I’m sure advertisers must have a measure of disappointment when they watch their ad during the Super Bowl … and then see multiple ones just like it. This year, we had numerous electric vehicle commercials, and they were so similar to each other in terms of messaging that I’m certain I can’t name any differences among them. My favorite commercial was Paul Rudd and Seth Rogen reminiscing over a bag of Lay’s. It’s the exact type of humor (e.g., marrying the ghost) I would have used if I wrote the spot myself. A commercial that let me down was the one for Bud Light Seltzer with Guy Fieri. I thought it was a clever concept with the Mayor of Flavor Town, but the execution was terrible—there could have been so much more done in the spot.
If you made it to the end of the game, you got to see Michael B. Jordan as the embodiment of the Alexa device. I appreciated that it was entertaining–you couldn’t wait to see what the woman was going to do next with Jordan–and it showcased all the things that an Alexa device can do (e.g. control the lights). Meanwhile, I thought Paramount+ made a mistake by not explaining that the streaming service is actually going to be the new name of CBS All Access (I had to look it up). At first, I thought CBS was going to lose all of its content, but now I realize it’s just a rebrand.
TAYLOR:
Keep in mind that a 30-second ad cost $5.5 million. Oatly’s commercial featured its CEO singing in a field by himself (a nod to 2020/pandemic) about oat-milk. To me, it was a bit strange and didn’t convince me to go buy oat-milk. If anything, it forced me to drink more regular milk. However, since the ad was shown, Oatly created a limited-edition T-shirt that reads, “I totally hated that Oatly commercial,” under a graphic of the CEO. The company even made an Instagram post saying, “We can’t give you back those 30 seconds, but we can give you this free T-shirt that will let the world know where you stand on our attempt to promote Toni’s singing skills to a wider audience.” Now that’s clever.
JAIMIE:
As anticipated, the majority of this year’s Super Bowl commercials paid homage to 2020 in some way or another. While some brands opted for humor, like Bud Light did with its Lemonade Seltzer ad, others went with a more heartfelt approach. For me, the Anheuser-Busch “Let’s Grab a Beer” commercial struck a nice balance–it was timely and relatable without jumping off the emotional deep end. The ad even had me reminiscing about my days in the service industry. It’s funny to remember how a beer or two with co-workers could help ease the stress from a hectic shift, or in some cases, act as an ice-breaker to what became long-standing friendships. As Anheuser-Busch so eloquently put it, “it’s never just about the beer.”
CARA:
On par with this weekend’s SNL skit, there was a plethora of commercials trying to not-so-subtly address a challenging year of political tensions, racial divide and economic hardships wrapped in a pandemic. While most commercials did little to be clever with their material, I was impressed by Bud Light’s Lemonade Seltzer commercial. The spot included a group of friends reflecting on the “lemon” of a year that 2020 was, but the catch was that in every scene, lemons were literally falling from the sky. It was lighthearted and comical, and it still connected to what they were selling. Cadillac, on the other hand, didn’t do as good of a job connecting its product to its witty ad. I enjoyed the “Edgar Scissorhands” idea for showing off the brand’s hands-free driving feature, but it remains to be seen if people will actually remember what the commercial was selling aside from its nostalgic movie reference.
I was simply not in the mood for any somber or issues-focused commercials last night. After the first few, anytime I saw gray colors or heard dramatic music in the first few seconds, I immediately changed the channel. (I did watch Google’s commercial, and my reaction was that they stole Apple’s playbook.) I did appreciate all the nostalgic commercials, and my favorite was the well-timed Jeep “Groundhog Day” movie. Unlike other brands who try to do spoofs or tie-ins, Jeep actually did a good job incorporating its vehicle properly into the context of the movie.
