For years, watching the commercials between plays was just as exciting as watching the Super Bowl itself. All of the creative advertisements would be hot topics of popular culture for weeks after, and this year’s Super Bowl ads are being discussed like no other– but for all the wrong reasons. While there were still a few winners, artificial intelligence (AI) products dominated the advertising sphere this year, and there were an uncomfortable amount of island-related commercials.
The Super Bowl is the biggest marketing day of the year, providing unmatched viewership and reach. Super Bowl LX averaged 124.9 million viewers, which meant 124.9 million potential customers. Companies used to take full advantage of this, coining catchy slogans or presenting creative images that people couldn’t get out of their heads (such as the iconic “Puppy Monkey Baby” from 2016).
This year, instead of viewers using the ads as a catalogue of products to buy, many people were left disappointed with what the companies showcased. Absolutely no one asked to see AI, and yet 15 out of the 66 total commercials (23 percent) were either created by AI or were advertising AI. Amazon/Ring, Genspark, Google, Meta,Oakley, Microsoft and OpenAI all took slots this year. Many people were perturbed by the Ring ad in particular because it launched its new feature that could “help find lost dogs,” but instead just meant an increase in surveillance as AI would be able to look through and analyze anyone’s camera footage. However, after all of the online backlash, Ring ended its partnership with the surveillance firm Flock Safety.
AI is increasing in prominence in American life day by day, which some people fully embrace while others are entirely resistant. This surge of ads may be an attempt to normalize AI as a facet of life, considering Super Bowl ads are typically for everyday things like Doritos, sodas, cars and alcohol.
Exemplifying this was Svedka’s commercial. It was entirely generated by AI and depicts humanoid robots drinking vodka. Many people online were confused on what AI has to do with alcohol and found that to be entirely unnecessary.
On the other hand, one of the biggest winners of Super Bowl ads this year was also an alcohol ad. Budweiser aired a story about a baby eagle and a baby horse becoming friends and moving through life together which was both heartwarming and visually stunning. There’s one incredible shot of the eagle riding the horse, its head obscured but wings fully extended, achieved entirely without AI. After all of the AI content that came before it, audiences were overjoyed to see something real while invoking classic American imagery for a classic American brand.
Another potential classic this year was the Levi’s ad; the iconic denim brand hadn’t aired a Super Bowl ad in over two decades and came back with a bang. With the tagline “Behind Every Original,” it pictured the back pockets of a diverse lineup of people featuring Woody from “Toy Story,” Bruce Springsteen and Doechii. As a brand, Levi’s tries to portray a brand image of originality and timelessness, so featuring a vast lineup of artists and activities makes perfect sense.
It wouldn’t be a Super Bowl without endless celebrity cameos in ads, but not everyone did it as well as Levi’s. Mike Tyson was in an anti-obsesity ad saying “I was so fat and nasty. I would eat anything… a quart of ice cream every hour.”
While the anti-processed food message could be good in theory, the way that it was portrayed coupled with the substantial amount of ads for using GLP-1s to lose weight left a sour taste in many people’s mouths. This was only confounded considering that it was funded by the “Make America Healthy Again” center that aligns itself with Robert F. Kennedy Jr.,the U.S. Secretary of Health. Bosch dressed up Guy Fieri as a normal looking guy and Squarespace used Emma Stone in a very artsy, cinematic ad that mirrored the tone of recent films she starred in and was directed by Yorgos Lanthimos.
Dunkin Donuts’s ad referenced Good Will Hunting and starred age-reversed celebrities from iconic media of decades prior such as Ben Affleck, Jennifer Aniston and Matt Leblanc, leaving people to wonder if AI was involved or if it was just odd CGI.
There was also a unique category of ads this year, which was “ads that people didn’t like because they seemed to reference Jeffrey Epstein.” One of these was Ritz Crackers, whose script had people being “salty” because they weren’t invited to an island. Another was Pringles in which Sabrina Carpenter built and then ate a man made of chips. Nerds was also included in this, as people thought that actor Andy Cohen looked like Epstein, and people were unsettled by the fact that he ate gummy clusters while little baby gummy clusters were running around the pool.
The commercials that accompanied Super Bowl LX will definitely be remembered, but in infamy rather than glory. The few good ads were drowned out in the sea of AI, a first in marketing history. Despite the high cost of these slots, very few companies left a positive impression on audiences.
