Nothing gets eyes on your product like a Super Bowl commercial — but it's probably fair to say that some brands fared better than others at this year's game...
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00:00Nothing gets eyes on your product like a Super Bowl commercial, but it's probably fair to
00:04say that some brands fared better than others at this year's game.
00:09Bud Light is well-known for its party-hearty ads, but for some reason, its Super Bowl spot
00:14was a bit of a letdown.
00:15Sure, the spirit is, but there's no punch to it, and nothing to make you feel rowdy
00:19or thrilled, which is what a beer ad should do.
00:22The funny thing is that Budweiser's other commercials this year hit it out of the park,
00:27but this one just fell flat.
00:28Post Malone and Shane Gillis are great performers in their own right, but Spud's McKenzie, they
00:33aren't.
00:34It's always nice to see the Muppets make an appearance, even if it's just for a commercial.
00:41This time, Kermit and the gang were promoting the travel site Booking.com by booking their
00:45perfect vacation homes.
00:46What if we hate everything?
00:48We have free cancellation.
00:50This ad makes you want to escape on your own vacation and does its job in selling the company's
00:54app, which is all a good Super Bowl commercial needs to do.
00:59Dunkin' Donuts has scored more than a few Super Bowl commercial touchdowns over the
01:03years, including that multi-year campaign in which Ben Affleck worked their drive-through
01:07as a coffee-slinging pitchman.
01:09Affleck appears alongside Boston native Jeremy Strong and his brother, Casey, for this latest
01:14campaign, this time with a sly reference to Strong's fondness for method acting.
01:18Oh my God.
01:19Hey, man.
01:20Is that coffee?
01:21What are you doing in there?
01:22I'm just trying to find the character.
01:24Is a commercial funny?
01:25Well, yeah, sure, but is the humor kinda soured by how gross it all looks?
01:30Very much so.
01:31If you rate an ad's success by how much the potential consumer actually wants to use your
01:35product after seeing it, this one constitutes a serious miss.
01:40The best Super Bowl commercials play with audience expectations and turn them upside
01:44down in a fun way.
01:45Totino's does this with the adventures of the kiddie-pleasing mascot Chasmo, who's ready
01:50to head back to his home planet after making friends with a group of kids… until…
01:54What about us?
01:55Yeah, what about the dads?
01:56You got any gifts for us?
01:59This is all just the right kind of goofy humor for a great Super Bowl ad, with a wink and
02:03a poke for E.T. fans to boot.
02:06Definitely a highlight among the many snack commercials on display at this year's game.
02:11Goofy is good, but foolish?
02:12Not so much.
02:13The Reese's Lava Peanut Butter Cups ad during this year's Super Bowl basically sees a gaggle
02:18of people trying to enthusiastically throw themselves into a volcano because it somehow
02:22reminds them of the snack in question.
02:24And not to get all plot-holy or anything, but that lava those folks are trying to burn
02:28themselves in doesn't look at all like the chocolate that comes out of those cups.
02:32This is one of those commercials where the concept ought to be funny, but it just makes
02:36the people involved look kind of ridiculous, and the product itself ends up paying the
02:41price.
02:43Budweiser can always be relied upon to bring audiences another one of their sentimental
02:46and humorous Clydesdale commercials, and they've done another outstanding job in 2025.
02:52This ad, which stars a pony who's apparently too young to make a beer delivery into town,
02:56was simple, sweet, and touching in equal measure.
03:00Set to the Bellamy Brothers' Let Your Love Flow, our hero's pastoral adventure is about
03:04as lovely as an equine coming-of-age story can get, and is more than worthy of Budweiser's
03:09past efforts.
03:11This one's a double whammy of bad.
03:13Not only does it do a poor job of letting you know what's being sold, but it also forces
03:17you to wonder how in the world a resurrected Randy Savage fits in with fellow pitchman
03:22Antonio Banderas.
03:23Of course, there's also the minor sticking point of Randy Savage being dead for the past
03:2710 years, so it's more than a little odd that he's been resurrected this way.
03:32The way the commercial stacks up all of these elements doesn't exactly make you excited
03:38about refrigerators, but hey, maybe that was a tall order to begin with.
03:43Gordon Ramsay, Pete Davidson, and all clad cooking pans shouldn't make a fun, interesting
03:48ad, yet there's a whole lot of joy to be found in this year's hex-clad campaign.
03:52The commercial sees Ramsay being herded into Area 51, where he's tasked with cooking for
03:56visitors from space, including Pete Davidson.
03:59You're an alien?
04:01All famous people are aliens.
04:02I'm not.
04:03I meant, like, really famous people.
04:06The end product is really fun, fast-paced, and good enough to make you wonder what all
04:10the hype is about.
04:11Ramsay also does a good job of acquitting himself with humor and panache.
04:15Top marks for this one.
04:17AI probably doesn't make you think of rolling fields of wheat, mom-and-pop shops, and family
04:22medical practices, but Google wants to change that with this Super Bowl ad.
04:26Sadly, this commercial ignores a simple sticky point.
04:29AI has the potential to be more expensive for small businesses and naturally harms other
04:34independent industries.
04:35To their credit, the folk at Google seem to be aware that people have their qualms about
04:40And specifically what Google's use of the technology might mean for the world.
04:43But cloaking the entire process in a sheen of patriotic small-town Americana ignores
04:48its large-scale flaws, making the whole thing come off as simplistic at best.
04:53Some might call it the cheapening of a legacy, but Hellman's unofficial When Harry Met Sally
04:57sequel was one of the best ads of the night.
04:59The ad takes Harry and Sally back to the deli where Sally had her infamous moment of pleasure
05:04back in the 1980s.
05:05When Sally takes offense to a bad sandwich, a layer of Hellman's gets her going once more.
05:10I'll have what she's having.
05:13It's a quick, funny shot of nostalgia that makes you laugh, and it makes sandwich spread
05:17look appealing.
05:18How's that for a successful ad?