This past Sunday, Feb. 12, was the biggest game in the National Football League’s (NFL’s) season, with the Kansas City Chiefs taking the victory. The Super Bowl has become almost a national holiday and an international phenomenon, enjoyed by over 130 countries with fifty million people across the globe. Much like the game, the half time show, and the commercials, aired throughout the game have become a staple tradition; creating their own legion of viewers who tune in for the finest commercials the most expensive airtime can buy.
Starting with the best, Tubi stole the night, even receiving the Super Clio award for their two commercials. The streaming rabbit hole, featuring human size rabbits throwing people into rabbit holes in an interesting twist that stood out as strange and scary, was aired with the goal of promoting their streaming service as a rabbit hole of content. Their streaming menu prank was also a standout, featuring two Super Bowl hosts interrupted by their streaming menu, imitating changing the channel mid game. This sent many viewers into a frenzy before they realized nobody had accidentally sat on the remote. Once again, the commercial promoted the company’s streaming service which is now available on demand.
For fans of Breaking Bad, another great commercial showed Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul returning to their most famous roles as Walter White and Jesse Pinkman respectably. They were promoting PopCorners as their new cooking product, with another returning cameo by Raymond Cruz as Tuco Salamanca, one of the show’s most iconic antagonists. Despite the original show’s dark tone, this was a surprisingly hilarious take on the show, and proves that even ten years since its end, these actors can return flawlessly to their characters. The Commercial promoted PopCorners newest seven flavors.
As expected, there were a few upcoming films featured in the Super Bowl. The most anticipated was DC Comics’ “The Flash” starring star Ezra Miller, and Michael Keaton’s Batman, returning to the role after 31 years. This was a standout announcement which created a lot of hype for the film. “Fast X” was also revealed, starring family man Vin Diesel, John Cena and Jason Momoa as the villain, as the first part of the concluding chapter to the “Fast and the Furious” franchise after two decades. Disney did not fall behind, debuting with a celebration of their centennial anniversary, creating a montage of its greatest accomplishments. Disney also brought out a new trailer for “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” and some Marvel films including “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3” and “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” with a humorous commercial featuring Heineken’s new non-alcoholic beer being taken by Antman’s ant friends. It is summer movie season to look forward to.
Ben Stiller and Steve Martin shared a Pepsi commercial returning to some of their popular acting roles, and Will Ferrell teamed up with Netflix and General Motors to promote their latest vehicles, using the aesthetic of some Netflix shows for hilarious results. “Top Gun: Maverick” star Miles Teller shared a Bud Light commercial with his wife Keleigh Sperry in a more Valentine’s themed commercial. Other commercials that also spread love, included Ben Affleck managing a Dunkin Donuts surprising customer and wife Jennifer Lopez at the end of the commercial. Avocados from Mexico had a suggestive commercial starring Anna Faris and a naked Statue of Liberty. Bradley Cooper had wholesome bloopers with his mom in a T-Mobile commercial which they couldn’t finish, and Comedian Maya Rudolph starred with M&Ms to sweeten this special holiday.
Overall, this year did not present as many noteworthy commercials. It was a mostly passable experience with many commercials lacking any punchlines or good jokes, usually the celebrity cameos had some cheesy jokes or memorable lines, but this year’s just passed without any flare. With the aforementioned exceptions, I struggled to remember the rest. Hopefully they are saving the rest for next year’s game.
Eugenio Cantu is a contributor and may be reached at [email protected]
