Last night the underdogs I rooted for because they were not Tom Brady’s team actually won the Super Bowl (spoiler). It was tight at the end, and I assumed that the Patriots would take it home, because that would be typical of 2018. Like the last election I was pleasantly surprised, and the Philadelphia Eagles won their first Super Bowl. We’re here to talk about the commercials though, (Kaiser has separate coverage of Justin Timberlake’s underwhelming halftime performance, which was peak 2018).

Tide made everyone forget that idiots are eating their detergents pods as a social media dare by using Stranger Things’s David Harbour to mimic and subvert just about every genre of ad. They started with this ad, below, which was a clever mash of multiple ad archetypes. This was a brilliant preview of their ads to come, as we’ll discuss in a moment.

Tide: It’s a Tide Ad

At the end of that ad Harbour asked “so, does this make every ad a Tide ad?” and I was like “whatever, overreaching” but they had me wondering that several times. They snuck Tide ads in throughout the night looking like other ads, like Old Spice, Mr. Clean and Budweiser. They so expertly mimicked typical ad styles that it was just as surprising when some ads weren’t for Tide. For instance there was a T-Mobile ad featuring babies with a vanilla diversity narration by Kerry Washington. It seemed so hackneyed that I thought for sure it was from Tide. Other ads, particularly from car companies, had me questioning their origins too.

Tide: It’s Another featuring Isaiah Mustafa

This one made me go “oh sh-t” when they did the reveal. How do these spokespeople basically mock the gigs that made them famous? I’m also thinking of the Verizon guy, who now works for Sprint.

Tide: It’s Yet Another

I exclaimed out loud when this wasn’t a sexy Mr. Clean ad. They also mock the countrified beer ads. Genius.

Tide: It’s Yet Another

This is a riff on prescription drug ads and while it’s the weakest of the Tide ads it was still more entertaining than most of the ads last night.

E-Trade: This is Getting Old

A lot of people loved these E-Trade ads, which show elderly people working when they should be retired with significant savings. The jobs look kind of awesome, as do the seniors. I wouldn’t mind working as a DJ in my 80s. E-Trade is pretty decent at having memorable Big Game ads.

Avocados from Mexico: GuacWorld

People get stuck in a biodome full of avocados without any chips and start rioting. The leader explains that avocados taste great on other things and they calm down, until the wifi goes down. This made me laugh out loud.

Doritos Blaze vs. Mountain Dew Ice featuring Peter Dinklage and Morgan Freeman

My kid really liked this ad for Doritos Blaze vs Mountain Dew Ice featuring a lip sync battle between Peter Dinklage and Morgan Freeman. That’s high praise coming from a 13 year-old. I think Freeman’s Dew Ice won this one, if only because Missy Elliot trumps Busta Rhymes.

Tourism Australia Dundee featuring Chris Hemsworth and Danny McBride

I vaguely remember hearing that a Crocodile Dundee sequel was being made with multiple big names, but it turns out that it was all a preview for this Tourism Australia ad that just looks like a movie trailer. This was a really great idea that had me fooled until the part about the wineries. It may have won the night if it wasn’t for Tide.

Rocket Mortgage featuring Keegan-Michael Key

Key explains complicated jargon to people, including a woman getting a haircut, a guy eating at a hipster restaurant, and a dad trying to understand rap lyrics. When he breaks it down for a couple trying to get a mortgage, we get to the point of the commercial and we’re already hooked. Come explain football to me, Key.

Pringles featuring Bill Hadler

Apparently this is Pringles first ever Super Bowl ad, which makes me wonder if they’re doing ok. Are people eating less Pringles? Should I do my part and consume them? Bill and a couple of other guys on a fake movie set have their mind blown by the concept that you can combine Pringles to make different flavors. They say “wow,” it starts getting old, and then they yell at a guy suspended in a harness for trying to chime in. It does make me want Pringles, but I’m hungry.

Febreeze: The only man whose bleep don’t stink

I hate all air fresheners, including Febreeze, because they usually make me dizzy. I wish that air fresheners would be heavily regulated and that all hotels would be required to have windows that opened. Why is putting perfume over a bad smell now more common than opening a window? Still, this is a cute quirky ad featuring a guy whose s-t doesn’t stink, reminding us that ours really does stink and that other people are embarassed of theirs too.

Michelob Ultra featuring Chris Pratt

This is funny because it’s probably more work than Chris Pratt does for any of his other roles, apart from working out. The follow up ad, where he’s in the background as other people star, was the real standout for Michelob.

M&M’s featuring Danny Devito

Try not to laugh at Danny Devito wandering around NY City asking people if they want to eat him. That’s just hilarious. I won’t ever look at red M&M’s the same. This is DeVito’s first Super Bowl ad. There’s actually a behind the scenes video for this and it’s worth watching if you have time. Plus this has a bookend commercial where Danny turns back into an M&M.

Ram Trucks: Icelandic vikings will rock you

This was a cool ad highlighting the manly ruggedness of Ram Trucks. I liked this one. Their second ad set a bunch of faux inspiring scenes to a voiceover by Martin Luther King, Jr. and it seemed so manipulative to me. Did MLK’s family get paid for that, or is the speech in the public domain? I tried googling this, it’s called The Drum Major Instinct sermon and is the last speech MLK gave before he was assassinated. That’s shameless, and Ram was rightfully dragged for this.

Hyundai Hope Detectors

This was the most absurdly contrived commercial I think I’ve ever seen. People go through a fake security checkpoint only to be pulled into another room where they’re told by cancer patients that they saved their lives by being Hyundai drivers. How did this get greenlit? How does it make any sense? It’s like when the cop pulls you over and gives you ice cream, then tells you that the route you took helped pay for a child’s prosthetic legs, then the child ambles over and you adopt him. Then, after you adopt him they make another f’ing commercial about it, like the one that aired before the Super Bowl by Mass Mutual.

Verizon – Answering the Call

My cousin loved that Mass Mutual “Stand By Me” commercial and she also named this Verizon first responders ad as one of her favorites. This was another one of those emotionally manipulative commercials that does appeal to people.

Squarespace featuring Keanu Reeves

Squarespace has smartly paired celebrity side projects with their easy-to-make website platform for excellent commercials. Squarespace’s 2015 big game ad featured Jeff Bridges’s meditation album and now Keanu is working with Squarespace to promote his custom motorcycle business, Arch Motorcycles. I like the simple concept of Keanu standing up riding and reciting self help mantras to a jazzy soundtrack. I’m going to watch this when I need motivation.

Lexus featuring Black Panther

This makes the car look extremely cool by association, so it works. It’s also highly entertaining and makes me want to see this movie as soon as possible.

Pepsi throwback ad

As a former Diet Pepsi drinker this ad pisses me off SO MUCH. Diet Pepsi of course changed their formula from aspartame to sucralose a couple of years ago with little-to-no warning to consumers. The new Diet Pepsi tastes too sweet to me, I switched to Diet Coke and never looked back. So here’s Pepsi reminding us of all their classic ads with Britney, Justin and Cindy, along with the fact that their regular formula is still the same. What about those of us who drink diet soda, you stupid Pepsi execs? We switched to Coke.

Budweiser: Stand By You

This ad is powerful because it leaves you with the question – how did I not know that Budweiser had special disaster relief water that they distributed in cans that looked like beer? It’s true and Anheuser Busch has done this type of relief work for 30 years, according to their website. Unfortunately this aired after a Tide commercial and I wondered for about ten seconds whether it was real or Tide.

Groupon featuring Tiffany Haddish

Tiffany makes anything funny, but the concept for this Groupon commercial is weak. It’s some kids in football uniforms kicking a football into a rich guy’s crotch. Groupon should have worked with Tiffany on ideas. She’s one of their best customers and she’s funnier than their ad writers.

Alexa lost her voice

A clever concept, well executed by celebrities stepping in for Alexa and screwing up the service. The best is Cardi B refusing to play country music but creepy Anthony Hopkins is pretty good too.

Universal Orlando: Peyton Manning: Vacation Quarterback

I wasn’t going to cover this, but it was so cute and it made me want to visit Universal Orlando with my kid. The concept, of kids schooling Peyton, was just so well done.

The Voice – wants to be Tide

I’m not covering the trailers or show promotions that aired last night, Kaiser will cover the standouts, but I wanted to talk about this commercial for The Voice. This was fun and also used the Tide tactic of mocking other commercials, only it was so over the top it went a little too far. The tone is off somehow compared to Tide. Again, Kudos to Tide.

Here are links to some of the other commercials which aired last night.
Bud Light – Ye Olde Pep Talk

Bud Light – The Bud Knight

Wix featuring Rhett and Link

Stella Artois featuring Matt Damon and Water.org

Sprint: Evelyn

Duracell Hoodie

Turbotax: The Noise in the Attic

Wendys continues trolling McDonalds expertly

Jack in the Box featuring Martha Stewart

Kia makes Steven Tyler a 20-something rock star again

Winter Olympics featuring Lindsey Vonn

Winter Olympics featuring Shaun White