Super Bowl 53 will go down as one of the least exciting and lowest scoring games in Super Bowl history. So you could say the commercials were more interesting, but that’s not saying much.
Overall, this year’s crop was uneventful, just like the game. Companies brought more of the funny and creative starting in the second quarter, but then the quality dipped again. Politics and celebrity cameos were down, robots were in.
Fewer companies released their ads online before the game and maybe they finally realized it hurts the impact of the commercial to leak it BEFORE the Super Bowl. The upshot is that more of them felt like a surprise.
Here’s what stood out, in no particular order. Remember . . . $5 million for 30 seconds.
T-Mobile ran with a series of ads about awkward texting moments. They were short, funny, captured current communication problems we can all relate to, and had great music choices.
Bud Light went with their medieval theme, and busted on Miller Lite and Coors Light for using corn syrup in their recipes.
Then they surprised everyone by turning the second ad in the series into an actual promo for “Game of Thrones”. There was an appearance by the character ‘the Mountain,’ and one of the dragons, with the level of CGI you expect from the show.
Audi got some buzz with their commercial about a guy’s near-death experience, where he sees the future of electric cars . . . then realizes he’s just choking on a cashew. It was funny, but the message was that a third of Audi’s new cars will be electric by 2025. That’s six years from now. Get excited?
Jason Bateman smug elevator operator in the Hyundai ad, where they compared the pain of buying a car to jury duty, going to the dentist, and sitting in the middle seat. Again, it was relatable.
Olay did an ad for skin cream where they parodied horror movies, and Sara Michelle Gellar couldn’t unlock her phone with facial recognition . . . because her skin was so amazing.
At halftime, the NFL did a salute to what seemed like every living NFL legend, with a goofy commercial that had them all fighting over a football at some fancy event. If anything, it was just impressive for how many big names they got to appear in it.
The all-time greatest, most competitive NFL players gathered for the #NFL100 gala. What could possibly go wrong? pic.twitter.com/pvE0fKuSye— NFL (@NFL) February 4, 2019
Overall, the consensus online is that the game, the halftime show, and the commercials were all horrible. Is that really true?
