There are two kinds of people in this world. People who watch the Super Bowl for the football and people who watch for the commercials. Being one of those people who watch solely for the commercials, this year I was not impressed.  The majority of commercials played were just… lame. Maybe it’s because I’m a girl, but I don’t appreciate having a skinny, blonde woman wearing, well, lingerie try and sell me a crappy looking video game.

Don’t get me wrong, there were a few here and there that were actually pretty good. One that particularly stood out to me aired about halfway through the second quarter. This particular commercial’s purpose was to raise awareness about domestic violence and sexual abuse. It showed clips of a middle class house, but you could tell something was “off.” In the background you could hear the recording of a 9-1-1 call. A woman is pretending to place a pizza order call while talking to the 9-1-1 operator so her attacker is unaware of her calling for help.

This commercial made a big impact on me because of the cleverness on the woman’s behalf and because of the way it was portrayed on screen. If the producer of the commercial had wanted to, he could have made it as cheesy as the “Help, I’ve fallen and I can’t get up,” Life Alert commercials.

During the Super Bowl, my friend and I exchanged a few texts about the commercials we liked and didn’t like. One commercial we both agreed was touching and honestly adorable was a commercial for Budweiser. Starring in the ad was a brown horse and a golden retriever puppy. Cute animals running in slow motion, ears flapping up and down, side to side… who wouldn’t want to buy whatever they were selling? The guy that thought up that idea is probably feeling pretty smart right about now.

However, a couple of commercials will forever be imprinted in my mind, but not in a good way. One in particular was more tragic than the others- literally. Advertising Nationwide Insurance, the idea was basically this: most childhood deaths are preventable. It started with a boy talking about all of the things he won’t be able to do when he grows up, like “I’ll never learn to ride a bike,” or “I won’t ever get married.” The boy then goes on to say “I’ll never grow up because I died in an accident.” At first I was confused, but needless to say, I was shocked. I just didn’t expect it to end so… violently.

Maybe my expectations were too high, and maybe they just didn’t appeal to me much, but I probably won’t be watching the Super Bowl next year.