2012 Super Bowl Commercials: Sneak Preview (Update 1)

H&M
In the middle of a whole lot of beer swilling, engine revving and scantily-clad spokeswomen, isn't there something for the poor partner who'd rather be at a showing of The Artist than watching a third-down running back tear an ACL? Look no further.

H&M's crafty 30-second bit of counterprograming set to The Animals' Please Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood leaves no doubt about its intentions. The only football implied in the spot is the decidedly non-American brand that Los Angeles Galaxy midfielder David Beckham isn't playing.

The only athleticism on display is the well-tattooed musculature Beckham's developed from years on the pitch. Oh yeah, he's wearing his own David Beckham-branded H&M underwear, but we're guessing the target audience isn't about to run out and buy a three pack for the guy sitting beside them who just finished half a bowl of seven layer dip and whose reaction to said commercial sounded oddly like flatulence.

No, this Beckham ad is aimed squarely at the consumers who love the Swedish clothing retailer's style, but love its prices all the more. The same folks who really like stocking up on store-brand product, but loved it when H&M started stocking a Versace line.

Call it gratuitous if you'd like, but during a Super Bowl Sunday stocked with Danica Patrick, Jillian Michaels, Adriana Lima and countless other poster girls aimed at an audiences stuck in an arrested state of pubescence, it seems only fair for the world's second-largest clothing retailer (behind Spain's Zara) to give everyone else something to play with.

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