"Man's Best Friend" seemed to be the consensus favorite of last night's Super Bowl ads.

Without a doubt, the Super Bowl is the biggest TV event of the year. Brand name companies and their advertisers mark the day on their calendars knowing they will be paying an arm and a leg, but the exposure will be tremendous. But with every company looking to stand out, they brought their “A” game.

The Doritos contest strategy paid off immensely. According to USA Today’s Ad-Meter it was the most popular ad to air last night. Brand Bowl 2012, said it was the most tweeted about generating 48,498 tweets. “Man’s Best Friend,” a finalist in the “Crash the Super Bowl” contest, had me cracking up. The commercial centers around a cat-murdering dog who bribes his owner with a bag of Doritos to shut him up.

Also earning a lot of laughs was the other finalist, “Sling Baby.” In this one, a kid taunts his grandmother because he has a bag of Doritos’. Grandma decides she will launch the kid’s baby brother using the bungee-cord jumper to snag it from him.

More on the side of controversy was David Beckham’s risque black and white ad commercial for clothing retailer H&M. The concept is simple. Closeups of Beckham in nothing, but their new man panties, zooming in on his chiseled chest and torso (as well as his tattoos), set to porn music, basically. Although, the women in my household, and presumably all across America, were hot and bothered, this wasn’t what incited an uproar. The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) demanded that CNN commentator Roland Martin be fired immediately regarding his tweet about the H&M commercial: “If a dude at your Super Bowl party is hyped about David Beckham’s H&M underwear ad, smack the ish out of him!” This angered the gay activist organization, causing them to respond: “@rolandsmartin Advocates of gay bashing have no place at @CNN #SuperBowl #LGBT.” Roland retorted, “Well you’re clearly out of touch and clueless with what I tweeted. Way to assume, but you’re way off base.” He later tried to justify his remarks to his over 94,000 followers tweeting, “It’s hilarious when idiots…see my Beckham tweet as homophobic and I rip on soccer all of the time.” Whether he meant it as a slight at soccer and his fans or as a denigration of homosexual behavior matters little. GLAAD is not letting up, still rousing supporters and gay bloggers to initiate a campaign for his termination. To get up close and personal with David, click here.

Lovers of women in lingerie were not neglected, however. Adriana Lima, Victoria’s Secret model, appeared as a spokeswoman for Teleflora, an online flower delivery service. Needless to say, it was every bit as sexy as Beckham’s. Lima seems to be getting dressed for a night on the town as we watch her hook her bra and pull on her tights. And unlike H&M’s, it included dialogue: “Guys, Valentine’s Day is not that complicated. Give, and you shall receive.” Message happily received. Pay your respects to Ms. Lima here

Brand Bowl’s third most popular was courtesy of Chrysler. Clint Eastwood waxed philosophic about the recovery of Detroit’s motor industry. Apparently, Eastwood’s rhetoric on “Halftime in America” and us rallying as a nation to “come from behind,” touched the hearts of Americans like Eminem’s ode to Detroit did (set to his “Lose Yourself”) last year.

My personal favorite was from Fiat, who equated the beauty of their new sleek and sporty model with being seduced by an Italian supermodel (picture below). The reveal that he was kissing the window of a car completely caught me off guard, and was probably the most inventive premise of the night, while still going for sex appeal. For a laugh riot, click.

Filling out the remaining contenders, I was underwhelmed by Budweiser’s contributions, but thought the dog named “Wego,” was clever. Hint: If you call the dog, you would say “Here, Wego.” “Here We Go” is the Bud slogan. Going for the nostalgia factor, Acura and Honda shelled out the big bucks for tributes to pop culture. For Acura, Jerry Seinfeld starred in a parody of his “Seinfeld” show and Matthew Broderick showed up in Honda’s homage to his 80s classic, “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.” Yeah, I got all the references, but it just didn’t tickle my funny bone like the others.

So, note to self: Wanna make millions on ads? Include babies, attractive and scantily clad women (but you can throw in a dude), and animal personification. Nostalgia is hit or miss, and involving your customers via contests can never hurt.

I won’t mention the game itself, because I know here in Boston it is a day of mourning, but I hope you at least enjoyed some of these crowd-pleasers up until the final whistle. Was one of your favorites not mentioned? Share links and your opinions of the ads mentioned in the comments section.

NEW YORK — Mayor Michael Bloomberg and his administration have come up with another health initiative for New York City; it’s to limit the sale of alcohol in the city to curb excessive drinking, as well as slash the number of establishments serving alcohol, according to a planning document obtained by the New York Post.

One of the goals listed in the “request for proposal” document to community groups is “reducing alcohol retail outlet (e.g. bar, corner store) density and illegal alcohol,” the document states.

In a recent update by the New York Post, Bloomberg abandoned the proposal to shut down bars or liquor stores. Asked if the mayor backed the effort to limit booze-selling businesses, Bloomberg spokesman Stu Loeser said, “No.”

Health officials and advocates have also discussed banning liquor advertising seen by millions of straphangers in the transit system. “Reduce the exposure to alcohol products and bar advertising and promotion in retail and general (trains, buses, etc.) settings (stores, restaurants, etc,” the department’s document says.

“The city’s goals for the Partnership for a Healthier New York are in line with our ongoing strategies of promoting healthy eating and physical activity and discouraging tobacco, excessive alcohol use and consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages,” a spokeswoman said. “Specific proposals, however, are still in the planning phase.”

Health officials cite an army of statistics to defend the crackdown.

Alcohol-related hospital emergency-room visits doubled for underage New Yorkers from 2003 to 2009, and one in 10 hospitalizations are booze-related, while one in six adult New Yorkers report heavy drinking.

Alcohol is a factor in nearly half of homicides and 28 percent of vehicle-crash fatalities.

According to the Huffington Post, the program could pick up steam with the help of local community boards, namely those in the Lower East Side and Williamsburg, which have attempted to reduce the number of new liquor licenses in the neighborhoods, mostly in an attempt to reduce noise and general rowdiness.

Advertising giant and search engine default Google has agreed to forfeit $500 million in proceeds it received from allowing Canadian pharmacies to illegally target American consumers for prescription drugs, the Justice Department announced.

“The Department of Justice will continue to hold accountable companies who in their bid for profits violate federal law and put at risk the health and safety of American consumers,” said Deputy Attorney General James M. Cole, in a statement. “This settlement ensures that Google will reform its improper advertising practices with regard to these pharmacies while paying one of the largest financial forfeiture penalties in history.”

Google had sold the ads through its AdWords network.

The news was announced at press conference Wednesday morning in Providence.

As a general rule, the shipment of prescription drugs from foreign pharmacies to people inside the United States violates the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act and in the case of controlled prescription drugs, the Controlled Substances Act, according to federal officials.

According to the statement, Google knew as early as 2003 that it was usually illegal for its Canadian pharmacy advertisers to ship drugs to the US.

Besides the patent illegality of it, federal regulators obviously take no steps to verify the legitimacy or chemical makeup of foreign drugs.

“This investigation is about the patently unsafe, unlawful, importation of prescription drugs by Canadian on-line pharmacies, with Google’s knowledge and assistance, into the United States, directly to U.S. consumers,” said U.S. Attorney Peter F. Neronha. “It is about taking a significant step forward in limiting the ability of rogue on-line pharmacies from reaching U.S. consumers, by compelling Google to change its behavior. It is about holding Google responsible for its conduct by imposing a $500 million forfeiture, the kind of forfeiture that will not only get Google’s attention, but the attention of all those who contribute to America’s pill problem.”

The Boston Globe reported that in May Google noted in a regulatory filing that it had set aside $500 million to settle a Justice Department investigation of “certain” advertisers.

By 2015, there will be approximately 804 million smartphones worldwide. Lucky for football fans, the NFL and  mobile advertising agency Adzookie.com are already looking to the future, promising that by 2015 the Super Bowl will be streamed live via an iPhone.

Romeo Mendoza, CEO of the Orange, Calif.-based company that plans to handle the advertising, Adzookie.com, said in a statement that “Streaming the Super Bowl on a phone just makes sense. Cell phones already outnumber television sets 5-to-1.”

Given that the 2010 Super Bowl brought in 106 million viewers and earned over $300 million in network advertising sales — that’s $2.8 to $3 million per 30-second advertisement — streaming the Super Bowl on smartphones is a smart business decision. Further, through cell phones, advertisers can run multiple ads at the same time, catering to individual viewers based on age, gender, income and location, something that television ads cannot do.

“Companies prefer to promote their business via mobile ads than other forms of advertising,” Mendoza said.

Because of the increasing popularity of smartphone use and the edge that mobile advertising has over television advertising, viewers can expect to eventually watch all of their favorite shows via cell phones, said Mendoza.

“The Super Bowl is just the beginning,” he continued. “Eventually all programming will be mobile. We plan on being there when it happens.”

All ad space is officially sold out for the Super Bowl as of Monday, said CBS spokeswoman Shannon Jacobs. CBS, the broadcaster for this year’s NFL championship, had some difficulty selling the last few of more than 62 spots, according to CNN. t.

CNN reports that a 30-second spot sold for up to $3 million, and Anheuser-Busch is the top advertiser this year having purchased five minutes worth of ad time.

Several first-time advertisers are in the lineup, according to the LA Times, including Kia Motors America, Qualcomm’s Flo TV and KGB texting information service. In addition, the Christian group "Focus on the Family," will be displaying a controversial anti-abortion commercial featuring college football star Tim Tebow. In addition, CBS rejected a gay dating website advertisement for ManCrunch.com, reported the LA Times.

“This year we are going to call it the Controversy Bowl,” said Mike Sheldon, chief executive of the Los Angeles advertising firm Deutsch LA. “It used to be a championship football game, then it became an advertising showcase, and now the Super Bowl has turned into a microphone for special interests."

Last month, CBS said it was selling 62 spots, but spokesman Dana McClintock said that the number has grown and is now very close to last year’s 69 spots.

“We’re happy campers over here,” said Jo Ann Ross, the president of network sales at CBS. Ross also said that there are some spots still available during the pre-game broadcast.

Last year’s Super Bowl had a record 98.7 million viewers, according to Nielsen, and Kantar Media says ads during the 2009 game brought in $213 million.

When Sony dropped the price of the PlayStation 3 to the very welcoming $299 mark, the company unleashed an emphatic marketing campaign behind the hunk of plastic, and it’s one of my favorite in recent gaming memory.

These ads, narrated by the always hilarious Kevin Butler, are wonderfully done, and, as I feel, wholly effective.

This one, featuring a boy and his grandmother, is probably my favorite so far. Have a look, and feel free to lol if you’d like.

If you need further proof that things like “blue laws” and typical Generation Y parental protectionism and the stereotypical Massachusetts pilgrim-like attitude toward, well, everything, are all alive and well, you need do little more than study the recent doings of State Representative Martin J. Walsh.

Walsh, (D-Boston) who covers a district that includes Boston College, is sponsoring legislation that would ban any alcohol-related advertising on state-owned property. The crazies in the anti-alcohol (and even the anti-advertising) lobby have joined, and they are calling on the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (The T) to join in and ban alcohol ads on buses, trains and stations.

No other state in the US has such an advertising ban, which would eliminate things like billboards and limit advertisements for locally-owned wine and spirits shops, which is simply a bad idea in this economy.

“It is unfathomable that in the midst of an epidemic of underage drinking in Massachusetts, a government agency would allow alcohol advertising on public property,” said Amy Helburn of the collaborative, “Supporting an Alcohol Advertisement Free Environment,” in a statement supporting Walsh’s legislation.

The bill also has the support of a group called “Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood.”

Because that’s possible.

Ok. You’ve heard the facts and seen what’s proposed.

This is never going to happen.

It’s a perennial bad idea like many that come up each year from a relatively new and a creepy alliance of teetotalers and helicopter parents.

Blast is the only media outlet that’s entirely run by Generation Y, so let me be as frank with you as possible: The ads aren’t screwing up your kids. Teens don’t start drinking because a whimsical frog says so.

Young people don’t start drinking because of commercials or billboards. Young people start drinking for two reasons. First, they start drinking because it’s (perhaps only in the US) considered a rebellious taboo. And second, the vast and overwhelming majority of American adults drink.

But that alone is a pretty poor argument against liquor legislation. The fact is alcohol is dangerous. It kills people and can lead people to do things that can hurt them or others. Like all vices, it’s users, especially young people, are not taught moderation. In fact, the only people telling us to “drink responsibly” are the liquor companies in their commercials!

I’ve seen lives ruined by alcohol, but I’ve also seen lives ruined by overbearing colleges that take away scholarships, throw students out of residence halls, charge fines and publicly embarrass students for a first time alcohol offense. I’ve seen college newspapers report the names of students that got caught with a beer in their hands. I’ve seen them come into my office when I was in the Northeastern University student government in tears when they got turned away from internships and jobs because of it. I’d need a drink, too, if my school just ruined my life.

HEY, OLD PEOPLE: Listen up.

Your precious little honor student is going to drink when he or she gets to college. (They’re also going to have sex, a lot, and they might even try pot!) More than 90 percent of college students drink. You wanna help them? Teach them responsibility. Teach them to know their own limits. Give them cash for a cab. Teach them the warning signs of alcohol poisoning so they don’t leave some kid in a bathroom to die.

Commercials aren’t the problem. There is a much deeper issue here. Alcohol, sex, smoking, marijuana, etc. etc. etc. The more you tell someone “no” without an explanation, the more curious they become. If Massachusetts is such a liberal bastion, they should do something really radical: teach kids safe sex and drinking in moderation.

Let’s start small: Colleges could give students the phone number of a cab service instead of a pamphlet of vague threats.

Just don’t waste my time trying to convince me that it’s all the commercials’ fault.

Recently, Legitscript.com and KnujOn.com released a report analyzing the Yahoo Search engine’s advertisements for online pharmacies. The results are quite disturbing and it’s a wonder law enforcement agencies have not yet cracked down.

Legitscript.com is the only Internet pharmacy verification organization in the United States identified by the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy as adhering to its standards for certifying Internet pharmacies. KnujOn.com tracks Internet criminality and has succeeded in removing over 100,000 spam websites from the Internet.

The report, released by these companies on August 18, showed that around 80 percent of the search engine’s advertisements concerning online pharmacies reviewed by the researchers were not operating in compliance with United States federal laws. The report states the researchers were able to order and receive medication normally requiring a prescription without one “" a clear violation of Drug Enforcement Administration regulation of potentially habit-forming medications. One site even imported the medications ordered from India, which is also in violation of United States Law.

The report also touches on Pharmacychecker.com, the pharmacy verification service used by Yahoo, Google and Microsoft to determine the legitimacy of pharmacies in ads they display. The researchers were able to obtain drugs without a prescription from an online pharmacy listed on and approved by Pharmacychecker.com. These drugs were also imported from India.

Yahoo’s current policy mandates that an online pharmacy advertised through the search engine be “based in” the United States or Canada; however, three sites in the study which were approved based on having Canadian pharmaceutical licenses actually shipped their medications from places like India, Singapore And Barbados. A fourth site, also approved in Canada, stated it could only fill prescriptions in Canada and to do so in other countries would be illegal.

It is important to note that these issues are far from isolated, as a previous report focused on Microsoft’s search engine Bing.com and the findings were similar. Also, the American Pharmacists Association, the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy and the National Association on Addiction and Substance Abuse have written Google, Microsoft and Yahoo informing them that they were profiting from online pharmacies acting unlawfully.

“We’re making this a public issue because it’s time for this to stop,” KnujOn President Garth Bruen said. “If the search engines continue to knowingly facilitate illegal prescription drug sales, then we’ll continue to issue these reports. Our reports stop when the problem is fixed.”

“Yahoo needs to require that its Internet pharmacy ads adhere to US laws and National Association of Boards of Pharmacy standards,” LegitScript President John Horton said. “These are the same safeguards that govern brick-and-mortar pharmacies used throughout the US everyday. Shouldn’t American Internet users be assured of the same safeguards online?”

If you are someone who gets his or her medications from an online pharmacy, you may be putting yourself and your family in danger. If this is the case, we suggest you look further into the companies from which you choose to procure your medications.

Let me first apologize.

For about a year now, we’ve been using IX Web Hosting as an inexpensive solution to our very simple web hosting needs — three domains powered by WordPress. After all, we don’t have any key sponsors, and I fund Blast with my own money when it isn’t making its own cash.

It’s been a disaster. We are no longer using IX Web Hosting.

One of the last straws came when one of their technical support agents reminded me how little we were paying for their services.

Yes, you do get what you pay for.

This week, we upgraded to a private server and a different SQL server. We will be on a virtual private SQL server in a few days, and there will be virtually no downtime while our new hosting provider plugs everything in.

IX Web Hosting subjected us to a SQL server was was down due to abuse nearly every day and that — as you all know — was extremely slow and often unresponsive, even when it wasn’t being abused.

Then we found out that some of the RSS feeds on BlastMagazineBlogs.com had been hacked — spam code and links inserted.

The unreliability, poor service, poor servers and poor security of IX Web Hosting forced me to decide to allocate much more money for a new server. Whatever. We’re producing a great product here, and I want it to succeed. This is a move we should have made on January 1, 2007, when we launched.

Though, if you want to sponsor us, that might make me feel better.