I Watched the Super Bowl So You Didn’t Have To
…but I hope you did, if purely in protest of our current administration.
I am notoriously not a sports fan, but I usually tune in for the Super Bowl. Not for the repetitive commentary or the testosterone-induced showdown, oh no, but for the commercials (and the food. We made buffalo chicken wings AND buffalo chicken dip. Believe me, we’re feeling the pain today). Like the marketing nerd I am, I usually mute the game and unmute for the commercials.
I was wondering what people would do this year, considering, well…*gestures* everything. Even the Super Bowl halftime show was made into a controversy by the maggots in charge. I’ll say it with my whole chest, I don’t care.
In a time when horrendous files have been released publicly and we found out that things were much, much worse than we ever could have imagined, a time where nurses get shot down in the street, children and families are held in detention centers, protests are ramping up again, and racism is at an all time high, it seems that many advertisers sat this one out. There were a good number of repeat ads, and the overall sentiment was less silly than it usually is.
A huge sentiment that I hear (and generally echo) from my peers on LinkedIn is that any marketer worth their salt will know when to be silent. I think this is a big challenge to navigate during unprecedented times that just…never seem to end.
Mike Tyson’s take on obesity and “chubbiness” was an interesting choice considering all that’s going on in the world, while Christina Applegate’s commercial about MS really resonated with me (though I can’t seem to find it anywhere online).
I thought Bad Bunny’s halftime show performance was a beautiful showcase of culture that had me (yet again) wishing that I had chosen to study Spanish in High School rather than taking French because it was the opposite of what most of my peers were doing. Yes, that couple did get married on stage for real, and no, the little boy was not our bunny hat-wearing Liam Conejo Ramos, but he certainly reminded a lot of people on the internet of that sweet little boy that had his life changed forever when he was swept up in the orange maniac’s reign of terror. It was an emotional exchange, regardless, and a great reminder to pick Duolingo back up because in America, we celebrate diversity, despite what some may say.
As someone who’s been a Green Day fan since the 2004 release of American Idiot, I was really looking forward to their performance. I know a lot of people are disappointed in them for not playing the verse that they usually adapt to ‘Not a part of a MAGA agenda’, and I’ll admit that I was disappointed, too. However, as someone with experience in the entertainment industry, I imagine there was a discussion that played out ahead of the performance in which mutual respect guided the choice.
The Super Bowl is an incredibly touchy subject, and on that note, I still find it interesting that Justin Timberlake was invited back, and we have yet to see Janet Jackson return after the halftime show that shocked the world in 2004. I think it’s safe to say that misstepping can take a major toll on an artist’s career, and we need bands like Green Day to continue to be invited to worldwide broadcasts such as this one. Plus, playing Holiday into Boulevard of Broken Dreams into American Idiot was clearly a choice in and of itself.
I was a little disappointed in the commercial selection this year overall, but I have a lot of respect for the teams making the decision to stay silent. I also feel fortunate enough that the clients I tend to work with are very outspoken about their stance on ICE and the atrocities taking place in our country.
Two commercials I did like were the Post Malone beer commercial with the keg rolling down the hill and the entire wedding party tumbling down after it, though I admittedly didn’t remember which beer it was for until I looked it up just now to pull the clip.
The second one that stood out to me was the Jurassic Park commercial for Xfinity featuring several members of the original cast. I’m a sucker for nostalgia and for cameos, so this one was a huge win for me (and the internet is saying it WASN’T AI).
Last but not least was the Budweiser commercial. It certainly caught my attention as an animal lover, but 100% using AI and then choosing to create animal protagonists that would pull at your heartstrings felt a bit manipulative to me. Topping it all off with an actual horse and eagle immediately following solidified that thought.
I didn’t love how heavy AI was pushed throughout most of the Super Bowl ads this year, considering the environmental impact that most people seem to be unaware of. That’s for sure. Plus, did anyone else notice that everything about the Super Bowl seemed *extra* souped up and gladiator-style, too? Maybe I just don’t watch enough football to notice.
If you made it this far, thanks for reading, and please don’t make memes out of little Liam. Let’s be sincere or silent where it matters.
Reading the room,
-H