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Thursday, May 1, 2025
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Quick Take: Superbowl Ads

ABOUT THE QUICK TAKE

Every Friday, the Quick Take columnists will offer their views on an issue of significance to American University. Notable members of the campus community will also be invited to contribute to this new feature. Suggestions for topics and other ideas from readers are welcome and encouraged, so please submit comments to edpage@theeagleonline.com.
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It's no secret that the commercials are just as much of a draw to the Super Bowl as the game itself. Who can forget the legends? Mean Joe Green and Coca-cola? The kid-Darth Vader? MJ and Larry Bird shoot for McDonald's? They stay with us forever. Our quick take columnists weigh in on their favorites (and least favorites) from this year.

Derek Siegel

Dog strikes back

Sarah Palazzolo

Go Home, GoDaddy


Dog strikes back

By Derek Siegel

One of my favorite commercials during this Super Bowl has to be the Volkswagen advertisement. Bolt (the dog) is lounging on the sofa when he hears a car zoom by. Enthusiastic, he races to the doggie door but can’t fit through. Bolt decides to lose weight and change his life around. He dedicates himself to fitness—treadmill, yoga, swimming. The next time that car drives by, Bolt slides right through the doggie door and charges down the street, keeping pace with the Volkswagen. He’s “back and better than ever.”

It’s a clever advertisement, drawing us in with the lovable character of Bolt. What a goof. And how many of us couldn’t stand to lose a few pounds or live a healthier lifestyle? We can sympathize with Bolt’s struggles.

On the other hand, it could be a social commentary on our obsession with health. We’ve become so fanatic that even our animals are self-conscious about their appearances.

The commercial’s not over. We’re then taken to a scene almost identical to that of the Cantina in Star Wars Episode IV. The various creatures are assembled around a big-screen TV and discuss the merits of the Volkswagen advertisement.

It’s very meta, which is in right now. Following in the lines of the Old Spice Guy and NBC comedies like 30 Rock and Community, the Volkswagen commercial interacts directly with the audience and is self-referential. Last year Volkswagen made a splash during the Super Bowl with an adorable advertisement featuring a boy dressed like Darth Vader. In this year’s commercial, one of the creatures compares Bolt to the mini-Darth Vader.

The name of the advertisement is The Dog Strikes Bag [á la Empire Strikes Back, Episode 5]. I haven’t even mentioned the six-minute The Making Of: The Dog Strikes Back Commercial uploaded onto YouTube by Volkswagen on February 2nd. Or Volkswagen’s other Ad, The Bark Side, uploaded on January 18th and featuring 11 dogs barking the Star Wars theme. All together, the three videos have scored 23 million views.

In an interview with the Huffington Post, business analyst Margaret Campbell explains that companies who leak their Super Bowl advertisements experience a noticeable increase in stock value for just receiving a coveted slot during the big game.

The verdict: As long as they get stockholders’ attention, Volkswagen ads are free to be strange nerd fantasies. And if we enjoy them, it’s just a plus.


Go Home, GoDaddy

By Sarah Palazzolo

I know what it means to get a first down and I fully understand the concepts of extra points, conversions, fumbles, fair catches, and flags on the field. But honestly I only watch the Super Bowl because I like sitting around with my friends and family eating nachos and yelling at the TV. There are no fights over the remote and no obsessive channel-juggling because no one wants to miss the commercials, always the primary topic of conversation long after the teams leave the field.

For years, my mom designed websites independently for different companies and organizations. I distinctly remember the GoDaddy commercial in 2005 – as do most people – but for different reasons. I was eleven years old, and my family was hosting a typical neighborhood tail-gating-from-the-living-room evening; people were wagering extra chores or increased allowances and shaking hands enthusiastically.

So when GoDaddy’s first Super Bowl ad in its history came on screen, our G-rated audience was stunned into silence. My dad reached for the remote, I remember, and my mom swore that day that she would close any accounts she had opened with the domain service.

Even after seven years of intermittent criticism, clearly GoDaddy hasn’t changed their advertising technique at all. This year they aired two different commercials: the painted nude model version and the Pussycat Dolls in the cloud version of their professional image.

Either the directors are passionately misogynistic and committed to their values regardless of customer dissatisfaction, or perceived customer dissatisfaction is not showing up in the numbers. I’m not sure which is more disturbing.

There is always a familiar outcry from female journalists immediately after the Super Bowl, but it would appear that the hyper-sexualized campaign has had negligible negative effects on GoDaddy’s customer base. And GoDaddy is currently the largest domain host on the web – which leads me to believe that unless GoDaddy’s entire constituency is male, people in general don’t care to what end the female body is exploited for capital gain.

Wait...people in general don’t care to what end the female body is exploited for capital gain? What?

I don’t know how to answer why this phenomena is happening, or why it is happening so silently. While it seems like just another Super Bowl commercial, and by now it’s far from the general public’s worries, it quietly reinforces an inexcusable trend of physical objectification. If it’s casual to buy bodies for marketing, is it equally casual to buy bodies for the multimillion dollar “adult entertainment” industry that enslaves and exploits humans, spreads disease and breaks relationships? Of course not - but that’s exactly what these seemingly inconsequential ads are saying. And the general public accepts.

I change the channel because I refuse to accept.


Section 202 hosts Connor Sturniolo and Gabrielle McNamee are joined by fellow Eagle staff member and phenomenal sports photographer, Josh Markowitz. Follow along as they discuss the United Football League and the benefits it provides for the world of professional football.


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