Photo Courtesy of Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What happened to Super Bowl commercials? I distinctly remember being a little kid and being told that the best commercials always played during the Super Bowl. That was true for a while. These ads were essential to the Super Bowl experience. You watched the game and halftime show, ate good food and saw funny commercials. Brands always produced laugh-out-loud commercials just for the Super Bowl. They often cleverly straddle the space between the appropriate and the inappropriate in public spaces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Beer brands, for example, always brought their A-games to commercials. I still remember the famous \u201cDilly, Dilly!\u201d shouted in the Bud Light Knight commercials, a massive hit in the wake of Game of Thrones\u2019 popularity in 2018. Nor will I forget the Doritos commercial where a baby prematurely launched himself out of the womb to get a Dorito dropped on the ground (Doritos always had the best commercials, they just weren\u2019t the most appropriate).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, sometime around 2020 the Super Bowl ads just became less funny. Sadly, they haven\u2019t recovered since then, and this year was the usual disappointment I\u2019ve grown accustomed to experiencing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That said, there is a reason to be optimistic for the future of Super Bowl commercials despite this year\u2019s unimpressive performance: emerging Gen-Z influence in commercials. This was the first year I have seen the influence of my generation on Super Bowl commercials, and perhaps this signals a change of guard for the next generation of commercials. While the commercials weren\u2019t great this year, there is a reason to have hope for the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Among the slim pickings, there were five commercials that contributed to my optimism for the future. Here is my list below: <\/p>\n\n\n\n
5. Squarespace <\/strong>The Singularity (Extended) | Big Game Commercial 2023 | Squarespace<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n You can\u2019t possibly go wrong if you have Adam Driver in your commercial. Squarespace, \u201ca website that makes websites,\u201d perfectly markets its company slogan in this commercial. While Driver repeats this catchphrase, he questions how the catchphrase can even make sense, leading to his existential realization about Squarespace: \u201cthen it could create itself.\u201d This commercial markets the product very well, by repeatedly saying exactly what Squarespace does, and also made me laugh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 4. Tubi <\/strong>Tubi Interface Interruption | Super Bowl<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Tubi commercial hijacked the TV screens of Super Bowl parties all over the country and made us think someone had changed the channel. This was a very creative commercial concept that left every Super Bowl watcher screaming at the person closest to the remote. In the moment, it wasn\u2019t so funny when you thought someone had accidentally changed the channel, but in retrospect, it was a very original commercial concept, and something to look back on and laugh about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 3. Samuel Adams <\/strong>Sam Adams | 2023 Big Game Commercial | Your Cousin\u2019s Brighter Boston<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n This Sam Adams commercial combines two things never associated with each other: Boston residents and niceness. The commercial starts with a Boston man walking into a store and buying a Sam Adams, now \u201cBrighter.\u201d The cashier says, \u201cimagine that, a brighter Boston,\u201d and the man has an ensuing daydream where he imagines Boston residents being nice. The daydream includes two women arguing that the other should have a parking spot, a Red Sox fan hugging a Yankees fan at Fenway Park, a man being gifted ballet tickets and Kevin Garnett (famous for his trash talk in the NBA) giving a presentation promoting spreading love. This was by far the best beer commercial of the Super Bowl.<\/p>\n\n\n\n