Volkswagen’s Super Bowl ad for the 2012 Beetle lets the dog strike back

No Super Bowl ad faces a tougher standard than Volkswagen, whose 2011 spot featuring a pee-wee Darth Vader and the Volkswagen Passat was one of the best commercials of the entire year. Here's this year's entry, featuring an obese dog, the 2012 VW Beetle and a twist ending.

We can thank/blame VW use of The Force for spawning this year's bacchanalia of car-related Super Bowl ad; nearly one-third of the commercial time during Sunday's game will be taken with pitches for new vehicles. Last year, even the less creative ads had a measurable impact on sales, and one -- Chrysler's "Imported From Detroit" -- became a tag line still repeated 12 months on.