It’s no secret many of us watch the Super Bowl just for the commercials.
Marketers bring their A-game to the NFL championship — the biggest ad event of the year — in an annual attempt to outdo each other, while spending a reported $5 million (U.S.) per 30-second spot.
This year, American ads aired on Canadian TV during the game, after a 2015 regulatory ruling.
Here’s a look some of the others:
The Avocado Illuminati
It’s hard to keep a secret. It’s even harder believe that the Illuminati could be this concerned about “the good fat” in avocados from Mexico, but here we are.
In this commercial, a group from the secret society meets to discuss how it is that classified information keeps slipping. Turns out, they’re not as confidential as their leader hoped. And subliminal messaging is real. (We’re doomed.)
Romance the Rainbow
This Skittles commercial (which was leaked early online before appearing in the second set of Super Bowl commercials) is just so bad, it’s good.
Or actually, maybe it’s just bad.
A would-be Romeo throws Skittles into the open window of his love interest Katie, whose entire family, a burglar, a cop and — most surprisingly — a random CGI beaver are waiting, mouths open, to catch them. That’s it. That’s the commercial. Taste the waste of money, indeed.
The Internet, personified
All the memes you could want in a 30-second spot, this GoDaddy commercial features the best of the web with ALS ice bucket challenge, cats, the blue-or-gold dress debate and others, reminding us all that we are hopelessly addicted to the World Wide Web – even if it turns out he’s a skinny ginger dude.
#WeAccept AirBnB’s beautiful ad
Not to be outdone by the now-famous Budweiser commercial, which dives into the debate over American immigration and has been grabbing headlines since Friday, AirBnB steps up to the plate with #WeAccept, a gorgeous commercial about diversity. Let’s just hope President Donald Trump is watching.
Justin Bieber, celebration expert
Our favourite Canadian bad boy cleans up real nice in a suit and spectacles for T-Mobile’s #UnlimitedMoves campaign, encouraging viewers to “post your moves now” to Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. I see a lot of drunk dancing in our future.
Here’s to chasing dreams
How Honda knew we all were waiting to see our favourite celebrities when they were mere mortals in high school is beyond me. Tina Fey, Robert Redford, Amy Adams, Magic Johnson, Missy Elliot and even Steve Carell’s former moustache make a cameo in this spot, providing viewers with their age-old wisdom.
What it has to do with the CR-V crossover isn’t so obvious but this commercial is worth the watch for Jimmy Kimmel’s suit and clarinet ensemble alone.
‘I love you, halftime bathroom break’
Who knew Febreze was so funny?
Capitalizing on “The Super Bowl Flush” — or the idea that millions of viewers are relieving themselves at the same time during the game — the odour-fighting agent reminds Americans to prepare their bathrooms because “sometimes, you stink.”
Toilet montage aside, it’s truly a clever celebration of pushing the public water utility system to its limits.
Stick to cars, Audi
In a confused attempt to conflate the current political climate on gender equality with auto sales, this ad has mostly been panned by men and women alike, failing to inspire America’s feminist ranks to #DriveProgress.
It shows a young girl competing with boys in a soapbox derby and her father in a voiceover wondering, “That, despite her education her drive, her skills and her intelligence, she will automatically be valued at less than every man she meets?”
What do you think? What should you tell your daughter?
Eco-warrior McCarthy
Poor Melissa McCarthy just wants to do good for the world and save the whales, the trees, the ice caps, the rhinos . . . But as this Kia Niro commercial shows, environmentalism is like, really hard and will usually end with you plunging dramatically to your fate.
So I guess you may as well buy a smart car.
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