Hey Kid! Mean Joe is still the best
By John McHale
Excuse the break from military technology blogs, but I gotta talk about the Steelers Super Bowl win and this year's Super Bowl commercials.
I don't know about you, but I thought the Super Bowl commercials this year pretty much stank -- especially the one that tried to recreate the simple genius of the Mean Joe Greene Coca Cola commercial from 1980.
The commercial featured current Pittsburgh Steeler, Troy Polamalu, in ad for Coke Zero. He basically played the part Greene did, but with a twist that was supposed to be funny, but came off forced. Maybe I'm biased as guy who grew up with Mean Joe and the Steeler dynasty of the 1970s, but I found it dull.
Excuse the pun but leave the classic Coke commercials alone. Mean Joe chugging the Coke, the kid, the shirt toss -- it's perfect.
The outtakes are quite funny too. Rumor has it that Greene downed something like 20 of those bottles in rehearsal. Try chugging one or two yourself and you get the picture...
Every time I see that Greene commercial replayed it makes feel like a kid again... almost as much as watching the Steelers win their 6th Super Bowl!
Best franchise in NFL history and best Super Bowl commercial. There is no doubt.
John Keller is editor-in-chief of Military & Aerospace Electronics magazine, which provides extensive coverage and analysis of enabling electronic and optoelectronic technologies in military, space, and commercial aviation applications. A member of the Military & Aerospace Electronics staff since the magazine's founding in 1989, Mr. Keller took over as chief editor in 1995.
