Super Bowl ads notebook: How do this year's ads rate?

— -- Here we go again! Yet another year of playing armchair quarterback when it comes to evaluating the Big Game's ads. Given the sour economic situation, I wonder if ad critics are going to be tougher than ever in judging the commercials. I'm sure the marketing chiefs that gave the go-ahead to spend $3 million for each 30-seconds of air time are going to be under more pressure than ever to show a return on investment. During the game, I'll post my own comments — as well as the feedback and questions of those who write in. Click here to send your question or comment.

NBC taps its stars for self-promotion

David Schwab, managing director of First Call — the celebrity consulting arm of marketing firm Octagon — was kind enough to detail many of the NBC show promos that ran during the Super Bowl. What he says on his blog: "To help celebrate NBC's first airing of the Super Bowl in more than a decade, the network reached out to a handful of their stars to film pieces that aired before and during the Game.

Some of the stars included late-night comics Jay Leno and Jimmy Fallon, Tina Fey and former Saturday Night Live star Will Ferrell. A few athletes also made an appearance on behalf of the network, such as Jerry Rice and John Elway for Heroes, and Jerome Bettis for Chuck ( Bettis is actually starring in tonight's episode). Channeling his 30 Rock Emmy Award-winning character, Alec Baldwin starred in a spot for NBC-owned online TV/film destination, Hulu.com."

Reader comment from Robert:

"Well I didn't see all the commercials as I was making dinner for the family. The worst ones I saw were for CareerBuilder … it reminded me of the Dippity Do styling gel commercials back in the 1960. Irritating BAD!"

Too much 'physical' humor?

It seems that much of the "physical" humor — which is very apparent in this year's ads — is offending some folks. I've been getting some comments such as the ads have "too much meaningless violence." Says another commenter: "I just have a real problem with violence being used to sell products & services…. We have enough hate and division in this country and do not need ads promoting more of the same."