Every year, there are always a ton of side stories to Super Bowl Sunday. Whether it’s the insufferably long pre-game coverage, coordinating your buffet of snacks, or speculating about how good and/or bad the halftime show might be, there’s a lot more that surrounds The Big Game than just the game itself.
Much of that culture centers on what happens when the action stops, and the advertising begins. The clever and classic commercials that air annually are part of the overall experience.
They are not only well-produced but typically provide the overarching message that the advertiser is laying out for months, or even years, to come.
They can launch slogans or campaigns, with a hundred million sets of eyes watching all at once. In many ways, they are like mini-movies for major corporations. And the entire world is sitting at this drive-thru.
While these tantalizing teasers are part of the football phenomenon, they are also big business, as well. An average 30-second spot on Super Bowl LVII garnered between $6 million and $8 million in revenue for the NFL and FOX Network.
Needless to say, that puts a lot of pressure on the corporations who are purchasing them to come up with impactful advertising. They have to get plenty of bang for those kinds of bucks.
So as the Eagles and the Chiefs took to the gridiron to decide the winner of the Lombardi Trophy, the champion of promotion was often hard to decide.
There were certainly several entertaining ads. However, here are five notable commercials from this weekend’s Super Bowl broadcast:
#1 – A Clueless commercial provided a throwback moment
Fans of the 1995 teen comedy Clueless had to appreciate actress Alicia Silverstone reprising her role as California girl Cher Horowitz in this spoof for Rakuten.
All the Gen-Xers in the world who used to frequent their local shopping malls were now being informed by a 90s icon that Rakuten was the way to go in terms of online shopping today. Silverstone mimicked a scene from the original film where she gave a report to the class. This time, however, she delivered a dissertation about saving by making purchases online.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_yGq_4xCKQ
This was one of several Super Bowl spots that played on nostalgia, particularly to the 40 and 50-something age groups. Silverstone is still as beautiful and charming as ever, and her performance helped make this ad one to remember for 2023.
#2 – Dogs are people, too
If you’re looking for a tug at your heartstrings, look no further than Saving Sawyer. Any story involving an animal is guaranteed to garner some kind of emotion, but this one was really special.
When a family’s dog misbehaves, his family goes shopping on Amazon for a dog kennel. The pet apparently thinks he is being shipped out. Instead, they’re shopping for a playmate for their precocious pup, who arrives a short time later. In a loving moment, they immediately take to one another.
The background of this story is even more touching, as the star of the commercial, Sawyer, is a canine that was really rescued. So, this pooch went from homeless to Hollywood, where even a dog’s dreams can come true.
#3- Ben Affleck slinging donuts in the drive-thru for Dunkin’
New England’s favorite pastry and coffee franchise teamed up with one of its favorite sons for this hilarious spot. Hollywood hero Ben Affleck spends this spot moonlighting by working the drive-thru at Dunkin’ Donuts.
Of course, the actor, writer, and producer had to thicken up his Massachusetts accent for comedic effect, and there was even footage of him surprising real-life customers during the filming. Overall, it had the intended light-hearted effect that the producers were surely looking for.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pIM2WNF3eI
(Ironically, Affleck’s younger brother Casey was featured in a spoof of Dunkin’ Donuts customers when he hosted Saturday Night Live in 2016.)
The climax of the commercial came when Affleck’s wife, Jennifer Lopez, pulls through and catches him leaning through the window. Incredulous, she asks her superstar hubby, “What are you doing? Is this what you do… when you say you’re going to work all day?”
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#4 – John Travolta gets Grease-y for T-Mobile and the Super Bowl
The guys from NBC’s old hit TV show Scrubs ( Zach Braff and Donald Faison) have been hawking T-Mobile for over a year now. This time, however, they would be joined by an old-school crooner, John Travolta.
The man who portrayed Danny Zuko in the blockbuster movie, Grease, busted out a classic number from the film… but with a twist. The hit, “Summer Love,” except this time as a re-written version singing the praises of the pink-clad phone provider.
It was especially fitting and touching, considering that Travolta’s co-star in the motion picture, Olivia Newton-John, just passed away recently.
#5 – A Battle Royale of Beers
In what may have been a better twist ending than Patrick Mahone’s wild sprint to seal the game for the Chiefs, this ad that featured a barroom brawl between Miller Lite and Coors was brilliant from the onset. The entire time, you couldn’t really tell if this was a spot for one beer company or the other.
It was punctuated with plenty of action, as the two stars battled kung-fu style all the way until the end. Just as the conclusion arrived, a THIRD BEER emerged, and an announcer informed us that it actually wasn’t for Miller Lite or Coors, at all. The ad was for Blue Moon.
Fantastically done, and this one had a lot of people talking, Beer commercials have always been a favorite genre of Super Bowl ads, and this one has to rank right up there with the very best ever.
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