Did he say “free breakfast?”

I won’t add to the post-Super Bowl commercial reviews beyond a few casual observations about the Denny’s spot. First, I thought the head mobster was Martin Scorcese for a while there. Secondly, I was laughing so hard at the schtick that I totally missed the fact that the restaurant is promising free breakfast to everyone in the country tomorrow. Now that’s a big deal for an outfit wiki says operates over 2,500 restaurants, yet I nearly missed the message. In fact, the only reason I didn’t miss it is because I replayed the spot three times with my DVR. My reaction makes me wonder if it’s possible for a spot to be too funny, which is too horrible to contemplate.

One other interesting question about the state of advertising in general was raised at Patrick Scullin’s The Lint Screen. Near the end he asks:

Overall, the disappointing thing is how advertising has come to lean on pop culture to cast a shadow on the products. Whatever happened to finding a product benefit and bringing it forward in a compelling, creative way?

And here’s the Denny’s spot, in case you missed it.