Sprint's Verizon-grilling Super Bowl ad pushes itself over a cliff

by Luis D. / Feb 01, 2017, 8:38 PM

It takes a rather specific sense of humor to be able to enjoy Sprint's Super Bowl ad. All 30 morbid, sickly green color-graded seconds of it. A straight punch at competitor Verizon, the death-o-mercial sees disgruntled dad Dad feign his death by pushing a dummy of himself in a car over a cliff as his offspring is observing, perplexed. That's so he could break off his contract with Verizon, something Sprint cheekily admits is "extremely illegal."

Cue in Paul Marcarelli, former Verizon spokesman who seems to be following in Justin Long's footsteps. He delivers a few paragraphs, sounding like an over-caffeinated call center employee reading from a script, his performance crumbling under the weight of dry corporate copy – supplemented with three dense lines of small print, no less, because there's always a twist when dealing with carrier offers. And these are the only twists in the commercial's absurdist plot.

Let's move on with our lives now, shall we?

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9 Comments

1. jeroome86

Posts: 2314; Member since: Apr 12, 2012

That's funny. Sprint doesn't pick up good at work but really hate Verizon.

posted on Feb 01, 2017, 8:42 PM 0

2. m1tommy

Posts: 23; Member since: Aug 03, 2012

That's funny. In the old Verizon commercials, all the dude ever had to say was, "Can you hear me now?". Sprint hired him after his non-compete expired, and this time he has to monologue us to death in trying to convince consumers to switch to Sprint. At least he's getting a nice paycheck, while Sprint continues to suck in last place.

posted on Feb 01, 2017, 9:29 PM 1

3. Derekjeter

Posts: 1572; Member since: Oct 27, 2011

Sprint still in business?? I thought T-Mobile had taken all their customers...lol. Who has Sprint seriously? I would end up with T-Mobile before Sprint. I would actually take the Obama phone before Sprint. Lol.

posted on Feb 01, 2017, 9:43 PM 1

4. Zylam

Posts: 1823; Member since: Oct 20, 2010

Yea was thinking the same, I can't believe Sprint thinks it's still relevant. T-Mobile all the way!

posted on Feb 01, 2017, 9:55 PM 0

6. Bernoulli

Posts: 4362; Member since: Sep 01, 2012

Wait, aren't you NOT from the US? Dafuq?

posted on Feb 01, 2017, 10:09 PM 0

5. noerdlinger

Posts: 19; Member since: Jul 20, 2014

Love the disclaimer "Network reliability claim based on 3rd party drive test in 116 markets." Huh. So..what's up outside of those 116 markets? And which markets are they? Yeah...Sprint Sloppy Seconds with the VZ test man and their s**t network. I'll keep my Verizon. Also...contracts? Really dude? They been gone.

posted on Feb 01, 2017, 10:01 PM 0

7. icr8du

Posts: 15; Member since: Feb 03, 2015

Wow, all this hate in a single article about sprint! Weird!!

posted on Feb 02, 2017, 12:08 AM 0

8. gersont1000

Posts: 473; Member since: Mar 13, 2012

Justin Long (the former iMac commercial guy) is following Paul Marcarelli's (former Verizon "Can you hear me now?" guy) footsteps, not the other way around. The former Verizon guy has been in Sprint commercials before this. Just thought it would be nice to have the facts right.

posted on Feb 02, 2017, 8:39 AM 0

9. PSAfromThisGuy

Posts: 146; Member since: Jan 16, 2017

whats funny, is how many people come into Verizon stating "That 1% affects my whole family daily" Bwahahaha!! OpenSignal has me connected 100% of the time... What do your sprint phones have to say with that App hmmm?!