The top 10 Super Bowl ads of all time

5. Budweiser — “Frogs” (1995)
With the Bud Bowl and its anthropomorphic bottles and cans becoming increasingly intolerable, Anheuser-Busch needed a new gimmick. The best idea advertisers could come up with: Three frogs sitting on a log and croaking the words “buuuud,” “wiiiise” and “errrr.” Americans predictably loved this ad, which included lizard and ferret-themed spin offs.

File under: Animals; catchphrase.

Economic stimulus: Anheuser-Busch didn’t just sell a lot of beer in the 1990s. For the next several years the company also sold the frogs on T-shirts, beer steins, key chains, neon pub lights and a motion sensor-activated frog lamp that repeated the catchphrase when anyone walks by. (It’s currently going for $500 on EBay.)

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4. Apple — “1984” (1984)
An Orwellian scene of lockstep fascism is broken up by a woman in red Dolphin shorts, who hurls a sledgehammer through a theater screen. Then we see this text: "On January 24th, Apple will introduce Macintosh. And you’ll see why 1984 won’t be like '1984.'"

File under: Violence.

Economic stimulus: The Macintosh didn’t quite change the world as we know it — we’re typing on a PC, and bet you’re reading this on one — but Apple has managed to stick around and make a few bucks. While the original Macintosh is likely gone for good, Dolphin shorts have made a comeback.

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3. Reebok — “Terry Tate Office Linebacker” (2003)
Workers at a fictitious corporation who breach office etiquette receive bone-crunching tackles from Terry Tate, a Reebok sneaker-wearing linebacker who barks observations like "Break was over 15 minutes ago, Mitch!"

File under: Violence.

Economic stimulus: The nation’s jobless rate may be rising, but Terry Tate actor Lester Speight has plenty of work, including video game voiceovers and a guest spot on TV’s “Prison Break.” Rawson Marshall Thurber, who came up with the Reebok spot, now directs feature films.

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2. Budweiser — “Respect” (2002)
The Budweiser Clydesdales, easily the most recognizable icon in Super Bowl ads, walk across a snowy field and the Brooklyn Bridge before taking one knee in front of the New York skyline where the World Trade Center towers used to be. Budweiser followed this theme three years later with its “Heroes” ad, featuring people at an airport applauding returning soldiers.

File under: Sentimentality.

Economic stimulus: Don’t be so cynical. It’s not always about the money.

1. Coke — “Mean Joe Greene” (1979)
Apple spent more money and the frogs were cuter, but there’s no beating Mean Joe Greene (even though this advertisement technically debuted just before the Super Bowl). Greene meets a kid in a stadium tunnel after the game. The kid offers Greene a Coke, and the player smiles and gives him a jersey. You’re crying just thinking about it, right?

File under: Sentimentality; celebrity.

Economic stimulus: This advertisement became an economy in itself. Remakes were made in other countries with different athletes, including one in Argentina with soccer player Diego Maradona. There was even a 1981 movie based on the commercial called “The Steeler and the Pittsburgh Kid.”

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Honorable mention: FedEx “Cast Away” (2003); Pepsi “Diner” (1995); EDS “Herding Cats” (2000); Tabasco “Mosquito” (1998); Budweiser “Heroes” (2005); Monster.com “When I Grow Up” (1999).

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