Super Bowl LV Commercials: Best, Worst, and WTF

The Brits may have Elizabeth, but America has Queen Dolly. No matter who you are, absolutely everyone loves Dolly Parton, the endearing icon whose legend has only grown over the decades. In the past couple months not only has Parton essentially saved the world from the Coronavirus, turned down the Presidential Medal of Freedom (twice!) and continues to bestow us with a flow of new music, she also found time to star in a Super Bowl commercial for Squarespace. In honor of the 40th anniversary of her song and eponymous film 9 to 5, Parton delightfully revamps the classic for this new WFH era. What a way to make a living.

While your delivery driver has been saying he’s 10 minutes away for the past 40 minutes, kill some time by checking out this ad for UberEats which hinges on not only nostalgia, but a beloved star to boot. Two decades after “Wayne’s World” became a Saturday Night Live stalwart and 19 years after the premiere of the blockbuster movie version, Mike Meyers and Dana Carvey are back to maybe manipulate you into eating locally. They can’t do it alone, which is where certified freak Cardi B comes to help. Nostalgia, music’s biggest star, a TikTok challenge: This is exactly what we ordered.

It’s a commercial that’s anything but garden variety. In keeping with Super Bowl LV’s theme as a strange one, one of the craziest ads comes courtesy… Scott’s and Miracle Grow? Featuring not only Martha Stewart and Stanley from The Office (Leslie David Baker), the ad also showcases John Travolta and real-life daughter Ella in a dance that harkens back to moves Travolta busted in Grease. The whole strange affair also somehow manages to cram in Surfaces’ recent hit “Sunday Best” and the night’s, count ‘em, second mention of TikTok. Good job, Scott’s. It’s an ad so exhausting, we kinda all just wanna lay down on our lawns for a while.

While typical Super Bowl soft drink companies Coke and Pepsi are skipping the Big Game for 2021, chip and snack companies have come out in full force. (What else do you think we are munching on while we’re living in lockdown, healthy stuff?) This ridiculous contribution from Doritos stars Matthew McConaughey who leaves behind the droll, spooky vibe of his past Lincoln campaign for this silly spot where Mr. McConaughey is flat, literally. It’s all meant to portray how these Doritos 3D aren’t so flat, complete with a cameo from Jimmy Kimmel. Alright, alright, alright?

Let’s hear it for the gays! This year’s motley crew of Super Bowl ads featured an applause-worthy amount of diversity and inclusiveness, including a variety of LGBTQ personalities whether Lil’ Nas X for Logitech, Rupaul for Paramount +, or Billie Jean King for cameo-heavy Michelob. Meanwhile, Schitt’s Creek star Dan Levy, who just 24 hours earlier hosted Saturday Night Live, continued his banner weekend by appearing in this funny M&Ms ad. Equality never tasted so sweet.

The past year was enough to bum out even the brightest optimists. As a result, comedians will be all over your television come Sunday. This General Motors ad stars Kenan Thompson and Awkwafina in what amounts to a Will Ferrell mini-movie. Built on the premise that Norway sells more electric cars per capita than the United States, Ferrell sets out to change that unfortunate statistic with a trip to Norway. Unfortunately, Ferrell accidentally winds up in Sweden. However, it’s not an extemporaneous nod: his latest film Eurovision takes place in the Nordic country, and the actor’s real-life wife is Swedish as well.

Amy Schumer has embraced her foodie side for her TV show with chef husband Chris Fischer, so we guess it makes sense that the Trainwreck star would don some wings to transform into your “Fairy Godmayo”? Turns out Schumer had to do double duty, as two different versions of the commercial aired: One east of the Rocky Mountains for Hellmann’s mayo, and one West of the Rockies for Best Foods mayonnaise (since they are identical but have different names in the regions).

Frito-Lay is also building anticipation for their Super Bowl spot, as the snack conglomerate has been releasing a curious series of teasers leading up to Sunday. Narrated by Marshawn Lynch, the commercials are unique in that they actually feature some sports stars, in what has so far been an athlete-light group of ads. Not to worry sports fans, as the likes of Peyton Manning, Eli Manning, Joe Montana, Jerry Rice, Troy Aikman, Terry Bradshaw, Jerome Bettis, and Deion Sanders are thankfully here to mix it up.

Maya Rudolph is a comedian so beloved that, at this point, we’d all be better off if there were more of her. That’s where the banking and payment app Klarna comes in, gifting us a total of four Maya Rudolphs! In this strange ad, its soundtrack is a cover of Nancy Sinatra’s 1966 hit “These Boots are Made For Walkin’” as the four Rudolphs are stylish cowboys looking to buy a spiffy pair of boots. By commercial’s end, it’s a win-win: the Rudolphs do indeed buy the pink boots (naturally splitting the payment four ways) and the viewer has been treated to 30 joyful seconds of classic Maya antics.

Seinfeld vet Jason Alexander’s memorable mug stars in this screwball ad courtesy Tide, which printed his face on a hoodie as it goes through the wringer and changes expressions as a result. The rest of Alexander’s body also cameos in the strange ad, which is both uniquely horrifying and genuinely captivating. It can all lead one to infer that cannabis laws must be extremely relaxed wherever this ad was conceptualized.

Everything about this ad, from its earnestness to its natural surroundings and vibe of their CEO, along with the fact it was seemingly designed to be bland to begin with, was somehow the physical embodiment of everyone’s favorite pretentious non-dairy milk. At least it got us talking.

What happens when you combine the beloved cast of Sesame Street with a cast member from the beloved smash Hamilton, the beloved Daveed Diggs? This adorable ad kind of made us feel that basic but sometimes elusive human emotion known as… happiness? Is this what that feels like? Taking a walk around the neighborhood has never been more enjoyable than this jaunt with Big Bird and Daveed.

The only thing more obnoxious than eating a single stupid Cheeto and getting that orange dust all over your hands, and everything else in your living room, is this commercial. As we said last week when the ad was unveiled before the Big Game, a group of professional creatives staked their entire careers on this multi-million dollar spot only to settle on… Ashton Kutcher singing? We know he’s a super handsome movie and TV star who is also a tech giant, but the entire point of the convoluted spot was you being super annoying, and both the good and bad news is that you delivered.

Imagine being in a real-life relationship and monetizing it. Not only are you with someone you love, but you’re making money! It’s a win-win scenario for Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani, with Shelton goofing on his public persona and Stefani looking like she’s 20 years younger. With Stefani’s recent comeback single bombing (perhaps dubbing it a “go-back single” would have been more appropriate?), at least she and her country love can still count on some sweet T-Mobile cash.

Attempting to heal the country with a car commercial sounds like a fool’s errand, but then this Jeep ad came on the horizon like a sunrise on a barren prairie and, well, tried its darn best. Boasting visuals of rural Americana and featuring a swelling score, the emotional spot was designed around a poetic string of thoughts delivered by Bruce Springsteen himself. The company’s “ReUniting America” campaign is a great excuse for the rocker, typically averse to commercial tie-ins, to agree to participate, because we could have just as easily had “Hungry Heart” in a Doritos spot. Shot on location in Nebraska, the ad was one of the few that had actual heart in a sea of idiocy, and has so far garnered heaps of both praise and detractors; a concept that doubles as a metaphor for the times we live in.

From one legendary artist’s first Big Game commercial to an acclaimed actor’s debut. In this promo for a hands-free driving, the Cadillac team somehow pulled off an Edward Scissorhands sequel, complete with none other than Timothée Chalamet and original co-star Winona Ryder. As Edgar, the son of Edward, Chalamet nails originator Johnny Depp’s creepy cadence and by the end of it, we kind of want to check out a feature-length version. Plus, scissors for hands are the perfect contraption to cut up all those Call Me By Your Name peaches instead of, um, doing other stuff with them.

How much money do you think State Farm paid Drake to be in their Super Bowl ad, wearing their red polo as a stand-in no less? Do you think they shelled out one million dollars? Two million? Would it be an amount of moolah that would make even Jeff Bezos blink? Or perhaps it wasn’t that much at all, and maybe like, Drake’s grandma worked at State Farm, and he has a soft spot for the brand? Or maybe Drizzy’s just in debt? Or was Covid-bored? Anyway, this was cute, we guess.

One of the most viral and effective ads of the weekend (see: nearly 80 million YouTube views and counting), this funny, sultry ad stars Michael B. Jordan and his glowing blue eyes as a living, breathing Alexa. Look at it this way: Amazon might be killing small business, but at least they gave us a shirtless Michael B. Jordan. OK, maybe that’s the wrong way to look at things.

The first lesson in Commercials 101 is that cameos are king. Whether you have a good idea, bad idea, or no idea at all (like in the case of this Michelob ad), the biggest way to distract viewers is to just throw in cameo after cameo after cameo and hope that people don’t notice that you’re actually not saying much of anything. From a cameo narrator (Christopher Walken!), to a cameo action star (Sylvester Stallone!), to a cameo music star (Maluma!), a cameo sports star (Serena Williams!), and a cameo actor and a look-alike (two Don Cheadles!), it proves that when all else fails: throw in a cameo and see what happens. (It’s also a concept UberEats is well aware of.)