State Farm Stadium, Glendale, AZ — February 12, 2023
If you tuned into Super Bowl LVII (57) to watch football, you got to see a pretty good game. Kansas City kicked a field goal with eight seconds left to pull off a 38-35 comeback win over the Philadelphia Eagles.
If you tuned in to watch commercials, you might have been disappointed. To say it was a down year for the advertisers who kicked up a reported six to seven million dollars for a 30-second spot might be an understatement.
After the Philadelphia Eagles took the opening kickoff and marched down the field for a touchdown and a 7-0 lead. The first commercial break had Dunkin Donuts leading off the ad-fest with a comic spot featuring Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck. How many donuts do you need to sell to cover their salary and the ad fee?
Hollywood showed why it is so expensive to take a date out to the movies with popcorn and a drink. Movie producers spent more money on Super Bowl commercials than any other advertiser.
E-Trade Babies
The E-Trade babies provided an early highlight with the “Baby Wedding” spot that proved just how cute youngsters talking like adults could be.
A first-quarter lowlight featured Avocados from Mexico, proving that nudity is not always funny or entertaining and might be considered somewhat inappropriate.
Pepsi Zero Sugar
Pepsi spent a lot of money paying actors to act excited about their Zero Sugar soft drink. Judge for yourself if that was a good strategy.
Two ads before halftime added some hope that things would improve after Rihanna entertained during the break.
The Google Pixel Seven phone proves to be the bain of photo bombers everywhere. However, it takes 90 seconds or $20 million to get the message across.
And Mars Candy reminded us how much we miss the M&M guys.
Doritos Disappoints
In past years Frito-Lay, with its Dorotos brand, ruled the Super Bowl Commercial rankings. This year the triangle ad did not ring true with viewers.
Cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike outdistanced all the newcomers with an ad that reminded users how dangerous trojan horses could be. A personal favorite.
Another new company Workday showed us some real rock stars.
Beer commercials have been a staple of Super Bowl ads for years. After a disappointing start, Bud Light got the brewers back on track with a fantasy revolving around being on an extended phone call hold.
Then Busch followed up with a gentle poke at Sarah McLachlan’s music being used in various donation solicitation commercials.
A few years ago, Planters killed off Mr. Peanut in a Super Bowl Commercial. Apparently, company ad icons have multiple lives. We can only hope that extends to the M&M’s guys.
Summing up this year’s Super Bowl Commercial reviews, it is a sad commentary that the NFL’s own advertisement proved to be must-see TV, and then they blocked it from wider distribution.
