Superbowl Candy Commercials

I have to be honest with you, I generally don't watch the Superbowl. I don't watch the halftime show, I don't watch the commercials, and I most certainly don't watch the game.  It's not that I don't like sports, in fact I really enjoy watching basketball and baseball, I just don't like the idea that one game can determine the outcome for an entire year.  I also don't like the commercials because I live in Canada and they don't play those amazing American commercials here, we get low budget Canadian ones.  I don't watch the halftime show because then I'd have to watch the game and the low budget Canadian commercials to know when that happens.

Having said all of that, every year, the day after the game, I go through YouTube and watch some of the commercials.  I have three categories of Superbowl commercials that I watch. I watch any trailers for upcoming TV shows or movies that I'm interested in (as a side note, really excited about Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2). I also watch the commercials that everybody is talking about, not that many this year to be honest.  Finally I watch all of the candy related commercials, which I'm going to share with you right now.

This year there weren't that many candy commercials, or at least not many that I could find.  Worst of all it seemed to be the same brands that have commercials every year.  Just once I'd like to see a Hershey Bar or Gummy Bear commercial.  Better yet, if they ever bring back Runts Candy, they should introduce it with a Superbowl spot.  This year there were two candy commercials, and an interesting cola commercial that I feel suit being posted on this blog.

Surprisingly, or not at all, the folks at Skittles decided to do a weird commercial.  This seems to be a trend with them, and I'm not sure why.  It's become so common place for Skittles commercials to be weird, that it's not weird anymore.  I think to surprise us, one year they should just do a normal commercial, with nothing weird at all, now that would be shocking.


I imagine that this Snickers commercial might have been more entertaining if you were watching it while the game was on, because it has details about the game live.  That would have made this kind of funny.  Watching after the game, having not watched it at all, it just seems a little weird, but not weird like the Skittle commercial.

As a Canadian I can't say that this commercial made me feel any kind of patriotism, but I'm guessing it's not supposed to.  This is in fact a jab at Trump, and the current American governments stance on immigration. Unfortunately it appears that Trump was actually at the game, so he likely didn't see it, unless he reads this blog, which is very doubtful. So it's a pretty commercial, with a message for people other than myself.

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Candy In The Media - Super Bowl Edition

It's that time of year again, time to look at some of the most expensive commercials of the year.  The Super Bowl has for years been the place where big budget commercials set the tone for the rest of the year.  I like to compile all of the snack/candy commercials together, to see how the advertisers are spending the loads of money that I spend on snacks annually.  Unfortunately, this year I had a hard time finding any "great" ads.  The Coke ad above was OK, at the very least it had a nice message.


Doritos hit us this year with three ads.  I'm getting a little sick of their style of advertising to be honest.  While these ads were clever a few years back, now they're just cliche.  The creative spark that was Doritos Super Bowl commercials of the past, are just boring today.





This Skittles commercial is also lacking in creativity as well. I like a clever ad like the next guy, but this one is just weird for weird sake.  It's about time Skittles dumped this "Taste the Rainbow" campaign and found something new.  It's an awesome candy that has a great deal of advertising potential, I just don't think they're using it.

This Snickers commercial is probably my favorite this year.  While it's still using the campaign that they introduced last year, they cleverly re-packaged it with a retro twist.  I'll give them a pass this year, but they better have something different next year.

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A Cool Candy Thing

I love ice cream.  Sports I'm not such a fan of, more to the point, I'm not very good at sports.  The idea of having to play a game of catch with someone to get some ice cream seems a little too sporty for me, but the idea that by throwing around a ball full of cream that will magically turn into ice cream is a little more interesting.  While I may not be a jock, I do love science.

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Classic/Creative Candy Advertisement

If anybody knows what the text on this advertisement says, I'd be very interested to know.  Is it something about being extra manly, or does it have something to do with Snickers being distracting?  While I do enjoy a Snickers bar, I can't say that it's ever made me feel brave enough to take a soccer ball to the groin.

I found this ad here.

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Gummy Bears Don't Play Nice

Gummy Bear Tug-of-War Tees by candycritic
Make unique customizable tee shirts online at Zazzle.

This is one of the first gummy bear themed t-shirts that I'd ever designed, and since then I've designed several more.  But while looking back at these two bears playing tug-or-war, it got me thinking.  Maybe I should design a series of t-shirts featuring gummy bears playing various sports.

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Stuff I Want To Try

Sports Beans - Jelly Belly - If I ever decide to start weight lifting, I know I don't have to stop eating Jelly Bellies. - Click here to learn more about this treat.

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This Week In Candy

Well today is a day of good and bad news for me.  First the good news, it appears that team Canada has won the gold medals in hockey, and placed third in overall medals.  I'm a proud Canadian, so it brings a twinge of pride to me, and also makes me crave Tim Hortons for some reason.  Sadly however my week is, and probably won't be perfect.

I had grand plans this week, it was to be a week of writing, posting, and general candy fun times.  Then it hit me... a cold.  I'm presently wrapped up in a blanket playing games on my tablet and napping a lot.  When this sort of thing happens, my weekly candy review update (that was posted this morning) comes from a collection of candy reviews that I keep on hand.  That's right, I have reviewed several treats in advance, just in case I'm unable to write a review on (or close to) Monday.  Now I'm going to go back to bed with a warm cup of chicken noodle soup.

Don't worry about me being sick, I'll still be posting regularly this week.  I can't foresee any bonus articles this week, unless I discover an amazing cure for the cold in candy form.  Having said that, if any candy companies out there have said cure, sending it to me now will guarantee many posts extolling the virtues of your amazing cure for the cold candy.

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Milk Chocolate Review-A-Thon Entry For The Opening Ceremonies

I've been spending the last few days talking about all of the other aspects of these wonderful Ritter Sport bars, but today, I'm just going to talk about sports.  I'm a big fan of the Olympics, and even though there's a lot of controversy going on right now, let us not forget about the athletes that have trained their whole lives to get to these games.  Tonight I'm going to sit by the television (with friends) and cheer on my fellow Canadians as they walk into the stadium to compete.  They say that Canada has good odds at placing in the top 3 countries for medals this year, so GO CANADA GO!!!

Click here to read today's Ritter Sport review, then find a flag and cheer on your country.

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Classic/Creative Candy Advertising

I think this advertisement deserves the award for "the most unlikely to be actually shot on a ski hill".  While little clues like the cheesy background, and the strange way the snow is sticking to them, is a bit of a give-away.  I think the most convincing thing that tells me that they're not really on a ski hill is their form.  I haven't gone skiing in a few years, but I'm pretty sure I didn't look like this.  I find it pretty amazing that an art director at an advertising agency actually took this picture and said "this is what I believe represents winter".

I found this ad here.

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Classic/Creative Candy Advertising

Jason Soy created this fictional advertisement, and designed what I can only describe as the greatest idea ever for a piece of sporting equipment.  I think more items of clothing should have places to put your chocolate bars.

Click here to read more about Jason's concept.

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A Cool Candy Thing

There are two things that I consider myself to be good at, eating candy and playing foosball.  I've been doing both of these things since I was a child.  Eating candy came naturally to me, playing foosball involved a few years of training at a boys and girls club in downtown Toronto.  At this point these two things are the only things I can claim that I'm probably more of an expert than most.  You can imagine why this foosball table would appeal to me.

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Stuff I Want To Try

Yankees-Licensed Ring Pops - Bazooka -I'm not a huge Yankees fan, so I may wait till they make a Toronto Blue Jays Ring Pop. - Click here to learn more about this treat.

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International Retro Candy Commercials - Part 3 - Indai

I'm sure if I understood the basic rules of Cricket this commercial would make a little more sense... Well maybe not.  I must say it is both sweet, and really strange to me all at the same time, that's a pretty great accomplishment in my book.

All this week I'm posting videos featuring retro candy commercials from all over the world.

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Friday's Candy Video - The Coolest Pinata Destruction Ever

This clip of Matt Cain (a major league pitcher) and the gang from Myth Busters, throwing baseballs with amazing accuracy is something to watch, but the finally with a pinata makes it Candy Critic approved.

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Monday's Candy Links

I have a new obsession with sliced bread, and now I know the origins behind it.

Free sports tickets in candy bars, it's like touring Willy Wonka's factory only with hooligans, hot dogs, and beer.

Are you a kid thinking of stealing candy from a candy shop, well, you suck, and now you'll probably get caught too.

Does marijuana and candy make a good mix, not according to the authorities in San Francisco.

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Stuff I Want To Try

Sugarpova Candy  - ? - I'm assuming that tennis players are experts in candy, it only makes sense. - Click here to learn more about this treat.

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Classic/Creative Candy Advertising - Olympic Fever

During the run up to the Olympics, many companies  sponsor athletes, including many candy companies.  Some people think that these sponsors are just interested in the promotion, but when I volunteered for the Special Olympics a few years back, I can tell you that many  sponsors  do it because they want to help.

As usual, I found this ad on Vintage Ad Browser.

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Soccer Chocolate Challenge

Football (or as they call it in North America soccer) is a pretty big deal here in Greece.  They love the sport and the fanaticism for the local teams is overwhelming.  In Athens (where I live) there are three main teams, and the whole city is divided as to which team to root for.  Since arriving I've been pressured by many friends to choose a team, and I better choose correctly.  I've decided that as the Candy Critic, I should let candy make that choice for me.  Each team has an official candy bar, each decorated in team colours.  So I'm going to choose my team based on which bar I prefer.  I'm well aware that these bars might in fact be exactly the same, if that's the case, I'm going to skip the idea of following any team and just cheer on the national basketball team instead.

Olympiacos - Olympiacos is the most successful club in Greek football history, having won 38 League titles, 24 Greek Cups and 4 Greek Super Cups, more titles than any other Greek team and it is one of four teams that have never been relegated from the first division (Wikipedia). Chocolate wise I can't say that Olympiacos couldn't win any candy championships at all. I would like to call this bar a "chocolate" bar, but that's being too kind, it's more like a brown piece of wax that has a slight chocolate flavour.  Unless the other two bars actually make me ill, I can't see this bar winning.

Panathinaikos - Founded in 1908, they play in the Super League Greece and are one of the oldest and most successful clubs in Greek football history (Wikipedia).  This competition is not looking good at all.  I won't say that the Panathinaikos bar is worse than the Olympiacos bar, but it's certainly no better.  Cheap chocolate with no flavour, this is not a good day to be a soccer fan in Greece.

AEK Athlitiki Enosis Konstantinoupoleos (the Athletic Union of Constantinople) - Established in Athens in 1924 by Greek refugees from Constantinople in the wake of the Greco-Turkish War, AEK has grown to become a fairly successful club in Greek football, winning 30 national titles (Wikipedia).  You can say that you learned a few things about Greek soccer today.  You learned a few statistics from three of the most popular soccer teams in Athens, and you also learned that each team allows their names to be associated with very low quality products.  This bar, was exactly like the first two, and all of them were absolutely horrible.  It's a shame that these teams don't take their licencing a little more seriously.  If one of them had worried about quality they would have gained a fan today.  Instead the Greek national basketball team has one a new fan.  That is unless they also produce low quality chocolate treats, in that case I may have to turn to cricket instead.

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Babe Ruth Commercial

This commercial is a little confusing.  It's confusing because when the Baby Ruth first came out, in an attempt to not get sued, they claimed that they got their name from a former presidents daughter rather than the baseball player.  Then, several years later, they make this commercial.  It basically says, we at Baby Ruth don't believe that story we told you when we first came out either.

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Tuesday's Candy Links

Sports and candy can't play together at Sports Authority, as they're removing all "unhealthy" foods from their shelves.

Tobago Estate Chocolate wins top award for great chocolate, maybe I should have made this a "Stuff I Want To Try" post instead.

More good news about chocolate, it lowers stroke and heart risk too.

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