Donny Deutsch Asks Advertisers To Knock it Off With Scantily-Clad Men

Morning Joe, the most laid-back cable news program this side of Red Eye, may not be the first place to look for a call to arms against beer-and-chips gag ads on the Super Bowl, but guest Donny Deutsch took the opportunity to remind companies that football fans are not as dumb as they might think.

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:

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