Star power not enough this year in Super Bowl ads
— -- The days of Super Bowl ads littered with celebrities may be numbered. Celebs of various sorts showed up in 18 ads this year, but not one cracked the top five in USA TODAY's Ad Meter, an exclusive real-time consumer rating of the ads.
How celebrity ads ranked in the 2008 Ad Meter:
No. 7: Charlie Brown, Coca-Cola
No. 10: Naomi Campbell, SoBe Life Water
Supermodel Campbell, dancing to Michael Jackson's Thriller, was upstaged by gyrating lizards. The lizards also made some viewers think the ad was for Geico, which has a gecko mascot. "Geico has the lizard market cornered," says USA TODAY reader Michelle Couwenhoven. "SoBe not so much."
No. 13: Shaq, Glacéau Vitaminwater
Shaquille O'Neal looks huge. The horse looks tiny. But that one-trick pony of a sight gag didn't gallop Glacéau Vitaminwater — now a Coca-Cola brand — into Ad Meter's top 10.
Give Shaq some credit, though: No stunt doubles were used in the making of this ad, even though just about everyone involved (including maybe the horse) wanted to hire one.
"I'm an all-purpose man," O'Neal told USA TODAY. "I'm pretty good at riding the horse, being from Texas and all."
No. 16: Cooper/Simmons: Bridgestone
Let's see. Besides a raccoon or possum, what creatures might appear in the road in a night driver's headlights? A deer, of course — and rocker Alice Cooper, above, and exercise guru Richard Simmons. Ironically, Bridgestone scored far better — No. 3 — with an ad starring just forest critters screaming than it did with putting these celebs in the woods.
