The Best, Worst, and Weirdest Ads of 2002

Dec. 23 -- It has been a weird and wonderful year in advertising, and one in which the industry was called upon to promote some unusual messages, like instructing Americans on the meaning of freedom, and discouraging drug use on the grounds of anti-terrorism.

For the first time in years, Bob Garfield of Advertising Age magazine has given out three four-star awards to commercials. He spoke to Good Morning America about the year in advertisements.

One of his favorite commercials of the year was for Saturn, a car ad without cars.

"In six month's time, this will have a basket full of trophies," Garfield said on ABCNEWS' Good Morning America.

"It just shows how this company makes the claim that it builds its cars not with the sheet metal in mind but you," Garfield said.

"When we design cars, we don't see sheet metal," the voice-over says. "We see the people who may someday drive them. Introducing the re-designed L-series, the Vue and the all-new Ion. It's different in a Saturn"

Garfield's other four-star ads this year were Nike's "Tag" commercial, which captured the world's biggest-ever game of tag in the streets of Toronto, and Pepsi's Super Bowl advertisement featuring pop queen Britney Spears in a 1950s glam look.

Selling Saudi Arabia?

The year 2002 also saw some ad blunders.

One of the worst commercials of the year, according to Garfield, was created to "sell" a very strange product: Saudi Arabia. The commercial focuses on Saudi Arabia's role as an ally to the United States against terrorism.

"In the war on terrorism we all have a part to play. One country has been an ally for over 60 years. A global leader donating more foreign aid per capita than any other nation. A partner in investigating more than 150 suspected terrorist accounts. And a force for stabilizing oil prices during this time of war," the commercial said.

The screen reads: "The People of Saudi Arabia, Allies Against Terrorism."

Garfield said he found the ad to be deceitful and obnoxious, given reports that the Saudi royal family has been financing radical Islam abroad as a way to keep the peace at home.

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