In the ad, a Chevy truck emerges from the rubble with driver and dog intact, to the strains of Looks Like We Made It. The duo meets up with three other Chevy pickup drivers, who share Twinkies and lament the fate of their Ford-owning friend, Dave:

Aside from some odd details (I was amused by the shot of a newspaper headline, a likely source of satisfaction from my colleagues in the beleaguered print media), my overall impression of the spot was that, aside from the obvious message about the trucks’ durability, Chevy seemed to be promising its customers a short post-apocalyptic life consisting of, at best, fruitless masturbation, a diet of frog’s legs and Twinkies, and hours of fun keeping that dog at bay when the Kibbles and Bits run out. If Ford were really smart, they’d respond with an ad showing Ford owners in an underground bunker, happily repopulating the planet.

Instead, they first tried to get GM to kill the ad, and to get NBC to yank the spot from the broadcast. Here’s the response from a GM spokesman:

“We stand by our claims in the commercial, that the Silverado is the most dependable, longest-lasting full-size pickup on the road,” said GM Global Chief Marketing Officer Joel Ewanick in a press release. “We can wait until the world ends, and if we need to, we will apologize. In the meantime, people who are really worried about the Mayan calendar coming true should buy a Silverado right away.”

You wouldn’t think it possible to challenge the claim that a product is better able to withstand the end of the world than another, but that’s what Ford is doing:

Chevrolet’s “longest lasting, most dependable” claim is, to the extent it is legitimate, based entirely on longevity (as measured by full-size pickup registrations from 1981 to July 2011). However, the commercial, from its use of “Looks Like We Made It” to its reference to Dave’s tragic demise, communicates something very different – that the Silverado is safer and more durable than any Ford pickup truck. These two messages are entirely unsupported. With respect to durability, research from R. L. Polk & Co. shows that Ford has considerably more trucks on the road with over 250,000 miles than does Chevrolet, thereby demonstrating that Ford’s trucks are more durable than those manufactured by Chevrolet. As to the issue of safety, the 2012 Ford F-150 is an IIHS Top Safety pick, whereas the 2012 Chevy Silverado is not – having received less than impressive results in the IIHS side impact, rear crash and rollover tests. In light of the foregoing, Chevrolet has no basis to imply that the Silverado is either safer or more durable than Ford’s pickup trucks, yet that false claim is precisely what is conveyed to the consumer.

As any post-apocalyptic survivor can tell you, side-impact performance is crucial. That’s where the inexorable rain of fire and ash always gets you.

All kidding aside, Ford has put all kidding aside here, and whipped out the legalese:

It is black letter advertising law that “expressly or implicitly disparaging claims can damage a product’s market share and, therefore, [] such claims [must be] truthful, accurate and narrowly drawn.” See The Procter & Gamble Co. (Swiffer Dusters), NAD Case #4226 (9/14/04). As noted above, Chevrolet’s claims are neither truthful nor accurate. Thus, Chevrolet has absolutely no basis to disparagingly imply that, in the event of a catastrophic event, Ford’s pickup trucks and their respective owners will be reduced to ashes.

I’m no advertising lawyer, so maybe I’m easily impressed by such chapter-and-verse. Time will tell if this actually goes anywhere, but if Chevy’s ad tells us anything, it’s that even if the courts don’t grant Ford any relief, it’s not the end of the world.

Hannity, who today welcomed to the panel Marc Thiessen, Nina Easton and Greg Gutfeld, began the discussion with a look at what the White House served for Super Bowl Sunday. The list included potatoes, ice cream, chips and multiple types of dip, and a fair variety of beer. This upset Hannity greatly, as he complained that “we can’t even have salt” according to the First Lady’s health food initiatives, but, he continued, the White House seemed comfortable with fatty food. Easton quipped to Hannity that, “if [Michelle Obama] had arugula and goat cheese, you would’ve had a field day”– a premise on which Gutfeld kept building, imagining the menu to be a product of the President’s fear that, had the First Lady served health foods, “I will be crucified by Sean Hannity.” Thiessen, on his part, joked that “a healthy Super Bowl party is unamerican.”

The panel then took a look at several ads, including the mini-Darth Vader Volkswagen commercial, the Detroit-centric Chevrolet commercial starring Eminem, and the Doritos dog act. The first of these terrified Gutfeld, who argued that, if a “maniacal murderer” like Darth Vader could be cute because he was “tiny,” the same could be said of any dictator (Easton took the bait on this one, objecting to the idea that little boys could not be adorable). Hannity praised both the Chevrolet model Eminem advertised as well as the commercial. “Last time I was in Detroit, it broke my heart,” he noted, finding the message positive. To this Gutfeld quipped that “if you like that car, Eminem should not like that car,” insisting that he should be “riding a Harley” or a cooler model vehicle.

Finally, the crew took to politics, with Hannity expressing disappointment at President Obama’s answers to his colleague Bill O’Reilly during the pregame interview yesterday. Thiessen in particular agreed, arguing that Ronald Reagan had helped “friendly” dictators transition out of power, “we’ve done this before,” and he wondered what is taking so long between Obama and Egyptian leader.

The discussion from tonight’s Hannity via Fox News below:

Beck mocked NOW’s “outrage” over the Tim Tebow ad — they apparently think Tebow tackling his mother glorifies violence against women. Which yes, seem like a bit of misplacement of resources. Beck followed up by wondering where was the outrage over Betty White’s ad?! Says Beck: “It’s not just violence against women, it’s violence again old women! Why the hate from NOW?” Or ball-busting ones, depending.

But the ad that really got under Beck’s skin was the $2.5 million Census advertisement paid for by the U.S. government. Money wasted!, says Beck, particularly from a president who likes to lecture us about fiscal responsibility.

“Do we really have to listen to this president preach to us about fiscal responsibility, maybe it’s just me but I think that’s a little like abstinence-only education taught by Tiger Woods. But what do I know. President Obama is a lot of smart things: he’s accomplished, he’s good-looking, he gives good speeches, he’s married to a woman with unbelievably well-toned arms, I hear. But he’s as fiscally responsible as a real housewife of Orange County at a Louis Vuitton sample sale.”

Video below. Later in the show, which was filmed in California (Beck is there for his “Bold and Fresh” tour with Bill O’Reilly) Beck talked very reasonably with both California GOP Senate hopefuls Carly Fiorina (she of the demon sheep ad) and Chuck DeVore (though, not at the same time), which makes me wonder whether more candidates hoping to share a slice of the Beck popularity won’t be knocking on his door in the months to come.

Deutsch was fairly frustrated with what he saw as a universal assumption on the part of advertisers that all ads must appeal to the least common denominator of intelligence if they are to succeed. Ironically, he argued, the most memorable ads the next day are the smartest ones. “I’m so tired of men behaving badly,” he said. “I think there were nine ads with men in their underwear… it was just men acting like idiots. It’s like the year of the stupid male. We’ve got to stop doing that.” On whether the ads are the result of focus groups responding positively to them, Deutsch made the astute point that perhaps this was a result of the companies misinterpreting what a “positive” response to an ad is– guffawing at yourself for 30 seconds should not be considered a better response than being forced to think about the product for an extended period of time, and perhaps this is what companies are up to.

But not all was gloom and doom and partial male nudity. Deutsch’s agency, Deutsch Incorporated, was responsible for two spots during last night’s game that appealed to American cultural sensibilities without using shirtless men to elicit laughter: a Dr. Pepper ad featuring a miniature version of the band Kiss and a series of people playing punch-buggy to advertise Volkswagen. And, of course, there was praise all around for CBS’ Late Show ad featuring David Letterman and Jay Leno forced to interact at Oprah Winfrey‘s Super Bowl party and Google’s spot on finding love in Paris. Watch Deutsch’s Morning Joe appearance below:

Snicker’s “Playing Like Betty White”

CareerBuilder.com’s “Casual Days At The Office”

>>>Next up, Two great Coke ads>>>

First, a real Search Story, on Parisian love:

And if Google was more shamelessly interested in brutal laughs, controversy and viral videos, here’s the alternative via Slate:

(h/t Soup and Winston Wolfe)