Jon Morris had a hard time choosing his favorite Super Bowl commercial.
It's not that the advertising professor was struggling between contending favorites but that many of the ads weren't effective.
His immediate choice was the Go Daddy line of commercials, in which buxom women try to sell Web site space.
But after reviewing a dozen of them, he settled on the Taco Bell ad, where a party guy tries to go from first call to parent introduction in the span of a few seconds with a girl he just met.
"It's almost like they're trying too hard," said Jon D. Morris, a professor of advertising at UF. "They can't just do it naturally."
Ads that avoid creative risk have led to a relatively forgettable batch of Super Bowl commercials, Morris said.
"Part of it is that clients are slipping," he said. "They aren't willing to take a chance."
But he isn't surprised that advertisers still spend record amounts on commercials despite the economic downturn, he said.
"To me, it's not an expense," he said. "It's an investment."
During an economic downturn, it's better to invest more to attract customers, Morris said.
UF graduate West Bowers had a hard time remembering the commercials, too, but decided that the Conan O'Brien Budweiser ad was his favorite.
"They're trying to appeal to smarter consumers," Bowers said, "making them feel like they're in on the joke."
In the ad, O'Brien's agent tricks him into wearing bunny ears and a red mesh top for a commercial that he was told would only air in Sweden.
Advertisers play to a crowd who wants to feel more sophisticated, he said.
But some of the standard commercials, such as those from Budweiser, failed to impress him.
"I gotta say, I'm sick of the Clydesdales," he said.
