This year’s Super Bowl commercials featured everything from Randall Park reprising his “identity theft” of John Krasinski to a bit from “Hey Arnold!” wherein the titular character was thrown over a cliff.
But, in the end, what ads made us think and which made us wonder how the idea made it past the brainstorming session? The Daily Illini has selected 10 commercials from this year’s Super Bowl representing truly the best and worst of the night.
BEST
Get The Daily Illini in your inbox!
You’ve probably heard a relative attempt a Christopher Walken impression during at least one family function. They go on a tangent imitating his introduction of the Foo Fighters on SNL with a badly replicated Queens accent while the entire family watches on in horror.
It’s awkward, it’s uncomfortable and BMW used it for its Super Bowl ad. Simply put, it’s beautiful.
The ad is basically Christopher Walken getting roasted while also happening to be in a BMW. The best ads are ones where you can’t clock the product placement until the end, and this one fits the bill.
In this comedic masterpiece, Walken is accosted by waiters, fast food workers and other average Joes with very poor imitations of his voice. And, for some reason, Usher shows up at the end!
The ad was ludicrous, funny and niche. Definitely a creative standout for BMW.
Bet MGM featuring Vince Vaughn and Tom Brady
As someone whose family religiously quotes “Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story,” it was delightful to see Vaughn alive and well in this year’s BetMGM ad. What made the ad even better was some major league dunking on Tom Brady.
The premise for this commercial was that BetMGM is for everyone who likes sports betting — except Brady. It was hilarious to see Vaughn interviewing random fans with quick wit and great timing, but it was even funnier to see Brady dressed as a pool champion, randomly posing sassily throughout the commercial.
Overall, the ad was enjoyable and had multiple laugh-out-loud moments.
Instead of trying for a punchline, Dove went for the waterworks this year — and it hit.
The ad started innocently enough. It featured a compilation of young female athletes falling during meets, games or practices with “It’s a Hard-Knock Life” playing in the background. The ad then transitioned into talking about low body confidence in female athletes and how it leads to girls quitting sports.
In just 30 seconds, Dove gave a message that really resonated with any girls who ever felt uncomfortable in their own skin. It was unexpected but powerfully important nonetheless.
This ad was the perfect blend of niche parody and a deep understanding of pop culture. With his off-putting demeanor and memorable moments on and off screen, Michael Cera has become something of a pop culture icon in recent years. Like, come on — you’ve seen the Snooki picture.
A recent TikTok trend humorously questions if Cera founded CeraVe, and this ad takes full advantage of the joke. Cera serves looks in a 2000s-esque skincare ad spoof with shirtless guys talking about the magic of CeraVe moisturizer.
This was definitely the most unexpected ad of the commercial cycle this year and a personal favorite.
The only time I’d heard of Kawasaki before this ad was when I saw a friend’s broken Kawasaki jet ski at their lake house that had been on their dock since 2011. One takeaway from this year’s Super Bowl is that I’m definitely remembering their brand after this commercial.
The ad features mullet-clad bros in a Kawasaki vehicle with rock music in the background. There’s a rugged feel to it with massive forest shots, lumberjacks and bears and eagles with — you guessed it — more mullets.
This ad is what one might imagine Europeans see as the typical American experience, and it’s glorious.
WORST
Arnold Schwarzenegger for State Farm
Don’t get me wrong, Arnold Schwarzenegger is an icon. But, for the amount of hype this ad was getting on social media, it fell flat.
The main premise was Schwarzenegger filming and then attending the premiere of his new action movie, “Agent State Farm.” It was definitely fun to see the high caliber of production this ad had, with State Farm basically recreating a movie set for it.
However, the main joke about Schwarzenegger not being able to say “neighbor” definitely got old. If it wasn’t for Danny Devito’s cameo at the end, this ad would’ve been lost in the sauce for me.
With the high standard of a Popeyes chicken sandwich, the low quality of this commercial was a disappointment.
The ad starts with Jeong being unfrozen and waking up at a time when Popeyes has wings. Since he’s from the past, though, he is, of course, afraid of Roombas, Tesla self-driving cars and massage chairs at the mall.
This ad fell victim to mediocrity. The “awoke from the past” joke seemed stale, and the shots of Jeong being afraid of modern technology didn’t pack much of a comedic punch.
This ad took me on a journey that left me sitting awestruck in front of my TV.
The commercial starts with a giant ball of gelatin on a stage. The editing of the blob gives a skin-crawling effect, and the visual gives uncanny valley vibes.
Then, a weird gooey mascot recreated the iconic “Flashdance” scene with Nerds raining from the sky? That were alive? Whatever was happening, the vibe was not there.
After all of the SFX weirdness, Addison Rae shows up. Huh?
The overused “Flashdance” reference and the editing of the ad made it seem as though they were going for the shock factor when, in reality, the effect was just confusing.
As a lover of pop culture, a Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck feature is amazing. But for a Dunkin’ ad, it felt out of place.
I know it’s for marketing, but making Affleck and Matt Damon dress up as a sweatsuit-clad band performing for Lopez felt cringe. It felt very millennial and forced to throw A-listers together and try to come across as nostalgic.
Also, forcing in Tom Brady didn’t have the same effect as his cameo in the BetMGM ad.
Overall, the reasoning behind including Lopez and Affleck’s relationship was sound. But the “Dun-Kings” band idea felt like this ad valued cameos over a funny bit.
This ad was one of the better-edited commercials of the year. However, Snapchat’s new tagline of “Less Social Media — More Snapchat” is certainly a head-scratcher.
The intended message was nice — it focused on how likes are becoming more important than human connection, and how influencers are becoming God-like.
But why is Snapchat, a social media platform — and a popular one at that — commenting on this?
Snapchat may be more focused on one-on-one messaging rather than posting, but it still pays mega-influencers for story posting and viewing. Knowing that Snapchat still pays celebrities for content but is trying to market itself as anti-social media felt a little ironic.
