I believe there are very few things less effective than spending $2 million + on one 30 second Super Bowl advertisement. They are a complete waste of time and energy that could be better spent a thousand different ways – like actually making products and services worth talking about or improving customer service.
That’s why I think this quote from a Guardian article about a University of California Los Angeles brain scan study of Super Bowl ad effectiveness sums up not only most of the spots from last night, but the state of advertising in general (emphasis is mine):
The most ineffective ad was from Honda, which showed participants were less engaged during the ad than they were when they looked at a blank screen.