UNT alum Mean Joe Greene in an unforgettable Super Bowl commercial
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By Tina Auten, Staff Writer
Over thebryears Super Bowl Sunday has become more than a tradition in American culture –brit has very nearly become elevated to holiday status. Fans gather across the nation in sports bars,brrestaurants and living rooms to eat, drink, socialize, and yes, watch a littlebrbit of football.
Withbrmillions of viewers glued to the television, advertisers have come to enjoy abrcaptive audience and expend an extraordinary amount of creativity; energy andbrmoney to insure their products are remembered long after the clock runsbrout. In turn, viewers have come to lookbrforward to commercial breaks with almost as much enthusiasm as they do cheeringbr(or booing) the men on the field.
Here's abrlook back at our top picks for all-time great Super Bowl Commercials:
Budweiser, Clydesdales Playing Football – Showcasing America’s favorite equines as footballbrplayers and a zebra as a referee in 2003 became an instant classic.
McDonald's, The Showdown – In the best display of one-upmanship, NBAbrgreats Larry Bird and Michael Jordan played for, of all things, a Big Mac.
Coca-Cola, Mean Joe Greene – This sentimental favorite from 1980 showsbrtough guy Mean Joe Greene’s softer side as he tosses a kid his jersey afterbrbeing given a cold Coca-Cola. Beforebrdonning a Steeler uniform, Greene was a powerhouse at North Texas StatebrUniversity (now UNT) where he earned his signature nickname.
Budweiser, Frogs – Who can forget this timeless pick from 1995bras croaking frogs say “Bud… Weis… Errrrr”? For months after, kids and adultsbralike walked around croaking like frogs.
Apple, “1984” – Perhaps one of the most thought provokingbrSuper Bowl commercials of all time, the 1984 Apple commercial which introducedbrthe Macintosh is largely considered to be the greatest Super Bowl spot ever. We happen to agree.
And forbrthose of you who just can't wait to see Sunday's crop of highly anticipatedbrSuper Bowl commercials, we've got a sneak peek at 2013.