In the longest running feature on site, I have analyzed the commercials for every Super Bowl for the past several years, and I’m back again for the 2021 edition. But the results of this year’s analysis has me wondering if I’ll be back again in 2022 for Super Bowl LVI. I may be getting ahead of myself a little, though, so let’s get down to basisc.
Every year I start with a breakdown of the types of ads I saw. I can compare this to previous years’ iterations for number of ad spots, and what they’re advertising for, giving some throughline on advertising trends. Historically, the biggest advertisers are the network itself for it’s other shows, trying to drum up interest, cars/motor vehicle companies, beer/alcohol, and a smattering of movie trailers. With 2020 perhaps sounding the death knell for movie theatres, it might be expected we’d see fewer of those, but the movies are still being made, so maybe not. From national anthem to the final block of commercials after the clock hits 0:00 after the fourth quarter, there are typically 110-120 ad spots, randing from 10 second teasers to two-minute long epics. In 2021 I saw only 101. Either we got more longer ads this year (which I don’t think is the case) or we saw fewer minutes of advertising this Super Bowl. There’s also the chance that as I did this manually I missed some ads, either in my notes or not seeing them entirely. And this is particularly noteworthy because of the ads I did not see, or note in my log.
CBS once again dominated the air waves with advertising for it’s own products, even more than in 2019 the last time they hosted the Super Bowl. This included a whopping seven variants of Paramount Mountain, an advertising blitz for Paramount+, owned by ViacomCBS. Showtime, another wholly-owned subsidiary also had a significant number of show ads. The contrasts with how much other TV sources dried up. The streaming wars have been booming lately, but the casualties are starting to be noticed. Only YouTube Live and Disney+ were able to get in on the act this year.
Movie trailers were depressed, as expected. Only three showed, and with two of them being Disney products, they’re likely to be moving to streaming rather than theatres. M. Night Shaymalan’s “Old” movie trailer stands as the lone exception, and an oddity. Do the producers think we’ve had enough time without a Shaymalan movie to get over the formulaicness? Maybe they’re right. It had the right creepyt vibe, but nothing that was compelling for me, personally. But then again, I’m not officially old, so there’s no sense in trying to assume these ads are directed at me anymore.
Car/automobile ads were also down, knocking them into territory covered by a variety of other categories, no longer one of the top-advertisers by group.
With so much more in the “other” category this year and the usual big hitters backing down some, I think it’s interesting to identify who stepped up. And I found the answer to be, broadly, “financials.” From insurance to investing, taxes and mortgages, job hunting and classifieds for domestic selling, a very large chunk of advertising in 2021 was focused on money. Even gambling was in it. And I don’t think Roger Goodell is going to be happy about it, but the cat is out of the bag and the horse has left the barn.
With the preliminaries on the broad categories of advertisements seen done I’d like to start talking about specific ads. But I can’t becuase of one important fact. Our television is becoming more and more stratified. Back when I started this project, I called out that I saw different ads frome everyone else because of local viewership and local sponsors. The local CBS affiliate has time to put an advertisement or two in and they usually sell those to some local business, frequently a car dealership. For me, it was often a home handiman service.
In 2021, I watched the Super Bowl via livestream from the CBSSports webpage, because I don’t have a television program and can’t get good signal for over the air.
The Elevator by Hyundai.
The earliest of the big winners, this spot garnered significant chatter. I captioned it in my notebook as “Elevator of Horrors” as the customers are exposed to many awful experiences, but not the Hyundai shoppers. This ad has humor, star power, and a strong message. It doesn’t display the product as well as might be hoped for, but because the product is a sense of assurance, perhaps that’s OK.
The Pet Comfort Feeding System by WeatherTech
While not a winner by any stretch, this next ad is significant because of just how awful it was. It had everything. Music. Animals. An appeal to the laziness of the average American consumer. An excess of plastic. Fantastic job, guys.
More than OK by Pepsi
I thought this was a particularly strong advertisement, using the star power of Lil’ John for great humorous value, and taking the cultural element of weakness that Pepsi has in certain markets and turning it on its head. In the area of the country where I live, “Coke” is used synonymously with “dark carbonated beverage.” So, even a person with a preference for Pepsi might sit down at a restaurant and ask for a “Coke.” In other markets, without this idiosyncrasy, this ad might not have been as strong, but it also served as a solid prelude to their halftime show promotion, which is always underwhelming, but tied together well.
Change Up the Usual by Stella Artois
An appeal to nostalgia works particularly well when you’re going after an older audience, as you must be if you’re selling an alcoholic beverage. This advertisement is well positioned, and while it likely won’t appeal to a younger and hip crowd, it doesn’t have to.
The 100-Year Game by NFL
Generally being called the best commercial in the Super Bowl, this one is clearly significant as a water cooler moment, and yet it’s hard to point to why. The ad is for the game of football itself, and the general commentary was that this commercial, which showed near halftime, was substantially more full of action than the actual game was. As always, Hollywood glamour is better than the real thing.1
Food Porn by Devour
I didn’t expect a frozen food manufacturer to try to tackle an issue like this. There are some significant concerns here, but in terms of presentation, this struck a powerful chord. While played up for laughs, this could be a turning point for cultural discussion.
Special Delivery by Bud Light
This ad early in the game was called back to repeatedly by later Bud Light commercials. It pounded home the message powerfully and I think it was a huge win. While it may not make anyone want to drink the slightly flavored yellow water of Bud Light, it likely does impact a person’s decision to drink the similarly slightly flavored yellow water of Bud Light’s prime competitors. All-in-all, this ad was a win for the craft brewers.
We All Win by Microsoft
Microsoft had already won a significant amount of good press for creating their adaptive controller, but this Super Bowl ad pushed the item forward in a new way. They managed to find some impressively charismatic young gamers who could take advantage of this device and present them well. As an aside, one of the young gamers shown in this video has a streaming and review channel that has garnered significant attention since the advertisement. Check him out too.
Text Messages by T-Mobile
Lastly, the T-Mobile text message series of advertisements, one example below, did a really good job of pushing the #3 mobile carrier forward.
Over the course of four different spots, T-Mobile showed off some of the benefits and drawbacks of text based communication. These ads are likely very cheap to produce but show off the power of communication, while allowing T-Mobile to highlight their product’s value to consumers, while sticking that message into memory with humor.
Bonus coverage for a local market ad. In previous years I’ve highlighted a Cyprus Air ad. This year they had one, but it was beaten out by another local company, Michael and Sons, a large handyman firm which ran a pair of local ads during the Super Bowl. The second was the winner here.
Unfortunately, they win for absurdity, not for overall quality. The level of “WTF?!” reaction from the folks I was watching with was impressive. I’ll give them a B for effort and an A for unintended humor.
Those were the most influential ads from Super Bowl LIII that I saw. Share your thoughts in the comments about any I might have missed.
