HERE’S THE SUPERBOWL AD that ran alongside my streaming service as I watched the New Orleans Saints run out a victory in Superbowl XLIV. It’s a product placement for Blacknight Solutions. NFL Fanhouse normally has all the advertisements that ran during the show. A lot of people in my Twitter stream liked the Simpson’s superbowl commercial. It featured a message set in the current economic doldrums. Monty Burns, America’s favorite sociopathic plutocrat, loses his entire fortune in a hilarious reposession/auction montage. The Doritos commercial was also good. A man fakes his own death for a casket with a TV and a ton of Doritos. Monster.com is a regular during Super Bowls. The 2010 advertisement featured a furry creature playing a fiddle in a variety of places. And Bridgestone wins thumbs-up with a Killer Whale. USA Today ran a live metric ofadvertisements as they ran. Betty White topped that poll with Doritas coming in second during the live game.

USA TODAY’s Ad Meter tracks the second-by-second responses of a panel of viewers to ads during the Super Bowl and ranks them from best to worst. You can watch the ads yourself, then weigh in with your opinion and rate the ads yourself from one to five stars. Chris Abraham makes good observations about placingadvertisements on the Super Bowl. As an American ex-pat, I miss these advertising extravaganzas and enjoy rewinding the ads, if only for a taste of American culture.