Ahead of Super Bowl LX on Sunday, Feb. 8, at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, Shenandoah University Adjunct Professor of Media and Communication Andrew Babb, M.A., shared his personal Top 10 best Super Bowl commercials of all time.

Below are Babb’s rankings, complete with his review of each ad:

10. Super Bowl XXVII (1993) — McDonald’s, “Showdown”

McDonald’s drafted basketball’s two superstars, Michael Jordan and Larry Bird, for the ultimate game of HORSE. Loser got to watch the winner eat a Big Mac. Outrageous challenges included caroming a shot off a corner of Chicago’s John Hancock Center. The stars played it cool; we really thought they were in it for the Big Mac.

9. Super Bowl IX (1975) —Master Lock, “Rifle”

Elegantly simple spot. A padlock atop a target. Man aims at said target. Boom! Gaping hole in the padlock. But it still holds! Amidst the beers and chips and cars, this stands out as a powerful moment in advertising. Master Lock was a frequent Super Bowl advertiser, especially in the early years.

8. Super Bowl XXVI (1992) — Pepsi, “Cindy Crawford”

Have a brand and package refresh? Might I suggest retaining the superest super model on the planet? The “plot?” Two young lads watch as Cindy Crawford roars up to a vending machine in a red Lamborghini and buys herself a can of Pepsi. The open-mouthed boys drool as Cindy sips. Then one fellow posits, “Is that a great new Pepsi can, or what?” Background music, appropriately, is “Just One Look.”

7. Super Bowl XLIII (2009) — Budweiser, “Clydesdales/Daisy”

Bud’s magnificent Clydesdale draft horses have been a Super Bowl staple reaching back into the Ed McMahon voiceover era. Not to mention the horses’ canine chums, the dalmatians. Of all the campaign’s components, this is, in my opinion, the best and goofiest. Seems one of the big steeds has fallen head over hooves for Daisy, a charming circus mare. Backgrounded by the pop fave “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough,” our hero horse charges across miles of landscape in pursuit of Daisy. When he reaches her in conquest, one of the circus clowns adds, “I had no idea Daisy was dating.” Genius. (P.S.: The Clydesdales were in Winchester’s Apple Blossom Parade recently, but bad weather forced them into their 18-wheelers along the parade route.)

6. Super Bowl XXXIII (1999) — Monster.com, “When I Grow Up”

Few job sites have had such an auspicious launch. This spot packs a powerful punch. A series of quick takes, all in stark black and white, of kids who intone business job cliches — in reverse. (“I want to claw up my way to middle management.”) Really? Of course you don’t want to do that! So go to Monster.com and find a real job. This breaks one of my normally inviolate rules: You don’t hear anybody say, “monster-dot-com” (the brand’s name). So you’re only deploying 50% of the audio/visual power of the TV medium. But, for once, I’m looking the other way, because this is an exceptional commercial.

5. Super Bowl XLII (2008) — E*Trade, “E*Trade Babies”

The cinematic trick here (babies speak, via post production, in snarky, yuppie Wall Street jargon) is “borrowed” from the John Travolta/Kirstie Alley feature film “Look Who’s Talking.” And to great effect, since the campaign ran for years. The infants trade quips all the while signaling that this trading site is easy enough for babies! Great copywriting.

4. Super Bowl XVII (1984) — Apple Macintosh, “1984”

Often cited as the ultimate Super Bowl spot, George Orwell’s cautionary tale “1984” comes to the small screen in a very big way. Ridley Scott directed. Against a parade of brainwashed marching automatons, an ax-wielding woman races past the marchers and smashes a giant screen featuring who’s probably Big Brother. The new Macintosh computer, we’re to believe, will keep 1984 from becoming “1984.” Tall order. But an astonishing piece of advertising.

3. Super Bowl VI (1972) — Coca Cola, “Hilltop”

About as smarmy a commercial as you’ll ever see or hear. But almost impossible to forget. The great Virginia-associated adman Bill Backer wrote the lyrics for “I’d Like to Buy the World a Coke,” which later was reworked to become a top pop song. Originally hoped to be shot at the White Cliffs of Dover, weather forced the setting to move to Italy.

2. Super Bowl XI (1977) — Xerox, “Monks”

What a way to launch a new duplication product! Instead of the ancient mode, how about Xerox’s new office machine? Brother Dominic, a monk, is asked for “… another 500 copies.” The Xerox folks comply. The last line, a classic, is “It’s a miracle.”

1. Super Bowl XXXIX (2005) — Mastercard, “Icons”

I’m a big “trade character” fan. I used to work at the Leo Burnett Worldwide advertising agency in Chicago, where we had halls of brilliant people who brought life to little “critters” who sold millions of packages of products: the Keebler Elves, Tony the Tiger, the Pillsbury Dough Boy, etc. This commercial brought them all to one table. Not sure how it helped Mastercard but seeing all those jolly faces together still warms this adman’s heart.

Drew Babb teaches advertising and public speaking at Shenandoah University. He is a veteran of leading ad agencies in Chicago, Baltimore and Washington, D.C., and still produces award-winning campaigns for clients.

(Images courtesy of Andrew Babb)