Fresh Greens

Green Commercials of Super Bowl XLIII

By Maura Judkis

Posted: February 2, 2009

It seems like this year's collection of Super Bowl commercials was more about the ads that didn't air than the ones that did.

The most noteworthy example is that of PETA: in a brilliant and transparent publicity move, they made a commercial too racy for prime time, and used the resulting publicity from being banned by NBC to their advantage. When I wrote about that ad last week, equal numbers of commenters thought the ad was too explicit (and didn't do much to further the cause of vegetarianism) as those who thought the ad was no racier than the stuff we already see during the game. It was also apparent that the economy had taken a bite out of companies' advertising budgets - so many of the ads that ran were filler from NBC. But in the mix there were a few ads for green causes - watch them below, and let me know which ones were your favorites (or if you thought they were all lame) in the comments.

The greenest ad of the evening was for GE wind power, and was pretty cute:

Another green ad from GE promoted smart grid technology to the tune of The Wizard of Oz's "If I Only Had a Brain":

Pedigree reminds us that shelter dogs make great pets - better ones than oxen, rhinos, or ostriches:

And then there was this tragedy of a Pepsi commercial. I'm including it because will.i.am is a celebrity who is very outspoken for environmental causes, and just wrote a new song, "Take Our Planet Back." But the idea that will.i.am is on par with Bob Dylan seems pretty presumptuous to me.

What did you think of this year's commercials?

Superbowl XLIII commercials

I find it ironic that NBC found that PETA's commercial was too racy (which I would have to agree with) but allowed GoDaddy.com. I have never seen a decent commercial by them. They strut these have dressed bimbo's up there knowing that many families watch the Superbowl together and it has always insulted me. Come on NBC.

Debib of TN @ Feb 02, 2009 16:47:38 PM

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Fresh Greens

Fresh Greens

Maura Judkis is a producer at U.S. News. She writes about the green movement and looks for ways to be an ecofriendly consumer without breaking the bank. Send her your green tips.

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