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Super Bowl ad trends: Dad, celebs, God

Bruce Horovitz
USA TODAY
Kim Kardashian West speaks on behalf of all the wasted cellular data.

The competition to air the top Super Bowl ad this year may come down to whose ad has the most heart — or whose gets the biggest belly laugh.

But to touch the hearts or tickle the funny bones of viewers, advertisers are trying some new twists this go-round:

• Dad as hero. For years, guys — particularly dads — often have played a distasteful role in Super Bowl spots: buffoons. The buffoonery won't disappear any time soon, but along side it this year are spots from several advertisers who opted to show the good — if not heroic — side of fatherhood.

Most notably, Dove Men+Care will air a heart-tugging spot that shows dads of all kinds being summoned by their kids with the familiar cry: "Daddy!" The caring dads jump in to help the kids out of fixes, from monkey bars that are too high to potties that are too scary. Dove polled dads and found 9 of 10 say "care" is a sign of masculinity, says Jennifer Bremner, director of Dove's Men+Care. "We want to showcase a more relevant and modern take on masculinity."

Also on board the dad-as-good-guy bandwagon is Toyota, which will broadcast a commercial about "bold dads" in the game.

And Nissan this week announced that it had lengthened its Super Bowl spot, "With Dad" to 90 seconds. The spot focuses on a hard-charging race-car driver trying to balance his career and family.

• Celebs as human. When you pay a celebrity what it takes for a Super Bowl spot, the temptation might be to build them up. But this year, advertisers are opting to knock them down.

BMW brings former Today show hosts Katie Couric and Bryant Gumbel together in a commercial that mocks their shared cluelessness about the Internet in a Today show clip from 1994. Couric asks: "Can you explain what Internet is?"

T-Mobile will feature Kim Kardashian in a self-deprecating spot, where she mocks her own public image — and obsession with selfies.

Kia has brought in Pierce Brosnan to hype its newly-designed Sorento but pokes fun at the James Bond-type roles that he's played. In the ad, Brosnan appears to be discussing the ad's theme with his agent and is disappointed that it involves no Bond-esque car crashes, explosions or secret devices.

• God as funny. God may seem a heavy-duty topic for the Super Bowl, but two ads — both by first-time Super Bowl advertisers — cast God in roles to make you chuckle.

Mophie, the smartphone battery case maker, depicts God as peeved that his phone isn't charged — so much so, that he seems prepared to destroy the Earth.

And in the Avocados from Mexico spot, the "majestic commissioner" oversees the world's first draft day, in which countries pick their plants and animals. Guess which country takes the avocado?

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