Super Bowl ads feature celebs, babies and beer

NEW YORK — Sex sells. Babies sell even more. And advertisers are hoping animals will make you laugh all the way to their stores.

While the San Francisco 49ers and the Baltimore Ravens battled on the field during Super Bowl XLVII, marketers from Best Buy to M&M to Toyota were competing against each other on advertising’s biggest stage. And they’re doing so by pulling out the most persuasive tools of their trade.

The stakes were high, with 30-second spots going for an average of $4 million this year.

Here are some ad highlights:

Babies, animals and families, oh my

Audi’s 60-second ad in the first quarter, with an ending voted on by viewers, showed a boy gaining confidence from driving his father’s Audi to the prom, kissing the prom queen and getting decked by the prom king.

Toyota’s ad starred Kaley Cuoco from CBS’s “The Big Bang Theory” granting wishes to a family.

Budweiser’s Clydedales made another appearance in an ad that showed a man and his horse reuniting after several years.

Humor is key

M&M’s showed its red spokescharacter singing Meatloaf’s “I Would Do Anything For Love,” and wooing beautiful women, but stopping short when they try to eat him.

Oreo’s ad featured a showdown in a library between people fighting over whether the cookie or the cream is the best part of the cookie. The joke — the fight escalates into thrown chairs and other destruction, but because the fight is in a library, everyone still has to whisper.

Doritos went for humor with its two user-created spots. Winners of the “Crash the Super Bowl” contest included one about a Doritos-crazy goat. Another showed a dad playing princess with his daughter to get Doritos. His buddies catch him, but instead of making fun of him, they join in the fun.

Taco Bell showed a group of seniors partying, getting tattoos, and eating its Doritos Locos Tacos

Tide showed a guy who gets caught in an awkward moment in the laundry mat, holding a woman’s yellow panties.

Celebs abound

The Milk Processor Education Program featured actor and professional wrestler Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in a 30-second ad in which he battles all kinds of oddities on his way to get milk.

Chrysler made a splash with a two-minute spot during halftime showing families waiting for their family members to return home from serving with the armed forces abroad. Media mogul and TV personality Oprah Winfrey read a letter from the Jeep brand to encourage families to stay hopeful.

Sex still sells

Godaddy.com’s spot toed the line of good taste, showing a close up extended kiss between supermodel Bar Refaeli and a nerdy nobody.