Balance of Food

Ranking food Super Bowl LIX ads

"Brilliant idea," someone shouted at some point. The fake orgasm scene in When Harry Met Sally adapted to a Hellmann's mayonnaise Super Bowl ad. Just get Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan back at Katz's Delicatessen. This was likely the most anticipated food ad in Super Bowl LIX.

The ad seems clever and very basic but we have a few issues. Katz's deli is a rather famous Jewish deli in New York City. Mustard would be perfect for a Super Bowl ad set in a Jewish delicatessen. Mustard provides moisture, taste, and isn't restricted by some elements of Judaism.

Katz's specifically has on its online menu that you can order mayonnaise "if you must." I am not Jewish (likely blood on my father's side) yet I know mayo and a Jewish deli is as fake as the "orgasm" Meg Ryan has over putting Hellmann's on a turkey sandwich in a Jewish deli.

The brilliant move by Rob Reiner, director of the original movie, was to put his mother — Estelle Reiner — in that scene and say, "I'll have what she's having." Sydney Sweeney is young and well-known to young people. I have nothing personal against Sweeney but is there a specific reason she gets the line? I may be missing that point.

Kate McKinnon, who has done a previous Hellmann's Super Bowl ad, would have been a better fit. Tracy Reiner, who was in When Harry Met Sally, Rob Reiner's adopted daughter (parents Penny Marshall and Michael Henry), would have been a poetic choice. (Reiner adopted her when he was married to Marshall.)

Lay's had one of the best Super Bowl ads this year in any category, much less food. A young girl saves a young potato. Earnest efforts to grow the potato. Then she makes the ultimate sacrifice as she gives the potato to the truck holding the other potatoes going to make Lays potato chips.

A Super Bowl ad that explains what goes into a product is rather rare these days. This ad will have lasting power in the months that the ads run. The Hellmann's ad won't have that connection.

The Pringles ads features flying mustaches, only the second ad of the day featuring flying male facial hair. Good news for Pringles: not the worst food ad but pretty close to the worst. (Some of this content is from our sibling blog, CanadianCrossing.com.)

Little Caesar's had 2 Levys from Schitt's Creek — Eugene and Sarah — for its Crazy Puffs.

Eugene Levy has been in a myriad of Super Bowl ads before Little Caesar's went with highlighting his eyebrows. This was in a reaction to Crazy Puffs. We didn't learn anything about the food, except that some come with bacon.

The Detroit-based national chain was stealth to tease the ad but not show it over the last 2 weeks. There should be a business axiom that if you feature a male whose facial hair is running rogue, be the first ad to run with that theme. Pringles later had wayward mustaches.

We got the Super Bowl ad debut (as far as I can remember) of Sarah Levy. 3 members from her family were featured in Super Bowl ads this year. Dan Levy had a couple of Homes.com ads touting how the site is "the best" even as a lawyer tells them they can't say it.

Coffee Mate cold foam creamer had a Super Bowl ad with a Canadian. Shania Twain sings the song while the tongue is dancing on screen.

Funny fact: regular Coffee Mate in Canada is referred to as a "coffee whitener" while American lower standards allows for it to be described as "non-dairy creamer."

Seems like a regular milk, half and half, or alternative milk makes a lot more sense than a cold foam "creamer" with an artificial sweetener.

Didn't want to like the Ritz crackers Super Bowl ad, but I did. Aubrey Plaza and Michael Shannon did a great job promoting the salty part of Ritz crackers being salty.

People who don't smile was the theme. I never thought of Ritz crackers as being salty, so this was a bit of a surprise. Not sure salty is a good adjective for a cracker when corporate made food is usually very salty.

This was by far the most memorable Ritz crackers ad since Andy Griffith sold them with the tagline "good cracker," which could have referred to the cracker or a white person.

Ranking food Super Bowl LVIII ads

Ranking food Super Bowl LVII ads

Ranking food Super Bowl LVI ads

Ranking food and drink Super Bowl LV ads

Taco Bell had an overall good Super Bowl ad in featuring non-celebrities in the ad. Of course, we still need celebrities to try and get into the ads: Lebron James and Doja Cat served that role. Taco Bell is one of those places where emphasizing the product is to their detriment.

Pringles had Adam Brody and Nick Offerman in its Super Bowl ad featuring the flying mustaches. The potato chip company has definitely had better ads.

Haagen Dazs played on the Fast and Furious series of movies. The drawback was the target: ice cream bars. If I had a $25 gift card to spend on the high-quality ice cream catalog — free money — I would never spend them on ice cream bars.

Liquid Water had an ad that included iced tea. Might consider that over a cola option that involved water, also in the same ad. Dunkin Donuts had an ad for coffee that featured Ben Affleck. Odd to have a Super Bowl ad for a product that isn't a primary offering. They used to advertise the donuts.

Totino's Pizza Rolls had the worst Super Bowl ad in the food category. 2 words: dead alien. A waste of money on an ad you don't want to watch more than once. If there is quality control at Totino's, they were absent that day.

Previous Super Bowl ad analysis stories

2020   2019   2018   2017   2016   2015   2014   2013   2011

The Super Bowl ad phenomenon does not lend itself to advertising healthy food. Broccoli can't afford a 30-second or 60-second ad in the Super Bowl. If we missed your candy ad, we want to limit this to food that is actually food, up to a point.

video and photo credits: individual manufacturers

Ranking food Super Bowl LVIII ads

Most of the "food" related items in Super Bowl ads are, well, technically edible (not to be confused with edibles — know your ideal dosage level).

The avocados from south of the U.S. border were definitely missing from Super Bowl LVIII. An avocado is definitely real food.

Kate McKinnon and her "Mayo Cat" were the 2024 version of Hellman's basic argument that leftovers need mayonnaise to bring everything together. Brie Larson and Jon Hamm pulled that off last year with the use of their names (brie and ham).

Pluto TV gets an honorable mention for showing actual potatoes in a Super Bowl ad. Closer to real food than actual food ads.

Lindt ran an ad for its milk chocolate balls. This is real food, even with a lot of sugar. I tend to buy chocolate based on how dark it is, specifically by cacao percentage. The red balls are an easy to process packaging concept, and can work for the love holiday on Wednesday (Valentine's Day).

Poppi soda had an unusual approach to a Super Bowl ad. Brand awareness is something that Poppi does not have. I don't even know if my local grocery store even carries Poppi. 

The soda has prebiotics, 5 grams of sugar that comes from agave inulin, and unfiltered apple cider vinegar. Consider that I looked up the company info based on a Super Bowl ad, which almost never happens.

The drawback is that I would try the soda but wouldn't buy a 6-pack until I tried the drink.

The Poppi ad was a contrast to Starry. We aren't fans of their lazy strategy to get you to switch from other lemon-lime sodas, and that Super Bowl ad didn't help.

There were plenty of celebrities hawking "food" such as Scarlett Johansson (M&Ms peanut butter), Aubrey Plaza (Mountain Dew Baja Blast), Ken Jeong (Popeye's wings), Ben Affleck, Jennifer Lopez, and Matt Damon (Dunkin' Donuts), Chris Pratt (Pringles), and Jenny Ortega (Dinamita).

The Dinamita ad was particularly clever with the women (Dina and Mita) going after the guy who got the last bag of chips. I got the whole Dunkings in the Dunkin' Donuts ad but don't know how that would translate in my next visit.

Nerds gummy clusters, Oreos Twist, Reese's caramel, and Drumstick also had Super Bowl ads.

We should also note the Uber Eats ad that removed any mention of the peanut butter and allergies. We suspect the company did that on purpose and then took that out to draw extra attention. That is slightly better than being ignorant of how poor that would look. Sadly, the company likely was clueless.

Ranking food Super Bowl LVII ads

Ranking food Super Bowl LVI ads

Ranking food and drink Super Bowl LV ads

Super Bowl ad analysis in recent years

2020   2019   2018   2017   2016   2015   2014   2013   2011

Hope you ate well or had enough flavor during Super Bowl LVIII.

video and photo credits: individual companies

Ranking food Super Bowl LVII ads

Avocados from Mexico usually has one of the better Super Bowl ads. Nudity, or as much as American broadcast television will allow, and how avocadoes make everything better, were the themes of the Super Bowl LVII ad.

Anna Faris as Eve was pretty funny. Not much room for acting in Super Bowl ads.

Avocadoes are the only substantial food on Super Bowl ads. Most foods advertised on television aren't high in quality from a nutrition perspective. The ratio feels like 50 million: 1 with questionable food than real food.

Eric Zorn was a long-time Chicago Tribune columnist. We love avocadoes but is the original destination that important?

When your humble narrator goes to the farmers market, the original destination for fruit is crucial but vegetables, not so much.

Years ago, a local store carried garlic from China. Didn't buy that garlic.

I've bought local Haas avocadoes in farmers markets in San Francisco and Los Angeles. Sadly, I have not bought an avocado from Mexico in Mexico.

I'm willing to eat any avocado from California or Mexico as long as the avocado is good and not insanely expensive. My loyalty is to good avocadoes from this continent.

Also, to Zorn's point, the plural of avocado is avocadoes, not avocados.

Hellmann's was back with leftovers, attacking potential food waste with mayonnaise. Brie Larson (brie cheese) and Jon Hamm (ham) are in a refrigerator with a large Hellman's jar. The play is on their food names.

Hellman's, also know as Best Foods in the western U.S., has been good on the whole food waste issue, even to promote its product. The whole Brie-Hamm combo was fun in a sea of questionable Super Bowl ads.

Full disclosure: I did have a ham sandwich before the commercial aired. Used mustard but not mayonnaise.

Ranking food Super Bowl LVI ads

Ranking food and drink Super Bowl LV ads

Super Bowl ad analysis in recent years

2020   2019   2018   2017   2016   2015   2014   2013   2011

Hope you ate well during the celebrations last night.

video credit: individual companies
photo credit: Eric Zorn/Facebook

Ranking food Super Bowl LVI ads

Avocados from Mexico is on a better track compared to recent Super Bowl ads. The ancient tailgating scene was a highlight from Super Bowl LVI ads.

While the ads overall were lackluster, there were some decent food-related Super Bowl ads in 2022.

Super Bowl LVI finally gave Andy Richter a chance to be in an Avocados from Mexico Super Bowl ad. Richter, as Julius Caesar, is the only recognizable personality in this truly old-school tailgating scene.

Richter had a fake rant on Conan in 2018 about how avocados didn't need to advertise in the Super Bowl, how they didn't have any competition.

The Andy Richter of 2018 is more correct than the Richter of 2022. The end of the ad with Richter as Julius Caesar was really odd. Avocados in salads is a nice idea, though not in a Caesar salad. 

Avocados can sell themselves but the company has struggled to do that lately.  

Shoppers in some parts of the United States are not finding the avocados (from anywhere) to be as good lately. Avocados from a couple of years would be a welcome sight.

Seth Rogen teamed up with Paul Rudd for the Lay's Golden Memories ad. The chips ended up in past memories the two friends had before the wedding for Rogen's character.

The characterization made Lay's chips seem cooler than the brand's usual image. Basic chips are now not so basic.

We also covered this ad for our Canadian sibling blog, CanadianCrossing.com.

Ranking food and drink Super Bowl LV ads

Super Bowl ad analysis in recent years

2020   2019   2018   2017   2016   2015   2014   2013   2011

Hellman's had a really nice message about reducing food waste and how the actual product can help this growing problem. Jerod Mayo tackled his way into "explaining" why food waste is a problem. Pete Davidson is the opposite of mayonnaise, which might help and hurt the image of mayonnaise.

Hellmann's and Best Foods are the same product with Best Foods being the name west of the Rocky Mountains. You run into the same issue with Carl's Jr. and Hardee's where the ads run under the Carl's Jr. name.

Flamin' Hot snacks have been popular in certain markets so seeing the genre advertised on a larger scale is a bit surprising. The Doritos product, which somehow combines flamin' hot and cool ranch, is rather confusing.

We often point out where the product can't live up to the advertising. This might be an ad that brings down the product. The animals are so excited to eat junk food that they incorporate the old school song Push It from Salt-N-Pepa.

This is the worst food ad for Super Bowl LVI: sad more than anything else. People in the board room must have been afraid to criticize the ad. Not the worst ad on the night but the money could have been better spent.

The Taco Bell ad involves clowns who lose their makeup and outfits to have late night fun. This is the opposite issue from the Doritos ad. Great ad because they didn't show off the lousy product.

This was a vibrant, colorful ad that looked like people were having fun. This was creative, thoughtful, interesting. If you watch fast food ads from ancient times (40-45 years ago), they talk about how great the food is. Taco Bell knows if you are in Taco Bell, you have low standards, especially if you are sober.

Pringle's had its best ad in ages, which is a very low bar. The obsession with buying several flavors and building stacks is hopefully out of their system. The ad has fun with the canister design, which is a playful way of saying, "we are different from the competition." A Super Bowl ad should make that distinction.

They are technically potato crisps instead of potato chips, but they fall into the snack category.

BalanceofFood.com advertising coverage

Honorable mention goes to a promo during the game for NFL.com/Play60 to get digital resources to get kids eating healthy and moving.

The healthy eating part appears to be an effort with America's Dairy Farmers to get kids to eat cheese sticks and drink milk. Yes, kids need protein for growing bodies. They could eat real cheese, yogurt, and whole milk without added high-fructose corn syrup.

photo credit: Avocados from Mexico
video credits: the companies themselves; Conan/TBS

Ranking food and drink Super Bowl LV ads

Super Bowl LV didn't have an update from Avocados from Mexico. There were a few ads for decent foods and other food ads that ran during the big game.

"How we grow our food is how we grow our future." In a sea of chips and soft drinks, Chipotle had a nice ad showing actual farms and real-looking food. The kid as the narrator was more of the future, even as his sister mocks him. Even if you aren't a Chipotle fan, talk of real food doesn't happen too often in Super Bowl ads.

Oatly CEO Toni Petersson sings the praises of Oatly oat milk. I had to go back and watch a second and third time to follow what he was singing about. "Wow, no cow." Okay. There is likely a correlation of people who like the product or interested in oat milk who will like the ad. If you hated the ad, and there are many of you, well you aren't likely to want to buy oat milk. A Super Bowl ad is usually designed to grow a product. If the company keeps the ad running in the next 2 months, the Oatly ad will seem better over time.

Amy Schumer has shown a suitability for doing ads lately. Her latest is for Hellmann mayonnaise. Schumer helps out a poor, single guy who has ingredients but doesn't know what to do with them. "What even is an artichoke?"

Schumer shows how the mayo can stretch a lot of foods. An ad that shows how to use the product is rare indeed. I do find Hellmann national ads hilarious since the brand shifts to Best Foods in some parts of the country. The mayonnaise is the same despite the name change, similar to Carl's Jr. and Hardees.

Super Bowl ad analysis in recent years

2020   2019   2018   2017   2016   2015   2014   2013   2011

Brad Garrett pops out of nowhere to star in the Jimmy John's ads. The sandwiches at Jimmy John's have been more about speed of delivery than actual quality. The Super Bowl ad refers to the Jimmy John's product as "high quality, reasonably priced sandwiches." Anecdotally, I have had 2 of their sandwiches, neither of which I could finish because of the lack of quality. I think the Federal Trade Commission could reasonable investigate the "high quality" claim. Fast food and "high quality" don't go together.

The "sandwich war" referred to in the ad means there will likely be follow-up ads. Ugh.

The Pringles stack ads are getting monotonous because they are selling a concept that doesn't exist. No one outside the company is buying multiple canisters and building different combinations. Either sell people different combos of different kinds of Pringles or stop this insanity. Fans might actually want shorten versions where they can build different combos, unlike the Frito-Lay ads trying to sell a product it won't describe.

Uber Eats and Doordash do not make food but they like to take credit for that food. Their high rates cut into the slim profit margins of local restaurants, even in good times. Spending $5.5 million to run ads may be necessary in the marketplace, but some of those restaurants could have used that money to stay in business.

Uber Eats brought in Mike Myers and Dana Carvey to go back to Wayne's World along with Cardi B. The emphasis of the ad was to eat local and support local, something better done with picking up the food yourself or having the restaurant deliver the food to you.

Doordash using the Sesame Street characters was a crass use of heartwarming childhood characters for a nefarious purpose. In our world, ads that cross the line get a F-.

Frito-Lay weighed in with 2 spots: 3-D Doritos and Cheetos Crunch Pop Mix. The 3-D Doritos ad was reasonably clever with Matthew McConaughey as a 2-dimensional version before he eats the 3-D version. Mindy Kaling and Jimmy Kimmel help out in the ad.

Super Bowl ads with a physical presence are good at standing out if watching the big game at a bar. Not as applicable with fewer bars open for the game. Still, the ad will stand out for awhile in February and March.

Not sure what is so different about the 3-D version of the snack, so the ad may just reinforce the 2-D version of the snack.

Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher are playful in the "did she/didn't she" dance off whether she ate the Cheetos. Not as clever as the Cheetos ads with the husband who tries to find out whether his family is eating the Cheetos. Those ads are good.

Did not notice the first time that the ad actually was for Cheetos Crunch Pop Mix. Don't know what that is and likely won't find out. Like the 3-D Doritos, without explanation, the ads refer back to the primary product. Run an ad to explain what the hell is a crunch pop mix.

BalanceofFood.com advertising coverage

Dan Levy finishes the M&Ms commercial of people apologizing for infractions where candy is the reward. In an era of yelling, actual apologies make for a good commercial. Then again, I would accept the apology but not the candy. We covered the M&Ms and Uber Eats ads for our Canadian blog entry on Super Bowl LV.

Mountain Dew has a melon flavored version. I drank the regular and Code Red versions back in the old days. I would drink watermelon juice but not a melon-flavored soft drink. The potential $1 million offer wouldn't move my judgment on the soda.

photo credit: Oatly oat milk
video credits: individual companies

Ranking food and drink Super Bowl LIV ads

Super Bowl ads are mostly about foods that dentists "recommend" you consume. We'll skip those for later. Avocados have made a traditional visit to the Super Bowl ad arena. Hummus is relatively new, especially since some Americans are nervous about "foreign food." Sabra is trying to change that with its hummus ad. Numerous celebrities talk about what they dip into hummus.

The ad featured 19 celebrities, not counting Chester Cheetah (Cheetos), in 30 seconds. If you knew every celebrity in the ad, you are not me. The variety of so many people exemplifies the variety of ways to enjoy hummus. The ad used the hashtag #HowImmus. The suffix -mmus works well to not be confused with the late shock jock Don Imus.

I recognized Ric Flair, Jaleel White, Scary Spice/Mel B., and Boomer Esiason.

Not sure if the ad will shine through on Super Bowl Sunday. Running the ad over the next few months will make a stronger impact.

Avocados from Mexico brought out Molly Ringwald in its campaign. The campaign ran a couple of ads earlier in the week where Ringwald praises avocado in a car, envious of its ability to sleep in a car and another ad where she places a crown on an avocado.

The actual Super Bowl ad was a fake shopping channel for accessories for the avocado. That was the lamest of the 3, especially compared to ads from previous years. Ringwald did well in the ad. The other ads were better and more subtle. The campaign would benefit from running those ads in the next few weeks rather than the actual Super Bowl ad.

Planning the #SuperBowl menu? #hummus #guacamole good ways to eat healthier. Chips made with blue corn or those bean/rice chips a grand suggestion. #snacks #SuperBowlLIV

— Chad Rubel (@balanceoffood) February 2, 2020

We realize Super Bowl ads aren't supposed to showcase the attributes of the product. Planters is a company with Super Bowl ads experience but fell into the trap in Super Bowl LIV with a gimmick ad.

Unless you stayed off the Internet for a week, we know that Mr. Peanut was "killed" in the Planters ad. Mr. Peanut let go of the tree branch to save Matt Walsh and Wesley Snipes. You would have to put in about $250,000 in quarters in a slot machine to get Mr. Peanut, Matt Walsh, and Wesley Snipes.

The Planters ad from Super Bowl LIII had the peanut-shaped vehicle as well, a funny Charlie Sheen cameo, and a funny joke about kale chips. A variation on that ad would carry over well in the winter ad season.

The actual Super Bowl ad was rather sad. We knew the death was a hoax and Planters pretty much wasted its money. Like Avocadoes from Mexico, they buried the lede, running the better ad earlier in the week.

Michelob Ultra pure gold ran an ad that appeared to be more about converting more American farmland to organic. The ad points out that less than 1% of America's farmland is organic. The phrasing sounds fun: buy a 6-pack and they will convert 6 square feet of farmland to organic.

The fine print points out that the beer company will contribute 2¢ per 6-pack up to $1 million. The "funds paid to farmers (are) in the form of transitional barley premiums." That feels technically true but more self-serving and not useful beyond for anyone else.

The upside is more about pointing out to a huge TV audience about the importance of being organic. Buying the beer will be up to you.

Super Bowl ad analysis in recent years

2019   2018   2017   2016   2015   2014   2013   2011

Cheetos Popcorn, like Cheetos, stains your hands orange when you eat them. There you can't touch this, which is the only reason for the return of MC Hammer. Young people may not be familiar with the Hammer; those of us who remember him know that he stole the music from Super Freak by Rick James, a way better song.

The problem with the ad, besides the return of MC Hammer, is that you have a new product and the ad says nothing about the new product. The ad would have been okay for the regular Cheetos product.

The new Pringles ad plays on the stacking flavors theme in recent Super Bowl ads. This is a rare Super Bowl ad in that the celebrities outshine the product. Rick and Morty is a great get. Most parents might object that their kids cartoon heroes would hawk potato chips.

The Pop-Tarts pretzel version with cinnamon sugar was a strong ad that told the virtues of the product. A product launch (are you listening, Cheetos?) to promote a product. We would be skeptical over getting too excited until we taste the pretzel element in the breakfast pastry.

Felt like the Little Caesar's delivery ad was an ad for Rainn Wilson, which was good for him. The idea that Little Caesar's delivery is the best thing since sliced bread is cute and might last longer if shown more often in the next few weeks. As a long-time customer of its Crazy Bread, delivery won't be its strong suit. The franchise is built on people coming in unlike its primary contenders, Pizza Hut and Domino's. Still a more entertaining ad than anything Domino's has ever done.

The Doritos cool ranch ad with Sam Elliott and Lil Nas X might have been one of the best Super Bowl LIV ads. The mix of old and new cowboys was entertaining, each adding his cred to the ad. Doritos might have paid more for their celebrities, but you have to invest to draw out success. The good news for Doritos is this ad may help all its flavors not just Cool Ranch.

Super Bowl LIV through the eyes of Canada

BalanceofFood.com advertising coverage

Here are the borderline food/drink categories, not necessarily the ads themselves, in order of appearance:

Snickers fix the world with a large sinkhole: very visual ad that ties into the huge hunger that Snickers apparently fills.

Mountain Dew Zero Sugar with a knockoff of The Shining with Bryan Cranston and Tracee Ellis Ross: loved the ad, though no connection to anything. People will struggle to remember that this ad is from Mountain Dew Zero Sugar.

Coca-Cola Energy with Martin Scorsese and Jonah Hill. Hill doesn't want to go to a lame party; Scorsese wants Hill to come. This idea should have been thrown out in the initial session. Hopefully, they will remember to cash the check and forget they were ever in this ad.

Pepsi Zero Sugar with black labels on its bottle off of the use of the Rolling Stones song Paint It Black. Good update of a great song. A better commercial than the product itself.

Heinz ketchup with I'll Be There by the Four Tops. Except for the music, this ad was not memorable. Still better than a bad ad (Coca-Cola Energy). The mothers of the people who made this ad will not remember the ad by Friday.

Reese's Take 5 ad with the corny sayings. An interesting new product that needed a better campaign. An ad that was cute with the corny sayings that will likely earn a C+ from those who grade these ads. Might have a bit more life in the next few weeks, but might save money by launching a new ad.

photos credit: Sabra; Avocadoes from Mexico; Planters; Michelob Ultra
Twitter capture: @balanceoffood

Checking out Canadian food ads from fall 2019 NHL Center Ice free preview

Editor's note: The following is a slightly condensed version of a feature from our sister blog, CanadianCrossing.com. The full feature can be found here. The column is reprinted here with full and complete permission.

Eggs for breakfast make sense. Eggs for lunch? The brother thinks eating eggs for lunch is weird. The sister thinks eggs for lunch is fine. Then again, the sister thinks her brother's girlfriend looks like their mother. That might be a little weird. Eggs anytime is fine.

Another Tim Hortons trading cards zamboni ad with Sidney Crosby and Nathan MacKinnon is not that exciting. What is exciting is the new addition to the ads. Recently retired NHL Hockey Night in Canada legend Bob Cole is the voice of the Tim Hortons ad. You have to love that Cole is 1) still working; and 2) is still a part of the NHL even via an ad for a donut shoppe. Take that, Rogers.

"If food matters to you, you're a food lover."

Food lovers might not be into canned cranberry sauce. The Loblaw's ad lets us know you can be a food lover who is into canned cranberry sauce. Aimed for Canadian Thanksgiving, the ad can work for the American readers for the U.S. Thanksgiving.

Jon Hamm thinks he is a real Canadian in this latest incarnation for Skip the Dishes. Hamm thinks he is now a Canadian citizen and wants to celebrate by having food delivered.

Turns out Hamm's citizenship was denied even though he bought a Moose Jaw, Yellowknife, and a Sault Ste. Marie (whatever that is). These ads have been hilarious. Hopefully, more Americans will find out Hamm is funny.

How the [bleep] did Pepsi get the rights to the old Hockey Night in Canada theme? TSN/Bell Media got the rights to the song when the CBC let the rights go free. Having the song play in a soft drink ad reduces the impact of the song when played for real. We see what Pepsi gets from it but Bell Media's motive can't just be money. If the song had to play in an ad, that song should run in a Canadian company commercial.

BalanceofFood.com advertising coverage

The relatively low standards of North American fast food is the platform where Harvey's can brag about being the first national fast food chain to offer 100% Canadian beef in an angus burger with no antibiotics, steroids, or added hormones.

I haven't had a Harvey's burger for a very long time, mostly because I haven't found a location lately. I would likely want to find a place, such as one I found in Toronto, where I could get all of that AND have the burger cooked medium-rare (because they grind their own beef). In a pinch, I might try this burger.

At Wendy's Canada, you can get jalapenos, onion tanglers, and avocado on any dish. This concept is aimed at burgers but French fries with onion tanglers sounds really good. Onion tanglers look like what Americans would call onion strings. Cliff's Notes and Cole's Notes are the same idea but the former is American while the latter is Canadian. You can go over those notes while at Wendy's with a jalapeno burger.

videos credit: all the respective companies
photo credit: Choose.ca

What's Tempting: Free food if the food tastes good

Even when food is free food, there is an undercurrent of marketing to get you into a place to then get you to come back.

Thanks to the coverage in our sibling site, CanadianCrossing.com, we knew a certain Mexican-type restaurant chain was giving away free tacos earlier this week.

The marketing went deeper since people could get that free taco anytime on Tuesday if they ordered online or downloaded the app. You could get a free taco by coming into the store but only between 2 pm-6 pm local time. I sadly have the time and not the money to pull off this experiment.

The deal was for the regular version of a specific taco that features the word "locos" and a corporate cousin. The novelty of the nacho cheese outer shell ensured that there would be some taste in the snack.

The free deal got me into a Taco Bell for the first time in awhile. Would the deal get me to come back?

Celebrate National Doughnut Day by blowing off free donuts

The true price of 'free food'

I ate the free food

What is the price of free food?

We've dealt with the world of free food long ago. Our take on free food many years ago fit where we were in our own personal growth. We've debated about calories and the price of eating something only because the food is free.

This week's adventure was about the free part since finances are bad these days. I like tacos, but rarely go in a Taco Bell because their tacos don't have me running for the border.

The argument behind cheap fast food is that you don't get much but you don't pay much. Here is what you get for $1.99:

Beef ("beef"?), iceberg lettuce, and cheddar (?) cheese (hopefully) that is mild and without flavor.

The Doritos hard shell doesn't taste as good as an actual Doritos chip. The shell does technically have taste but not the whimsical nature of nacho cheese Doritos.

The supreme version is 60¢ extra with tomatoes and sour cream. The lettuce in the marketing picture is green (unlike the actual lettuce) so the tomatoes likely wouldn't match either. Sour cream helps if you have spice, something you won't find in the taco, even with mild sauce.

If you are starving, this is food. This taco has virtually no taste, Doritos shell or otherwise.

The most memorable sensation in eating the taco is the warmth from the "beef." The quality of this chain's food has come under criticism. We don't know the percentage of beef in its "beef."

Temptation of the Week: Doritos Tacos Locos

Stephen Colbert opens up can of sand as Taco Bell lawsuit gets more publicity

Taco Bell lawsuit, like the 'beef' at Taco Bell, may not have enough meat to it

Make Taco Bell disclose the true cost of its new $2 value meal

What's Tempting: Triple the steak

BalanceofFood.com fast food coverage

The taco al pastor that I see where I live is a very simple taco with the tortilla, marinated pork, cilantro, and onions. You get a lot more meat in the local version, plenty of cilantro and onion. Every bite has flavor. I'm neutral on cilantro and not crazy about raw onions. I will eat that taco any time and enjoy the experience because flavor is the key.

If your outer shell needs to be atypical to be somewhat "locos," then you have a problem with the quality and flavor of ingredients. By the way, you can get that al pastor taco for about the same price.

Good promotions only work if you can back up the product. Taco Bell fans can tell me that some of their products have flavor and even spice, more than the Doritos Locos Tacos, and they might be correct. I can only go based on what I saw and ate.

If I lost my taste buds and got them for free, I might eat a Doritos Locos Taco. Otherwise, I would be "locos" to pay for one.

photos credit: me

Ranking food and drink Super Bowl LIII ads

The Burger King Super Bowl ad used footage from the 1982 film 66 Scenes of America from Danish filmmaker Jørgen Leth. The fact that the Heinz ketchup doesn't pour well lends authenticity since Heinz promoted the thickness of its ketchup throughout the 1970s. The Whopper is also very minimalist, so if there are other ingredients, they aren't visible.

We are invited in the ad to #EatLikeAndy, which would be inviting if we could consume the product from that time. The bun Warhol eats likely didn't have high-fructose corn syrup and the ketchup would have been free of high-fructose corn syrup. That burger would taste better than the current model.

Leth said in an interview that Warhol initially suggested they use McDonald's.

Unlike most companies who use dead celebrities, you could likely conclude that Warhol would appreciate the idea of using the footage in an ad.

The target audience of younger people may not be that familiar with Warhol. If people are going to #EatLikeAndy, they will eat a small bite of a Whopper and not eat any other Burger King food.

---

Kristin Chenoweth was in the latest Avocados from Mexico ad with a reverse play on dog shows where human performed the tricks. The guacamole was incorporated in the ad unlike a lot of food ads. This ad was closer to the best than the worst of the Avocados from Mexico ads. The hard part is that avocados haven't looked as good in the stores and have gone up in price. Then again, the avocados I saw in the Santa Monica farmers market last week looked gorgeous. I would pay more to get the avocados of old.

Chenoweth added sparkle to the ad and nice on the part to have a female lead in the series of ads.

---

Super Bowl ads can be good to publicize a little known company. Devour frozen foods from Kraft Heinz have been around for about 3 years. That was literally news to me. The ad features a couple where the husband has turned into the "3-minute man" — a double entendre that ties into the food porn mentality of the company. The entrees are more exotic than typical frozen food.

The ad was rather good to spark curiosity. However, frozen food doesn't inspire food porn IRL.

---

Chance The Rapper combined with the Backstreet Boys to remake I Want It That Way for the new Flamin' Hot flavor for Doritos. I remembered the song but had to look up which boy group did the song. Yes, I recognized Chance better than the Backstreet Boys. Flamin' hot snacks have a certain niche appeal and this ad will help out that flavor. That said: Cheetos (fellow Frito-Lay product) does it pretty well. A good ad for the target audience for the product.

Super Bowl ad analysis in recent years

2018   2017   2016   2015   2014   2013   2011

Corn syrup came up in a non-food ad for Bud Light. The Budweiser product noted that Miller Lite and Coors Light had corn syrup while Bud Light did not. Corn syrup is different from high-fructose corn syrup but having corn syrup in a beer does seem odd. Then again, there are beers outside of the 3 listed options that taste better and don't have corn syrup.

---

Pringles had another stackables ad. The concept hasn't changed, incorporating jalapeno, cheddar, as well as sour cream and onion. The problem is that people aren't going to buy 3 different canisters to produce these combinations. The ad hits the target audience but will get lost in the wave of Super Bowl ads that were more clever.

---

Planters had a really good ad, complete with a Planters peanut-shaped vehicle and a funny Charlie Sheen cameo. Mr. Peanut saves a guy from eating kale chips, giving him mixed nuts. The only drawback was having Alex Rodriguez in the ad. Planters promotes protein; Rodriguez is known for (allegedly) using steroids. He didn't get strong (allegedly) from eating nuts. Rodriguez doesn't add anything to the ad and is a detriment.

---

Drink and candy ads were:

• Michael Bublé for Bubly. This felt like a spin-off on the Bai Super Bowl commercial with Justin Timberlake and Christopher Walken. The latter ad will be better remembered than the 2019 spin-off.
• The Bon & Viv Spiked Seltzer ad was a bit muddled in the beginning and kept thinking this was a goof ad. If this ad keeps running, the ad may improve with more visiblity.
• The Pepsi ad with Steve Carell, Cardi B, and Lil Jon fell within the Pepsi ad spectrum where the ad is about visual distractions. I've never seen a Pepsi ad to this day that reflects on the quality of the actual product. The commercial also likely suffered being at the end of the first quarter when people are running for the bathrooms.
• Christina Applegate was in a cute spot for the M&Ms chocolate bar. This ad actually incorporated the product since the M&Ms were stuck together in the chocolate bar. Was fun watching the actress who played Kelly Bundy be the mom. A good ad that will need more exposure in the coming weeks.

photo credit: Burger King

Ranking food and drink Super Bowl LII ads

Food advertisers aren't rising to the occasion for Super Bowl ads of late as we definitely saw last night during Super Bowl LII. Still, there were a few intriguing ads.

Avocadoes from Mexico had a nice comeback from last year. The secret society concept was adjusted to have a self-contained universe where they had everything they needed, including avocadoes from Mexico.

Someone discovers that the chips are not in the self-contained universe. Panic ensues. A woman at the buffet table points out that you don't need chips to enjoy avocadoes.

This ad was reasonably clever, and light years ahead of last year's ad. This ad also told us something about the product, a trait rarely found in a Super Bowl ad. Since most of the play of these ads is well past the date of the Super Bowl, the 2018 ad should have a larger impression through February and March.

Doritos Blaze gave us an idea of how hot their new chip flavor is in the taste spectrum. We don't know what kind of hot Blaze is but it's hot. Having Peter Dinklage mouth the rhymes of Busta Rhymes looks good in a Super Bowl ad but not sure how well the ad will translate beyond the days after Super Bowl LII. Consumers will have a basic idea about Doritos Blaze but may be more clueless about what make Mountain Dew Ice distinct. Morgan Freeman mouthing Missy Elliott was interesting to look at but might not play too well come late February.

Wendy's reminded us for the second year in a row that its beef is not frozen as opposed to McDonald's burgers being frozen. Pounding a point home can be a good way to use a Super Bowl ad but this difference may not be the reason why most people pick Wendy's over McDonald's. This ad was slightly better than last year's ad mostly because this year's edition didn't use a lame version of a classic rock song.

Bill Hader is not someone I would think of as being Super Bowl ad material, but the Pringles ad was pretty decent. Reminding consumers of the many flavors is a smart choice. The ad uses that variety to sell different flavors of the standard chip. The visual is also about the stacking of the chips, showcasing their unique shape. The ad should play better beyond the Super Bowl timeframe. The exotic flavors also appeal to younger audiences, a key snacking demographic.

Super Bowl ad analysis in recent years

2017   2016   2015   2014   2013   2011

Kraft had a nice ad that didn't mention food at all, but showed us how you family. There were a lot of endearing ads this year. The Kraft ad was very nice but could get easily lost behind ads such as the Hyundai one with cancer patients.

We won't spend too much time on ads that involved candy and soft drinks. The Danny DeVito M&Ms ad was clever and will last well beyond the Super Bowl. "Do you want to eat me?" might exist in your nightmares but you will remember.

The Coca-Cola ad was cute about different likes and loves, but this pattern neglects why someone would drink a Coca-Cola. The company might want to spend some money on that topic. That ad makes a lot more sense than what the company is doing to Diet Coke. The twisted mango ad might be the worst Super Bowl ad I've seen in awhile. The young woman didn't seem to understand what the product was, a similar thought to diet soft drink consumers everywhere. If your spokesperson is bored, trust that we are bored too.

videos credit: the companies behind the ads