SalesGenie, what were you thinking?

So I watched the Superbowl yesterday - and actually got into it. That's kind of big, because I don't follow football at all, and can probably count the number of Superbowls I've really sat down and watched on one hand, even if I was missing 3 fingers. But apparently boys like football, and this boy I'm with now really likes football (he love love loves the 49ers, which makes for some sad Sunday afternoons, but at least they won the game I got him tickets to (their last game, against the Bengals)!), so I've watched way more football the past 6 months than I have in all my life previously. At any rate, I think I'm actually starting to appreciate football a little more now, though I still wonder why they always run straight into the pack.

While the football connoisseurs out there chuckle at my naivete, let me turn to the other reason many people watch the Superbowl - the ads. If you watched any of them, I'm sure we'd agree that they were supremely disappointing this year. Budweiser, come on. Maybe instead of making 3 terrible ads you could've made 1 halfway decent ad. Careerbuilder.com - I could've done without the bloody heart bursting out of the woman's chest. Probably more than half of the ads had nothing to do with the product and were simply attempts at memorable skits that mostly succeeded in being dumb or boring. But the ones that really made my eyes widen were the cartoon ads for SalesGenie.com.

Ad #1: Caucasian supervisor dude tells "Ramesh" his numbers aren't looking so hot. Ramesh contemplates his options in a "Kwik-E-mart" accent. Oh look, SalesGenie.com helps him do a better job so he can feed his fobby immigrant wife and 7 kids!

Ad #2: A couple of pandas are having trouble with their bamboo sales or something ridiculous. Guess what! Their names are Ching Ching and Ling Ling! They proceed to chatter using heavy Asian accents. Oh look, SalesGenie.com helps them sell more bamboo so they don't have to go back to the zoo!

The fact that I never see commercials this racist on regular TV makes it all the more astonishing that they were allowed to air during the Superbowl. Did no one screen the ads first? Do they just assume that if a company is willing to spend $50 million for 30 seconds of airtime, they must be good commercials? (Well, we already know the answer to that one.)

Thank goodness the game itself was exciting this year. I mean, the Pats vs. the Giants? Arguably my two home teams (assuming I cared about that growing up) - who would I root for? I spent 4 years in the Boston/Providence area, but grew up in New Jersey, plus it's cooler to root for the underdog, so Giants it was. Who would've thought they'd actually end up winning??

I know a guy who flew to Vegas to bet $25,000 on the spread. Let's ignore the fact that that's my yearly income (woot, grad student stipends...). He must've had the night of his life!