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In adifficult timefor America, Super Bowl advertisers are asking viewers to take care of themselves and others — and maybe even smile.
RING shows how neighbors can use their doorbell cameras to find lost pets. A Budweiser Clydesdale protects a bald eagle chick from the rain. Novartis Provides a blood test that can detect prostate cancer. Toyota reminding viewers to fasten their seat belts.
Called Mister Rogers twice: Lady Gaga sang her classic “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” in a tearjerker forRocket Companieswhile theNational Football Leagueuses “You’re Special” to promote its work with youth sports organizations.
America is worried. USconsumer confidencefell to its lowest level since 2014 in January. The killing of two protesters by federal officers in Minneapolis last month led towidespread anger. andwinter timebrutal in most of the country.
“There is a collective trauma. Everyone is stressed. It doesn’t matter who you are, it’s something that affects everyone,” said Vann Graves, the executive director of the Brandcenter at Virginia Commonwealth University.
Super Bowl ads, he says, give people a much-needed break and a rare shared moment.
“It’s time for us to just be human and be silly and enjoy ourselves,” he said.
Played for fun
There is a lot of silliness in commercials this year. Sabrina Carpenter tries to build the perfect person fromPringles. Benson Boone and Ben Stiller play a disco duo who do flipsInstacart. Andy Samberg, who plays “Meal Diamond,” squirtssaid Hellmannmayonnaise on the sandwiches of Elle Fanning and other deli customers.
Polar bears — the traditional mascots of Coca-Cola — share aPepsiin a fraudulent ad last yearviral kiss cam. Adrien Brody can’t stop overacting in a commercial forTurboTax.
Delivery services are trying to outdo each other. George Clooney appears in aGrubhubad to promote free shipping on orders of $50 or more.Uber Eatsenlists Matthew McConaughey to convince Bradley Cooper and Parker Posey that football is a conspiracy to starve people. And Rapper 50 Cent trollsSean “Diddy” Combsin an ad forDoorDash.
AI Bowl
Artificial intelligence is all over the Super Bowl airwaves.
Oakley MetaLook for his AI-enabled glasses in two action-packed spots featuring Spike Lee, Marshawn Lynch and others using the glasses to film video and answer questions.Wixdebuted an ad for Wix Harmony, which uses AI tools for website design.
Witness Vodkaenlisted Silverside AI, an AI studio, to help create its ad, which features its robot mascot FemBot dancing alongside its male counterpart, BroBot.
Like AI itself, AI ads are not withoutcontroversy. AI developerAnthropicaired a pair of commercials pointing out that Claude, its chatbot, is free of ads. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman issued this in a recentpost on social media; OpenAI said last month that it would begin testing ads as a way to keep ChatGPT free.
AmazonAn ad starring Chris Hemsworth that poked fun at people’s fear of AI was also unnerving. The ad ran just a few days after Amazonlaid off 16,000 corporate workerssome of themcan be replacedwith AI.
“I suspect it’s meant to be funny, but it might reinforce some real concerns people have about AI,” said Tim Calkins, a clinical professor of marketing at Northwestern University.
Health Trouble
Super Bowl ads still celebrate snacks. Bowen Yang, Scarlett Johansson and Jon Hamm are pitching togetherRitzcrackers. A retired potato farmer passes the farm on to his daughter in a heartfelt ad forsaid Lay.
But there is also one that focuses on health. Octavia Spencer and Sofia Vergara urge people to get tested for kidney disease in an ad forBoehringer Ingelheim.
Mike Tyson talks about his brother’s death from obesity in an ad that encourages people to eat real, unprocessed food. The ad is paid forMAHA Center Inc., a nonprofit led by Tony Lyons, a publisher and key ally of the US Health SecretaryRobert F. Kennedy Jr.
GLP-1 weight loss drugsalso crashed the party.Novo Nordisktrumpeted his new Wegovy pills in an ad featuring Kenan Thompson, DJ Khaled, Danielle Brooks, Ana Gasteyer, John C. Reilly and Danny Trejo. Telehealth companyRofeatured his GLP-1s in an ad starring Serena Williams.
Hims & Herswhich recently introduced its own GLP-1 pill, says it gives everyone access to better health care, not just the rich.
Nostalgia
A way to make Americans feel better? Awakening warm memories of the past.
T-MobileThe Backstreet Boys performed a version of their 1999 hit “I Want It That Way.”Volkswagenback in 1992 with a commercial set of House of Pain’s “Jump Around.”
andXfinityreunited Sam Neill, Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum in a tongue-in-cheek reimagining of 1993’s “Jurassic Park” that featured Xfinity restoring power to the island so no one was upset.
Record breaking prices
Advertisers flock to the Super Bowl every year because more people watch the big game.By 2025, a record 127.7 million US viewers will be watching the gameacross television and streaming platforms.
Jura Liaukonyte, a marketing professor at Cornell University’s SC Johnson College of Business, said companies that typically have to split ad dollars across broadcast and streaming platforms will pay a premium for Super Bowl spots to reach a unified audience.
This year’s Super Bowl ads cost an average of $8 million per 30-second unit, but some spots sold for $10 million-plus, a record, said Peter Lazarus, who leads advertising and partnerships for NBC Sports. He said he called in February, with the Super Bowl,Olympicsand theNBA All-Star Game“legendary February.”
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
