As an era of greatness comes to an end with Peyton Manning’s retirement, an era of good commercials also comes to a tragic stopping point. Superbowl 50 was full of surprises, but the biggest was the disappointing and inadequate commercials.

Spending up to five million dollars on a 30-second time slot should have motivated the companies to create exciting commercials, but, unfortunately, the commercials this year were either too bizarre to discuss or too boring to remember. The most interesting thing that happened was when the screen went dark and an announcement for Beyonce’s new world tour appeared.

The writers clearly knew the kind of commercials that please the public: extremely cute, vigorously hilarious or incredibly heart-warming. We asked some students if it is the above qualities or others they look for in a good Superbowl commercial.

“I look for lots or comedy and celebrities, like Jimmy Fallon and late night talk show hosts,” Christopher Tang (’19) said.

Humor was a common technique that students thought made commercials interesting.

“Probably a humorous take on something thats usually serious,” Kristin Werdine (’19) said.

However, comedic commercials aren’t always the favorites. Sometimes it is the sappy, heart-warming ones that get the viewers to remember a product. When Werdine and fellow freshman Alexandra Takagishi were asked about their favorite commercials in the past, both mentioned the 2011 Volkswagen commercial in which a little boy dressed on Darth Vader thinks he used the Force to turn on his dad’s car.

This year, the commercials got a so-so rating from students.

“My least favorite was that stupid puppy baby-money-commercial, I felt like I was getting cancer from watching it,” Daniel A. Falton Arjona (’16) said. “My favorite was when they showed the Captain America Civil War Trailer”

ROTC director Eliot Berman agreed with Arjona on Mountain Dew’s “Puppymonkeybaby” commercial.

“My favorite was the first Doritos commercial, with the baby and the ultrasound,” Berman said. “[I didn’t like] pretty much all the other ones, they were not very impressive this year. The baby-monkey-thingy was strange.”

Here are four of our least favorite commercials to watch for yourself.

Apartments.com commercial: What could wrong with a guy played a piano and a hint of racism?

The Snickers commercial: Seems like Marilyn Monroe will always be a running gag, even after death.

The Xifaxan commercial: There is nothing I love more than thinking about diarrhea when I’m watching a football game. Not.

Mtn Dew Kickstart commercial: I have to agree with everyone else on this one. Another reason for intensive therapy.