Last night’s commercials were a tame batch of disappointment. Everybody wanted cutesy animals—squirrels, horses, ponies, pigeons, crickets, dogs, lions, and lizards—to endorse their products. After the jump, the four spots that caught our eye.

We appreciated two spots for Doritos and Fed Ex that featured oversized animals overcoming expectations. Doritos’ slapstick ad played off the old truth that mice love cheese with a scene that we would love to see played out at Disney.
Fed Ex did a commendable job using pigeons, but even though it was clever, it only reminded us of their own bird brained failures.
Coke’s spot with former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and James Carville was the most honest ad of the night thanks to its crisp, refreshing message: members of the government are shameless whores who gladly sell out to the highest bidder. It’s true. Everyone likes to rail against the incestuous ethics-free cesspool that is Washington politics, and here it is, proudly on display for the Super Bowl. This is the saddest political ad since Bob Dole endorsed Viagra.
Most disappointing spot of the night goes to the Office of National Drug Control Policy. These are the people who gave us our brain on drugs. Our tax dollars should churn out high-powered visuals, not low-budget documentary-knock-offs. We could barely hear the skeezy drug dealer mutter the key line: kids steal drugs from their parents.Do people ever get ideas from ONDCP commercials? We didn’t realize kids could get high and save money just by raiding their parents’ medicine cabinet. Thanks for the tip, federal government!

What did you think of the ads? Tell us in the comments.

Watch All the Super Bowl Spots [Ad Age]

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