Super Bowl commercials

As such, advertisers have typically used commercials during the Super Bowl as a means of building awareness for their products and services among this wide audience, while also trying to generate buzz around the ads themselves so they may receive additional exposure, such as becoming a viral video.

National surveys (such as the USA Today Super Bowl Ad Meter) judge which advertisement carried the best viewer response, and CBS has aired annual specials chronicling notable commercials from the game.

Celebrities including Glen Powell, Catherine O'Hara, Matt Damon, Billy Crystal, Meg Ryan, Willem Dafoe, David Beckham, Seal, and Matthew McConaughey were paid $3 to $5 to appear in ads.

", featuring Pittsburgh Steelers All-Pro defensive lineman "Mean Joe" Greene being offered a Coca-Cola by a young fan—played by Tommy Okon,[60] drinking it in one sip, and tossing the kid his game-worn jersey as repayment.

became one of Greene's most famous roles; the ad would win a Clio Award, spawn a made-for-TV movie on NBC entitled The Steeler and the Pittsburgh Kid, and be re-made for other markets with local athletes.

The advertisement attracted criticism and a boycott among supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump, due to its pro-immigration themes (especially in the wake of an executive order which briefly restricted entry into the U.S. by residents of several countries with predominantly Muslim populations).

[74][85] However, the Clydesdales were featured in several digital-oriented companion campaigns alongside the game, including ClydesdaleCam, a second, web-exclusive ad entitled "Beer Country", as well as themed Snapchat filters.

[94][103] Bud Light's medieval campaign continued into Super Bowl LIII, with an ad attacking its competitors for their use of high fructose corn syrup, and the latter featuring a crossover with the HBO series Game of Thrones.

[108][109][110] During Super Bowl XLVI, Chrysler broadcast "Halftime in America", a two-minute-long commercial directed by David Gordon Green, written by poet Matthew Dickman and narrated by actor Clint Eastwood.

[114][115] The Jeep Gladiator was the focus of a spot during Super Bowl LIV, starring actor Bill Murray reprising his role from the film Groundhog Day (appropriately, given the scheduling of that year's game).

[128] The company's first appearance at Super Bowl XXXIX parodied the "wardrobe malfunction" that had occurred at the previous year's halftime show,[129] featuring a woman testifying to Congress about why GoDaddy wanted to advertise during the game, but a strap of her tank top coming undone.

At Super Bowl XL (broadcast by corporate sister ABC), Disney aired an in-game commercial themed around the campaign, featuring Pittsburgh Steelers and Seattle Seahawks players rehearsing the line in case they won.

[143][144][145][146] FTX's ad featured comedian and actor Larry David (in his first appearance in a commercial) in period costume dismissing various technological and societal achievements in history, including the wheel, American independence, Edison's incandescent light bulb, the Walkman, and finally, cryptocurrency.

[171] In 2025, Lil Wayne appeared in a New Orleans-specific ad for Cetaphil skin cream, culminating with the native declining tickets to Super Bowl LIX (which was hosted by the city), in allusion to Kendrick Lamar being booked for the game's halftime show over him.

[181] The ad was widely criticized for its derogatory premise; Bob Garfield described the commercial as being "neo-colonialist," "culturally imperialist," and "probably racist," while Chuck McBride, creative director of Nike's agency Wieden+Kennedy, stated that he "couldn't believe that they had done this."

[196] Avid Life Media's CEO Noel Biderman felt the rejection was "ridiculous," noting an apparent double standard of allowing advertisements for alcoholic beverages to air during NFL games despite the number of deaths attributed to them.

Company spokesperson Elissa Buchter considered the rejection to be discrimination, by contending that CBS would not have objected to the ad had it featured a kiss between a man and a woman, and acknowledging the frequent airplay of advertisements for erectile dysfunction medications on U.S. television as a double standard.

[197][198] In an article posted following the 2015 security breach of Ashley Madison, a former CBS standards & practices employee stated that the ManCrunch ad had actually been rejected for its use of NFL trademarks, and not because of its content.

[201] In 2012, Randall Terry attempted to use a provision in Federal Communications Commission policies requiring "reasonable access" to local advertising time for political candidates within 45 days of an election or primary, to force several NBC stations to air a graphic anti-abortion attack ad during Super Bowl XLVI that featured images of blood-covered fetuses.

"[211] Another SodaStream ad featuring Scarlett Johansson was produced for and aired during Super Bowl XLVIII in 2014; the supposed rejection of an initial version for containing the line "Sorry, Coke and Pepsi" was overshadowed by growing controversies around the company's use of a factory that was located in an Israeli settlement on the West Bank.

Nationwide CMO Matthew Jauchius defended the ad, noting that the negative response was "a little stronger than we anticipated," and that "Boy" was intended to "begin a dialogue to make safe happen for children everywhere.

[223] Building supply company 84 Lumber debuted at Super Bowl LI with "The Journey"; the ad depicted a mother and daughter migrating from Mexico to the United States border, only to discover that a wall had been built on it.

[240] In 2023, evangelical Christian website He Gets Us ran ads during the Super Bowl which depicted Jesus as various modern day archetypes including a cancelled influencer, a refugee, and a struggling worker in black and white.

The advertisements were criticized by people on both sides on the political spectrum, with prominent Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez stating that "Jesus would not spend millions of dollars on Super Bowl ads to make fascism look benign".

[244][245][246] Members of Parliament Bob Nault and Wayne Easter have stated that the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), Canada's telecom regulator, has only received around 100 specific complaints about Super Bowl ads in relation to the simsub rules.

[251] For Super Bowl LIII, Unifor purchased time on the Canadian broadcast to air an attack ad, criticizing General Motors' decision to close the Oshawa Car Assembly plant.

"[252] On January 29, 2015, the CRTC announced a proposal to forbid the invocation of simultaneous substitution on the Super Bowl telecast, thus allowing the U.S. feeds of the event to co-exist with those of Canadian rightsholders on pay television providers.

The decision came as a result of a series of hearings held by the CRTC known as Let's Talk TV, which explored reforms of the Canadian television industry: the Commission cited viewer frustration over the use of simsubs, especially surrounding the Super Bowl, and argued that the commercials were an "integral part" of the game due to their cultural significance.

U.S. senators Marco Rubio and Ron Johnson wrote to an ambassador that the CRTC's decision "sends a troubling signal about the value Canada places on its largest trading partner, best customer and close friend."

The sales manager of Spokane's affiliate KAYU-TV praised the change for helping increase demand for its limited local inventory; the station is carried on cable in the significantly larger Canadian markets of Calgary and Edmonton, Alberta.