The Super Bowl television advertisements weren’t just bad this year. They left an odor.

An effective ad should be clever, simple and, yeah, a bit edgy.  

1975: A Coca-Cola  commercial featuring Mean Joe Greene and the kid.

2004: Computer Generated Imagery allows Jimi Hendrix to stroll down the street when two soda machines catch his eye: one for Coke, the other Pepsi. Purple Haze begins to play, Jimi chooses Pepsi, and the rest is history.

Annually, Clydesdales are cleverly-used to sell Budweiser. Let’s not forget 1995’s Budweiser frogs and the 2001 “wassup” guys. All simple and effective. We remember them because of that very reason. 

Unfortunately, this year’s ads were not funny, witty, or special. They were: way too busy and haphazard.

Often, you didn’t know what they were selling. Exhibit A: Google’s Gemini ad. With rare exception, depicting cute babies in commercials works every time. But this one back-flipped into the shallow end of the crib. Were they selling furnishings for the kid’s bedroom? Or backyard garden equipment? The point isn’t quite clear. The E*trade babies would be aghast at these imposters.

Svedka Vodka. Anybody catch this nightmare? There is an AI fembot, and an eerie-looking male robot. His extra arm pops out and the drink drains from his jaw and into his neck. It seems like the Artificial Intelligence tool used to make the ad was unable to access  Anatomy-101 online. This was something out of a bad monster movie. Awful.

Bud Light. You’d expect a classy hacienda wedding with Peyton Manning to serve something fancy. But this Bud’s not for you. Rather, it turns it into a bad kegger. The long, slo-mo slapstick down the hill didn’t hit the mark. It’s basic bro humor. We expect better from this brand.

The Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Center ad featuring Mike Tyson as the pitchman was a bit creepy. Not so much the message, but how Iron Mike delivered it. He certainly looked voracious biting into an apple while body-shaming others. The shots were too tight and too close.

Some were just plain dull. Like Coinbase. Was this thing created on an iPhone 7? Text-only on a blue background, nobody knows what Coinbase is and frankly, I’ve yet to meet the person who can tell me in a sentence what Crypto does. F.

The Fanatics Sportsbook ad with Kendell Jenner: Yikes. Her making fun of herself was OK, but I do not need to be reminded how rich she is. The fake smiles didn’t help. Sorry, a Cindy Crawford she is not.

The best one of the entire group? Dunkin Donuts, “Good Will Dunkin” 1990’s-themed send up wins it easily, hands down. The A-list cast worked beautifully. They dialed in key characters from Friends, Seinfeld, Family Matters, Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Family Matters, and Cheers . Simple. Effective. Surprising. Funny. 

Runner-up: The Levi’s backside ad. An iconic Americana staple that focused on brand equity – and a range of derrieres to cement the deal.

Perhaps one day the Mad Men and Women will again grace us with Don Draper-creativity that will return us to the innovative genius of Doritos, Go-Daddy, and E*Trade Babies of the past.

This year’s efforts fell short.