Super Bowl commercials heavy on cars, celebrities, but light on sizzle

Once again, we looked forward to what advertisers had to offer us during commercial breaks in the Super Bowl, and this year’s slate of ads featured candy, cereal, celebrities and cars, cars, cars.

Judging by social media chatter, the commercials during Super Bowl XLVIII received mixed reviews at best, and poor reception at worst. There were many surprise predicaments and cameos in the ads, but the execution arguably wasn’t there for many of them.

Whether you were underwhelmed by the commercials Sunday or not, let’s take a look at some of the ones that stood out during the game.

James Franco has been in plenty of movies over the last couple of years, so the Super Bowl commercial bonanza wouldn’t feel complete without the presence of the “This is the End” actor, who was promoting the Ford Focus. Comedian Rob Riggle was also in a Focus commercial during the big game, as seen at the beginning of the following clip.

A Scottsdale man put together the following ad for Doritos and was one of two winners in a contest held by the chip maker.

Arnold Schwarzenegger and Don Cheadle starred in a commercial for Bud Light that aired early in the game. The following two clips are teaser videos for the full commercial.

Celebrities from 1980s, such as Hulk Hogan and Erik Estrada, reigned supreme in a Radio Shack ad.

A Cheerios ad titled “Gracie” seems to be making more noise for featuring an interracial family rather than its heartwarming tone.

Former soccer stud David Beckham starts out an H&M commercial wearing not very much, and finishes it wearing even less. If this isn’t a fan favorite among women, it’s hard to tell what would be.

Comedian/former football player Terry Crews stars with Muppets in the following odd Toyota commercial.

John Stamos starred in a provocative Greek yogurt commercial that saw him reunite with two former “Full House” cast members — Bob Saget and Dave Coulier.

One of the funnier commercials was an Audi ad that showed a small dog with a large head. It also was funny for its feature of singer Sarah McLachlan, who pokes fun at her role as an ASPCA spokeswoman.

Another high point in the run of commercials had Laurence Fishburne reprising his role as Morpheus from “The Matrix.” Be prepared to lose it when Fisburne starts singing opera and cars start levitating and exploding around him.

Of course, Budweiser did well for themselves with puppies, horses and soldiers in their two big ads.

Other noteworthy ads were Jerry Seinfeld and Jason Alexander promoting Seinfield’s new web series, and race car driver Danica Patrick all beefed up and running the streets with a bunch of bodybuilders for Go Daddy. There were also several short teasers for the return of “24” showing throughout the game that crescendoed with a full-length ad starring Kiefer Sutherland, but we haven’t been able to find any of the above posted on YouTube yet.

And, while not technically an ad, it was great seeing action man Kurt Russell do the television introduction for both teams before the Super Bowl kicked off. Russell hasn’t starred in many movies of late, but has a role in the seventh installment of “Fast and Furious” to which fans can look forward.

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