Burning $12 million - the 5 worst

USA Today has their Ad Meter posted, listing all the ads and how they ranked. Let's look at the 5 worst:

Taco Bell - Chicken enchilada dropped on sports card collection.

Replay of an existing wide-release commercial that wasn't that funny to start with. This ad has been on for weeks, and making a few hundred phone calls or a few focus groups would have told them this ad is barely good enough for network prime-time, much less the biggest stage for ads in the world.

Bubblicious - LeBron James blows big bubble for Bubblicious.

LeBron James... and gum. The problem isn't as much the ad as it is that the pairing of LeBron and gum makes absolutely no sense. This mistake was made in the partnership, not the ad itself.

Anheuser-Busch - Introduction of Budweiser Select low-carb beer with no aftertaste.

Wrong ad for the situation. And perhaps not as bad as it was rated. Their goal was to introduce a product, and people got the point - they have a new, low-carb, light beer. Not sure it was worth the money for the airtime, though - this sort of ad is most effective drilled into people's heads with repetition. It didn't help that Miller launched the pre-game preemptive strikes against this product, saying they did their light beer right the first time.

Ciba Vision - People float in bubbles for O2OPTIX silicone hydrogen contact lenses.

I know they were also trying to introduce a product, but what does it do? After seeing this ad, I think there's some brand of contact out there called O2. I don't know why I'd want it. This money would have been better spent in marketing the product to eye doctors who prescribe it.

Napster - Feline icon at football game holds up sign comparing price of new Napster service with rival iTunes.

Napster is a broken brand, period. Anyone who used to use Napster is put off by their conversion to a pay service, and anyone who didn't use them before wonders what a "Napster" is, and why it has a strange white cat logo. 20 well-made Super Bowl ads couldn't fix this brand, much less a weak ad attempting to make people compare costs with iTunes.