Darth Vader Super Bowl Ad Ranks High Among Viewers

Darth Vader Volkswagen Super Bowl commercial was ranked the highest among viewers, according to media reports on Monday.
Darth Vader Super Bowl Ad Ranks High Among Viewers
2/7/2011
Updated:
9/29/2015
[youtube]ZRt2BmYy-5s[/youtube] The Darth Vader-Volkswagen Super Bowl adThe Darth Vader Volkswagen Super Bowl commercial was ranked the highest among viewers, according to media reports on Monday. Max Page, 6, was behind the Darth Vader mask.

The commercial, dubbed “The Force,” went viral before it made its prime-time debut during Super Bowl XLV, amassing more than 16 million views on YouTube.

According to MSNBC, most of its readers ranked the ad as their favorite, although a percentage was not provided.

The Wall Street Journal’s poll found that “The Force” came in first among readers. The Washington Post’s poll also found that the commercial top-ranked among its readers.

This year’s game was the most-watched telecast in television history with more than 111 million viewers. Last year’s game was watched by 106 million, according to Entertainment Weekly.

“It’s a confluence of things. Volkswagen is one of the most iconic brands in the world, and ‘Star Wars’ is the biggest movie franchise in the world. (The ad tells) a simple, sweet relatable story that has a lot of heart,” Brian Thomas, general manager of brand marketing for American Volkswagen, told MSNBC.

The boy behind the Darth Vader mask is Max Page, who appeared on the Today show on Monday along with his mother.

The six-year-old actor was born with a congenital heart defect. He had surgery when he was three months old and has a pacemaker.

“They saved his life and gave him back to us about a week after his first surgery. He had to have a pacemaker put in, so he has maintenance on that,” his mother said on the show.

Other ads that ranked highly were Hulu’s Adzone and the more serious Chrysler-Eminem collaboration.