Up until 2020, I watched all the commercials for every Super Bowl. This year I’m just going to talk about a few that stood out to me. I’ll surely miss some. Also, I’m not going to cover all the commercials with celebrities, some of which, like the Scarlett Johansson and Colin Jost Alexa commercial, were just awful. I also disliked the weird General Motors Dr. Evil commercial, probably because I never liked those movies in the first place. There were plenty of commercials I appreciated and some are below! I’m also including a few people might want to talk about. You can see a much more comprehensive list of commercials at TheAthletic.com.
Bud Light Seltzer Hard Soda: Land of Loud Flavors
This was my favorite commercial as it had such a clever concept and lead-in. I loved the scifi movie setting with the Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives theme.
Lay’s: Golden Memories
I have no idea what Lays was going for with this bonkers commercial with Paul Rudd and Seth Rogen, but it took a turn that I did not expect and I loved it.
Pringles: Stuck In
This was a gem of a commercial with a simple, well executed idea. It also made me think about how Pringles are underrated, particularly because of how portable they are.
Kia: Robo Dog
A lot of people loved this Kia commercial featuring a robot dog falling for their electric car. It works and made me look up this gorgeous car, which is out of my price range.
BMW: Zeus and Hera
This also made me want an electric car! Also peggy is adorable.
Meta Quest: Old Friends. New Fun
This spot from Meta is a straight ripoff of the award-winning Black Mirror episode, San Junipero. It also steals a plot point from one of my favorite movies of all time, Toy Story 3. It works, but it’s not original at all and feels manipulative. I hope Meta fails hard.
Irish Spring: Welcome to Irish Spring
I liked this weird Irish Spring commercial! You expected it to get dark and it didn’t. It’s got a creepy cult feel like the first quarter of a horror movie.
Toyota: The Joneses
This was a fun and memorable ad. I really hope they tried to get James Earl Jones because if not that was a major oversight!
Planet Fitness: What’s Gotten into Lindsay?
This isn’t a bad ad, but it relies on the idea that people still wonder about Lindsay Lohan, which is not really the case.
Uber: Don’t Eats
This could have been done without the celebrities and just the guy yelling about eating the kitty litter. That made me laugh, but the rest fell flat.
Hellmann’s: Mayo Tackles Food Waste
Pete Davidson’s parting line is hilarious and true!
Nissan: Thrill Driver
There are so many celebrities in this commercial and while it’s a bit over the top it did bring it all together at the end. Plus I looked up this car too!
Honorable mentions:
Rocket Mortgage: Dream House with Anna Kendrick
Booking.com: Idris Elba says things
Chevy Silverado: New Generation
Verizon: Goodbye Cable
T-Mobile: Scrubs reunion
Taco Bell: Grande Escape
Carvana: Oversharing Mom
Budweiser: A Clydesdale’s Journey
It felt like every celebrity on the planet had a super bowl commercial. It was a lot. I liked the Toyota truck one.
There were some good ads, but I’m not sure we needed celebrities in half of them.
Agree that Uber Eats didn’t need all those people (Goop-pass) and I thought the Rocket Mortgage Dream House / Barbi ad was good and still would have landed without Anna Kendrick.
Also why why so many celebs and crypto ads. Boo.
Funny enough, the ad that most stuck out to me was the Telemundo Gooooooooooool World Cup ad in the 1st quarter. Maybe because it was so unexpected.
Sooo many celebs and crypto ads, and agree that it’s weird. That said, I did think the Larry David FTX commercial was a great concept although wish he had been hawking something else.
I liked the Scarlett and Colin ad! I think because it reminded my husband and me of our own attempts to be supportive. I was massively disappointed with the Idris Elba commercial for Booking.com. What a waste of a beautiful, talented man!
I liked it too, thought it was funny. It also made the mouthwash snippet that they’ve been showing make a lot more sense.
I liked the Barbie/Masters of the universe commercial. Hated Affleck promoting gambling. The Soprano’s commercial was such a nice surprise.
I feel like the commercials are not as good as they used to be and some of them are just bad. I also liked the Chevy one with Meadow and AJ, that music alone. It brought me back.
Loved the Barbie and the Pringles ads. I eat way too many Pringles, love those things!
I liked the Disney+ one with all the goats dressed up as Star Wars and Marvel characters. The BMW/Zeus one was cute too.
That’s literally all I remember. Underwhelming, to say the least. Too many crypto commercials.
Ok, so I also liked the Doritos ad. Cute.
I like the Verizon one. Normally, I can’t stand Jim Carrey but that made me laugh.
An ad that I thought was particularly effective was Turkish Airlines with Morgan Freeman, and doesn’t work with anyone but Morgan Freeman narrating. I’d never heard of the airline and now I have, and have an impression that they’re reputable. Not funny or cute or anything, but one of the few that needed the celebrity to work.
My favorite was the Chevy Sopranos one.
I loved the Lays commercial with Rudd & Rogan (“I’ve never seen any your movies!” “Not even the ones we’re both in?!”), the Doritos one (very cute), and the Verizon one (brilliant throwback to The Cable Guy). I’m definitely that person who only watches the SB for the commercials 😂
I loved the Zeus and Hera commercial and I want a baby Pegasus! Also loved the Rogan/Rudd commercial.