These 3 Super Bowl 50 Commercials Are Doggone Good

Like me, I’m sure a lot viewers watch the Super Bowl for the commercials more than for the game itself. Last year, the best and worst of those commercials all happened to feature dogs. Could this be repeated with Super Bowl 50?

Well, unfortunately, some beloved dogs from previous years will not be appearing in Super Bowl 50 commercials.

Because they didn’t increase beer sales, Budweiser commercials will no longer feature cute puppies. And Subaru is not a sponsor this year, so we won’t be seeing any adorably hilarious dogs driving cars — but the good news is that Subaru will instead be airing brand-new commercials during my favorite game this Sunday, Puppy Bowl XII.

Although the Budweiser puppy and Subaru pooches will not be with us during Super Bowl 50, the following three ads airing during the game feature dogs, and will likely show up at the top of most “Best Super Bowl 50 Commercials” lists. Here’s a sneak peek.

Heinz Ketchup’s ‘Weiner Stampede’

The most talked-about commercial for Super Bowl 50 is this spot that features dozens of Dachshunds in hot dog costumes racing in slo-mo across a field to people (“The Ketchups”) dressed as Heinz products, as Harry Nilsson’s mournful “Without You” plays.

As the weiner dogs leap into the arms of the humans, covering them with kisses, a voice-over says, “It’s hard to resist great taste.”

“It’s a really simple idea that pairs two things that people really love to see,” Michelle St. Jacques, vice president of marketing for condiments and sauces at Kraft Heinz, told TODAY. “One, which is a stampede of wiener dogs, and two, the Heinz brand, which consumers feel a lot of love for.”

While it’s a little disturbing to present dogs as food products, this commercial will likely be considered one of the best of the best.

Doritos’ ‘Doritos Dogs’

FEB. 8, 2016 UPDATE: Congratulations to Jacob Chase — “Doritos Dogs” was the $1 million prize winner in Doritos’ final “Crash the Super Bowl” commercial contest.

This contender in the final Doritos “Crash the Super Bowl” commercial contest stars three rescue dogs, Miz, Bolt and Logan. After a few failed attempts to enter a store and snatch some Doritos, the trio comes up with a disguise that somehow fools the store manager.

Jacob Chase, the writer and director of “Doritos Dogs,” had to call several stores in the Los Angeles area before he found one — Gerrards Market in Redlands — willing to participate in filming the commercial.

The specialty supermarket’s owner, Tom Reingrover, “was so very generous and accommodating,” Chase told The Press Enterprise. “He loves dogs and was already aware of the Crash the Super Bowl commercial contest. It was such a lovely place to film.”

Honda’s ‘A New Truck to Love’

You might get “Babe” flashbacks watching this Honda commercial that stars a flock of sheep.

But instead of chanting “Baa-ram-ewe,” these sheep begin singing Queen’s “Somebody to Love” after a rancher and his dog drop them off in a field and then drive off in the Honda Ridgeline pickup truck that brought them there — with the song playing on the audio system.

So, why are the sheep singing? Because their mode of transportation is the “only truck available with a truck bed audio system,” the dog explains at the end of the spot. “A new truck to love.”

Photo via YouTube