By Mackenzie Cutruzzula
Columnist
After Left Shark went viral following the 2015 Super Bowl halftime performance, the world was anxiously awaiting what would steal our hearts during this year’s Super Bowl 50 on Sunday, Feb. 7.
The game itself between the Denver Broncos and the Carolina Panthers was actually pretty boring, leaving more fans interested in the famous commercials. Companies went straight for the weird factor this year, clearly looking for a viral sensation. Doritos attempted to claim that their chips are good enough to drive anyone mad, including fetuses. The strange yet funny commercial involved an ultrasound and was memorable to say the least.
The outdoor clothing and sporting goods company, Marmot, wanted fans to fall in love with nature, demonstrated by a man actually falling in love with a marmot. Although the commercial cuts off before the unconventional couple kisses, an unedited version was released online where they do, in fact, fall in love.
Mountain Dew scraped up $5 million to release its first Super Bowl commercial in over 15 years. The commercial featured a “puppy monkey baby,” which consisted of a baby’s legs, the torso and tail of a monkey and a puppy’s face. Within seconds, the commercial was trending and parody Twitter accounts were made in the same viral fashion as Left Shark of last year. Although the ad was stranger than it was funny, Mountain Dew certainly found the success for which they were looking.
My favorite funny commercial was Avocados from Mexico’s take on an alien’s museum about humans that made fun of airplanes and the Rubik’s Cube while poking fun at the phenomenon of avocados.
Car commercials are always a staple, but it was Jeep that made marks this year as the long, inspirational commercial about getting out there and exploring, when in years past, that title usually went to Chevrolet or Ford. Mini Cooper’s commercial about defying labels featured a slew of celebrities, including Abby Wambach and Serena Williams, that has me saving my pennies to afford the car someday.
Although Coldplay was advertised as the headliner for the halftime show, it seems that previous halftime performers Béyoncé and Bruno Mars were the stars of the show. Even during Chris Martin’s piano solo, he was cut from camera for a tribute to the past halftime performers in honor of the 50th Super Bowl. Ending the performance was a stadium-wide spectacle that spelled out “Believe in Love” and resembled the end of Michael Jackson’s 1993 show. Beyonce also paid tribute to Jackson and then stole the Super Bowl by announcing her Formation World Tour.
Sorry, Chris Martin, the Broncos and puppy monkey baby — Béyoncé swept the game. Now if only I had put down a better bet on the final game score, I could actually afford a ticket to the Formation World Tour.
