An in-depth investigation of the broadcast’s best commercials

Every year, football enthusiasts gather for the Super Bowl, but unless your team is playing, the commercials often steal the show. Super Bowl XLVII was no different.

There was humor, controversy, cuteness, sex appeal and sentiment among this year’s advertisements. Some were better than others, but overall, they did not disappoint.

Let’s start with one of the most prominent Super Bowl advertisers: Budweiser. The Anheuser-Busch Company had the first commercial of the game and one of the most anticipated. Of course, it starred one of their signature Clydesdale horses.

It was a real tearjerker for animal lovers. In the commercial, a man visits Chicago and is reunited with the horse he raised.

But come on, these commercials are supposed to make us laugh, not cry – especially the beer commercials. Don’t get me wrong, it was cute and undoubtedly very popular, but Budweiser missed its target audience with this one.

GoDaddy.com is well known for their promiscuous commercials. While they did have one of the game’s "hottest" ads, they also premiered one that took a new direction.

When supermodel Bar Refaeli kissed the computer geek in Go Daddy’s first commercial, every guy in the room was watching. It definitely got people’s attention, but it was also overwhelmingly awkward. Sex appeal is one thing, but in this case, it was too much.

On the other hand, Go Daddy broke away from their usual with the "Big Idea" commercial. The intentionally cheesy ad features spokeswoman Danica Patrick as the pilot of a private jet, flying a couple who was lucky enough to register their idea on GoDaddy.com before other couples from around the globe with the same idea.

There were a number of Doritos ads in the midst of the commercials, none of which were worth noting. A pet goat that eats 156 bags of Doritos just isn’t that funny.

Volkswagen stirred up a lot of controversy with the endorsement of their 2013 Beetle. Many people called out Volkswagen for their Jamaican-themed commercial, including New York Times columnist Charles Blow who says it is "so racist" and "Blackface with voices."

However, the ad was created in good spirit and promoted upbeat feelings. Racist or not, get used to seeing this commercial, because it will be around for a while.

"We view it as a compliment," said Wykeham McNeill, Jamaica’s minister of tourism and entertainment. "People should get into their inner Jamaica and get happy."

Another big hit Sunday night was Taco Bell’s "gameday" commercial, in which a gang of elderly people get into some teenage antics, ending their night with a trip to the local Taco Bell. A Spanish version of Fun.’s popular tune "We Are Young" serves as background music to the group’s night out on the town. This one is definitely among the frontrunners for best commercial of the night.

Alongside Taco Bell for winning commercials was Samsung with their Galaxy ad, featuring Paul Rudd and Seth Rogen, and Skechers with their GOrun 2 shoes.

The former of the two relies on the comedic talents of Rudd and Rogen. While in the boardroom with a Samsung executive, they must come up with alternate names for the Baltimore Ravens, San Francisco 49ers and the Super Bowl itself. In the end, they refer to the teams as the Baltimore "Black Birds" and the San Francisco "50 minus 1ers." No surprise that two comedians help make this one of the funniest ads in this year’s Super Bowl.

As for the Skechers endorsement, a man saves a gazelle when he runs down a cheetah while wearing the new GOrun 2 shoes. After he hog-ties the cheetah, he winks at the gazelle, and the gazelle winks back. It seems like a simple concept, but there’s something about it that makes you laugh.

As usual, most of these commercials will soon be forgotten, but, overall, they were entertaining enough to keep most non-football fans interested in this year’s Super Bowl. After all, that’s what they’re supposed to do, right?