack Obama. It’s change, people, and dudes like that too.
1. Dudes dig chicks.
This is especially true, it seems, if the chick in question is Danica Patrick. The GoDaddy ads featuring the race car driver suggested that dudes like any super hot chicks on the tomboy side who like cars and going fast, but that guys also like all busty babes in tight clothes. Doritos ran an ad where hot women started taking their clothes off because of the “power of the crunch” and even the Budweiser horses seemed to be in a frisky mood in their Clydesdale romance commercials, which sounds dirtier than it actually is. Perhaps it’s because the Super Bowl falls just a couple weeks before Valentines Day, but a lot of the ads were about dudes and their girlfriends or chicks they wanted to be their girlfriends.
You can re-watch all the adds on Hulu because they cost millions of dollars and it’s a shame to only see them once.
I don’t know what is up with all this man hating. The only one I think could apply to this dude is #3 but I liked most of the movie ads because I like movies not because I like CGI characters. Personally, I didn’t even like the Dana Patrick commercial. She is not hot. I wish I could have bolded that period on the last sentence because it needs to be bolded. Anyway, my favorite commercials were:
3rd place: E*Trade: Talking Baby;
2nd place: Bud Light: Drinkability (and I don’t even drink);
Winner: Teleflora: Talking Flower
I thought the worst commercials were all the GoDaddy commercials and I am not just saying that after reading your article but I tweeted it on Monday.
Anyway, I thought it was well known that the game is primarily meant for men and the commercials and half time show were meant for women and children. So again, what is up w/ the man hate?
Man hating?!
This has more to do with marketing than it does with men in general.
I wrote this to take a look at how advertisers think they can snare a male audience during a broadcast event which is (somewhat incorrectly) perceived to be viewed only by men. I think the things I listed in here say a lot more about marketing trends and the stereotypical profile of the male consumer than anything else.
Not quite sure what in here could be construed as “man hate”
On a side note, I liked the thing you wrote about wanting to bold the period on the Danica Patrick comment.
‘Man hating’ was meant more tongue in cheek than anything serious. I do think the commercials are targeted more for women though. I saw on television sometime ago that even though the majority of beer or car or even movie ads have men in them, they are targeted to both men and women. Men like it for its humor but women like it because it makes fun of men.
The halftime show is definitely meant more women though. I think for me and other football fans, halftime at the super bowl is a time to get a quick nap, check e-mail, or refill on snacks.