A USA Today poll of 118 viewers during the game found that four of Anheuser-Busch's Super Bowl ads were among the top five most popular. The ads included a pet falcon trained to "fetch" Bud Light, an attempted barroom pickup, and a battle between robots.

"Humor and animals always sell," said Andrew Bergstein, an instructor of marketing at Penn State's Smeal College of Business.

Anheuser-Busch also ran an ad featuring the popular Budweiser Clydesdale horses paying a tribute to New York City and the Sept. 11 attacks.

"I've heard of some people who loved the Clydesdales, but I thought it was completely inappropriate," said Don Pettit of the Sterling Group, a New York-based branding group. "If you're going to do something like that, it has to be a public service, not a promotion of your corporate icon."

Another set of ads that befuddled some ad executives were those linking illicit drug use with terrorism, paid for by the White House's Office of National Drug Control Policy.

"Tying drugs to terrorism was a little out in left field," said Bergstein. "I understand terrorism is a hot-button issue, but it's an awful lot to ask television viewers to draw the line from the Taliban warehoused poppy ... to the World Trade Center -- that's too oblique."

Another advertising expert said that while the ads were compelling, they might have been too serious for the mood surrounding the Super Bowl.

Advertisers spent up to $2 million for each commercial.

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