Super Bowl Ads Score With Upbeat Humor

Coke topped Pepsi thanks to Charlie Brown, Budweiser’s Hank the Horse made viewers cry, and Tide to Go’s talking coffee stain scored the second-biggest upset of Super Bowl XLII. Madison Avenue outpaced expectations in the annual adfest that accompanies the NFL’s title game, reports the Wall Street Journal. The New York Times notes the agreeably lighter tone of this year's crop.

Best car ad goes to Audi's Godfather spoof with a mogul waking up to find a severed sports car grille in his bed. FedEx swooped in with a winner featuring massive carrier pigeons that fail as substitutes for the delivery giant. Bud Light scored with a fire-breathing Romeo who set his date’s cat and house on fire. An ad for Planters Nuts, featuring a homely girl who drives men wild with the smell of cashews, was one of a handful by rookie agencies that excelled, notes the AP. (More Super Bowl XLII stories.)