On Feb. 11, millions gathered around a screen and settled in for one of the most important days in live sports: Super Bowl Sunday. More specifically, many laid in wait for the stream of commercials that would, in the minds of some, dominate all actual gameplay. This year’s Super Bowl commercials were, as always, rife with celebrity cameos, big brands and the ever-present beer ads that make you proud to be an American. Let’s take a moment to recap the best and worst commercials this year.
The Best:
CeraVe
This was a commercial that received some mixed reviews from online critics. The New York Times, the over 160,000 voters in USA TODAY’s Ad Meter competition and Billboard all snubbed what was arguably one of the best commercial of the night: Michael Cera for CeraVe. However, a team of industry experts at Clio awarded the Michael CeraVe commercial their annual Super Clio Award for best Super Bowl ad. CeraVe set up the commercial with a social media campaign that included Michael Cera signing CeraVe bottles and speaking about the brand on a podcast. A pun goes a long way in a thirty second long commercial and CeraVe continued their recent social media popularity, due mostly to TikTok, capitalizing on their young audience by using Cera, who has recently been known as Alan in “Barbie,” as their focal point.
Junior Ellen Mannschreck spoke about how CeraVe’s commercial was her favorite part of Super Bowl Sunday.
“I thought it was really clever and added something different to what we usually see in these commercials, which has started feeling repetitive,” Mannschreck said.
BMW
In yet another celebrity cameo, Christopher Walken appeared in BMW’s ad for their BMW 5-series. Walken goes through his daily routine and finds himself faced with strangers who keep imitating him. BMW pushed this ad heavily, with there being two ads leading up to the release of the main ad during the Super Bowl, in addition to multiple social media posts previewing it. A clever celebrity cameo makes a great commercial and BMW accomplished just that. Even if a younger audience wasn’t familiar with Walken’s work, they would still know the much used Walken impression. This provided a familiarity and charm to an ad introducing BMW’s first all electric BMW i5.
Various Movie Trailers
The announcement of a Kung Fu Panda 4 was a happy surprise during the game, and many will find themselves gearing up for two more Ryan Reynolds masterpieces in “If” and “Deadpool & Wolverine.” The first look at “Wicked” also sparked interest, if only as the focal piece of Ariana Grande’s new relationship with co-star Ethan Slater. Additionally, “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” and “Knuckles” both provided a much needed break from the onslaught of ads.
Budweiser
In keeping with the age-old tradition of the presence of a beer commercial during the Super Bowl, Budweiser’s “Old-School Delivery” commercial featured Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russel’s dog, Roy Hawn Russel, and a team of horses. The undercover celebrity appearance leaves a fun easter egg for those of us who love to research these ads further.
Junior Caroline Collins spoke about how Budweiser was her favorite commercial of the night.
“I love the dog and horses in it and it was so wholesome,” Collins said.
The Worst:
Temu
If you haven’t heard of Temu, you must not have watched the Super Bowl. With three ads during and two after the game, Temu dominated our Super Bowl Sunday screens, reminding us of its search to be the next — and cheaper — Amazon. With the company currently having been under congressional investigation for unfair labor practices and pushback from lawmakers regarding the airing of the commercials, it is fair to say that this set of ads may very well be the most controversial of all the Super Bowl commercials.
Junior Sophie Cucinotta had a lasting memory of Temu’s series of advertisements.
“I remember [Temu’s ads] because there were so many of them,” Cucinotta said. “It felt like a lot to me and I wasn’t sure what they were trying to promote.”
Oreo
In a world where we no longer flip coins and instead twist oreos in order to make tough decisions, key moments such as the sacking of Troy and the birth of the Kardashian empire are decided with a simple twist of the oreo. It is never explained how exactly these grand figures make these decisions based on this cookie — does the cream on the right cookie equal heads in a coin toss? This was a far cry from the last time they were part of the ad lineup for the Super Bowl in 2013, where a viral tweet stating that viewers could still “dunk in the dark” after a power outage during the game cemented their commercial legacy.
