When Caty Mills was a little girl, she had a couple of imaginary friends named Tony and Oscar. See, Caty dreamed of being on stage and on the silver screen.

Genius. Riveting. Pure ‘Merica. Those are adjectives used to describe the spectacle I watched on Super Bowl Sunday. There were touchdowns, shameless commercials and some edge-of-your-seat, heart-wrenching stories. I am talking, of course, about Puppy Bowl XIII: Team Ruff vs Team Fluff.

I’ve always wondered why Pepsi continually sponsors the Super Bowl Halftime show. Admittedly, I’m usually switching over to the Puppy Bowl to see if the littlest button-cute critter can rumble to a TD and into our collective hearts. 

Fox’s advertising guidelines state that the network does not allow advertisers to use airtime to address controversial issues. That guideline was apparently moot during last night’s game. Political undertones were ubiquitous during commercial breaks, with ads focusing on women’s rights, diversity, the environment and immigration.

Snickers is the best-selling candy bar on planet Earth. So it's fitting that parent company Mars cooked up a Super Bowl campaign of interplanetary proportions for its mega-selling glob of chocolate gluttony.

It seems this year’s Super Bowl commercials fell into one of two categories: politically driven or just plain dumb. Ads like Budweiser’s “Born the Hard Way” and 84 Lumber’s “Complete the Journey” hit hard on immigration. Audi focused on their commitment to equal pay for women. And Airbnb reflected on their commitment to accepting everybody, no matter your race, nationality or religion.

Yesterday, KFC aired their first-ever Super Bowl ad. In honor of the occasion, they had two colonels on hand (Billy Zane and Rob Riggle) to help spread the word about their new Georgia Gold chicken. Zane was introduced as KFC’s newest colonel in late January, just weeks before the Super Bowl. If you’re like most people, you didn’t recognize Zane, as his entire body was covered in gold. But even without the paint, you still might not recognize him. (He was the bad guy on the Titanic.)

Wendy’s made its first Super Bowl buy since 1984's
"Where's the Beef?", and you never knew you didn’t care so much about fresh beef. Frankly, I feel personally attacked for having frozen hamburger patties in my freezer and not hating it. We’re monsters, America! These ground-up cows deserve better.

Perseverance, strength, determination and passion are all part of the American Dream, right? A dream that just about everyone in the world can connect with regardless of where they live. That dream is portrayed in Budweiser’s most recent Super Bowl ad, “Born the Hard Way,” which tells the story of founder Adolphus Busch and his journey to America from Germany. The ad artfully portrays the trials a young Busch may have overcome, from fiery ships to unwelcoming American citizens, and eventually to a chance encounter with future business partner Eberhard Anheuser. Though the ad includes replicas of Busch’s notebook and is as historically accurate as possible, the story itself of Busch and Anheuser meeting isn’t exactly the way the true story unfolded. Regardless, it does a great job of resonating with viewers and engaging them in a beautiful story about a brand’s rich history. 

During the 4^th quarter of Sunday’s Big Game, King’s Hawaiian took a stab at the big time and ponied up 5 million big ones to extend their brand and introduce a new product. As much as I’m dying to say this was a home run, err, a touchdown, I’ll skip the tacky clichés and just call this piece what it was — every bit as sweet and savory as their rolls with a slice of leftover turkey and some cranberry sauce the day after Thanksgiving!

Most people seek out the funniest, raunchiest, most celeb-crazed Super Bowl commercials when it comes to naming favorites. But what did it for me this year was an ad that didn’t even air during the game.

Similar to cleaning at my house, when I tried to breakdown the Mr. Clean Super Bowl commercial, I asked myself, “Geez, where should I begin?”