The Coke ad that features the dueling balloons…not only because it was funny, but it was prophetic. Here the Giants were predicted by just about every pundit to be losers, and in the fourth quarter there’s an ad that shows perennial loser at sports, Charlie Brown, triumphing over the redoubtable competition of Underdog and Stewie.
Congrats, Coca Cola. You’re still the real thing.
PAD
• 
I had a big smile on my face when Charlie Brown surfaced — although in retrospect a Bart Simpson balloon would have worked better than Underdog (bad kid vs bad kid with good kid winning in the end)
That was probably my favorite spot too, followed by the one with the screaming squirrel…
And the part of the pundits was played by the little brunette girl with the football. Because not even Lucy can defeat Charlie Brown when he’s forty feet tall.
PAD,
For once, we totally agree. (No, I don’t think hëll just froze over, but I am not going there to check!)
I did find the irony of Charlie Brown getting the Coke when Lucy always pulls away the football to be very classy. For once, the Coke ads were far better than the Pepsi ads.
Iowa Jim
And the biggest loser is…
Bill Belichick — for leaving the game before it is over and for the worst ever post-game interview. I can understand this was painful, but he has 3 other Super Bowl victories. He could have showed a little more class.
With the minor slap on the wrist he got for cheating at the start of the season, I lost all interest in rooting for the team.
Bill is definitely not the real thing when it comes to leaders I want to emulate.
Iowa Jim
When that commercial was about half over, I turned to my wife and said, “Another balloon is going to show up and get the Coke.”
But never in a million years would I have guessed it would be a Charlie Brown balloon. It was so jarring to me that I half expected a Lucy balloon to float up and kick the Coke balloon away.
Nice guys CAN finish first. Nice touch, Coke!
Nobody else liked it when Richard Simmons almost became roadkill?
That commercial made me smile. I’m sure Charles Schultz would have loved it.
I had a big smile on my face when Charlie Brown surfaced — although in retrospect a Bart Simpson balloon would have worked better than Underdog (bad kid vs bad kid with good kid winning in the end)
I agree, but the Bart Simpson balloon doesn’t have a very expressive face. I suspect the reason Stewie and Underdog were chosen was that their balloons, of all the others, have faces with expressions that can be interpreted as focused and intent.
Nobody else liked it when Richard Simmons almost became roadkill?
I just got a kick out of seeing Alice Cooper.
I enjoyed the balloon commercial, and the one with the Clydesdale and Dalmatian.
Well, in the old guy category, I watched the SB with a bunch of teenagers and younger kids and when the Coke ad came on, there was an immediate cacophony of Stewie quotes as he tussled with Underdog, but when Charlie Brown showed, NONE OF THE KIDS KNEW WHO HE WAS!
One teen said aloud,”Is that Snoopy?” Honestly.
I’m getting old.
Nobody else liked it when Richard Simmons almost became roadkill?
No, because he should have BECOME road kill.
That was probably my favorite ad, also.
I was trying to explain it to my seven year old, that it was cool because Charlie Brown was always the loser, but she just gave me a glassy stare, so I gave up. Kids these days.
Anyone who is too young to recognize Charlie Brown probably isn’t buying the groceries for the family anyway.
I was pretty sure another balloon would show up as well, though I’d been guessing Snoopy (since there isn’t a Charlie Brown balloon, these days at least).
Still, my loyalties are tied….Underdog, as revealed in the movie, is a beagle…but Charlie Brown is the owner of a beagle. I assume he’ll share with Snoopy so BEAGLES WIN!
(and what was with the lack of Beagles at the Puppy Bowl, I ask you).
And I think Hëll has indeed frozen over, as I completely agree with Iowa Jim re: Belichick
That commercial made me smile. I’m sure Charles Schultz would have loved it.
>>>>>
I appreciate the sentiment, but I don’t think Schulz (not Schultz) would have. In interviews during the last days of the strip he commented that many people had hoped that in the last strip Charlie would actually kick the football or speak to the little red-headed girl, but that he couldn’t do that since it would be contrary to the character.
–Ed
True, but this isn’t exactly the character. It was a balloon, which I think gives a little wiggle room.
Plus, even if he wouldn’t want to do a story about Charlie Brown winning, he might still smile when someone else does it.
Overall I thought the commercials were terrible this year. I feel like ever since the FCC came down hard on advertisers and networks (advertisers based on the GoDaddy commercial and networks based on a wardrobe malfunction) everyone has forgotten how to be entertaining. It was like the advertising companies were just one-trick ponies that only had sex to sell. One of the best commercials ever was the Jetta stuck in a tree. No sex needed, just a good concept. I think that is why the Coke commercial was so good. It was a solid concept that was executed well. There were not many of those on Sunday. Too bad. At least the game was entertaining.
Huh. I just noticed in rewatching it that Lucy *is* in the commercial. (Kind of. There’s a shot of a brunette girl holding a football, staring disbelieving at Chuck getting the Coke.)
Posted by: Sasha
Huh. I just noticed in rewatching it that Lucy *is* in the commercial. (Kind of. There’s a shot of a brunette girl holding a football, staring disbelieving at Chuck getting the Coke.)
Oh, that’s evil.
I appreciate the sentiment, but I don’t think Schulz (not Schultz) would have. In interviews during the last days of the strip he commented that many people had hoped that in the last strip Charlie would actually kick the football or speak to the little red-headed girl, but that he couldn’t do that since it would be contrary to the character.
The closest the strip came to Charlie Brown kicking the football came in one of the final Sunday strips.
Lucy was holding the football. But she was called inside, and she asked Rerun to hold the football.
The final panel was inside. Lucy asked Rerun what had happened.
Rerun: “You’ll never know.”
I’d like to think Charlie Brown kicked the football. But we, like Lucy, will never truly know.
Great commercial.
Although the man with the skittles powers reminded me of my old (hardly original) train of thought that even the most whimsical-seeming of powers can have tragic consequences.
Unfortunately I cannot shake the feeling that I missed the commercials I would have loved most while I was upstairs getting food. I did enjoy the Coke race.
Although I have a hard time associating an NFC team with Charlie Brown, given that I usually identify the AFC with the Bills, Broncos.
This year I still didn’t care who was who: I just wanted to see The Perfect Season. Ah well. I also wanted to see the Lions make the play-offs, so NFL football never goes my way.
In my annual AdverBowl writeup, I had the same conclusion — although lacking in your depth of analysis. Just one more time when PAD puts down words that I look at and go, “I wish I’d have said that.”