Worst of Super Bowl 2012 ads: Audi's vampires, GoDaddy, Bud Light and more

Giants? Patriots? Eli Manning and Tom Brady? Yeah, they're on our TVs Sunday, but for a sizable portion of the audience watching Super Bowl XLVI, the commercials are just as big a draw as the game.

Advertisers ponied up as much as $3.5 million per 30-second spot on NBC's broadcast of the game, which will likely draw about 100 million viewers. Did they get their money's worth? Check back throughout the game for Zap2it's running commentary on the worst ads of Super Bowl Sunday.

Bud Light Platinum does not shimmer

For a company that prides itself on the cleverest of clever ads (too many to name), Bud Light Platinum had a perfect platform to launch its new product, just after the opening drive of the Super Bowl. But they laid an egg with a commercial that makes the beer with a higher alcohol content look like a science experiment.

-- David Eckstein






Audi: Vampires? Original

First off, it's stupid that vampires are bursting into dust at the visage of an Audi. Secondly, a vampires-centric commercial? What is this, 2008? This would've been cutting edge the last time these two teams matched up, perhaps.

-- Andrea Reiher




GoDaddy: We officially don't care anymore

It's been, what, like nine or 10 years since GoDaddy started using models and sex to sell its domain registry serivce? That means about eight or nine years of diminishing returns. Zzzzzzz.

-- Rick Porter




TaxACT: Free to pee

Last year's Darth Vader VW commercial proved that adorable children almost always win us over when it comes to ads. This year's TaxACT ad proved why we used the word "almost." Yeah, the kid was adorable. But really? Urinating in the pool was the best you could come up with? We don't want you people doing our taxes.

-- Carina Adly MacKenzie

-- David Eckstein




Fiat: No, we'll probably forget

We get that the Abarth is a higher-performance version of the Fiat 500, and we're sure it's quite zippy, as teeny-tiny cars go. But here's the thing -- it still looks like a Fiat, not a super hot, foam-stealing model. So, yeah, we're not sure we'll always remember this one.

-- Rick Porter




Toyota: Reinvent the script for this one

We have a feeling this ad will be one that lots of people remember -- for the poop-free baby time machines or rain that makes you skinny -- but just about no one remembers what product it was selling. In which case, whoops, Toyota Camry.

-- Rick Porter




Acura: Leno!

The aired version of Jerry Seinfeld's ad for the new Acura NSX actually wasn't bad. But its impact was lessened considerably by having already seen the longer, less tightly edited version online. You're supposed to release the director's cut after the original comes out, guys.

-- Rick Porter