Super Bowl LIII was the lowest scoring Super Bowl ever, not only in points but most would say in excitement as well; Tom Brady got his sixth ring, Adam Levine took off his shirt, there wasn’t nearly enough Spongebob, etc. But if you were just watching for the commercials, well that’s a different story!
This year, companies didn’t release as many ads before the game so a lot of these commercials had the surprise factor going for them. Props have to go out to T-Mobile for their bit-size ads featuring funny texting. At :30 a piece, they were short enough to not get old.
Bud Light knocked it out of the park again with their commercials. One came directly after their competitors Miller Lite and Coors Light , but it was the surprise Game of Thrones mashup that really got people excited over the final season all over again.
Of course, many of the ads rolled out the celebrity cameos. Steve Carrell teamed up with Lil Jon and Cardi B to yell at us about Pepsi, Sarah Michelle Gellar went back to her thriller roots by being too flawless for Olay, and Luke Wilson came out of whatever witness protection program he was in to get in your face for Colgate.
Forrest Whitaker and Harrison Ford tried to use some botched Amazon products, Chance the Rapper got to dance with the Backstreet Boys while munching on some Doritos, and Tom Hanks spoke from the heart on behalf of the Washington Post. Maybe two of the most random celebs to share the screen were Sarah Jessica Parker and Jeff Bridges reprising their roles as Carrie Bradshaw and The Dude for Stella Artois. But it totally worked!
The NFL had a commercial for itself commemorating the 100th anniversary of the league. It’s nearly two minutes long, so with ad time costing $5 mil per :30 seconds you have to think they gave themselves a discount. One could also wonder how much money they dropped on all the past and present players in the commercial, because the sheer number of familiar faces will make your head spin!
Some of the commercials took the more serious route, looking to inspire or tug on those heart strings. Hands down one of the best was Microsoft‘s ad for their Adaptive Controller. Kids with disabilities talking about their love of gaming and how they can now play just like the rest of their friends has a good chance of making you tear up.
The night wouldn’t be complete without trailers for upcoming releases for both the big and small screen. “Hobbs & Shaw” continues the Fast & the Furious franchise, “A Handmaid’s Tale” previewed its third season coming soon to Hulu, and Marvel had a big presence with “Captain Marvel” and a new teaser for the highly anticipated “Avengers: End Game” which does a great job of telling us nothing about the plot.
These are just a few of the many commercial that ran during Super Bowl LIII. You can see all of them in the quarter they aired here. Tell us which ones were you favorite on Facebook and Twitter!
