Winning Contest Doesn't Mean Amateurs Can (Or Should) Make Ads

The shift from professionally produced to user-generated advertising makes us poorer in both economic and cultural terms. The arrival of user-created commercials at Super Bowl XLI represents the American Idolization of traditional entertainment — the degeneration of professional content into a "talent show" for amateurs.

I don't agree with everything in this article (it compares the Budweiser frogs with fine wine) but this year's crop of Super Bowl ads was one of the least impressive I can remember, and the user-created ones were really weak.