Every year, The SuperBowl is the most eagerly awaited event for advertisers in North America. This year was exception as it featured some wonderful - but more not-so-wonderful advertisements broadcasted to millions. Jim Mourey, an associate professor of marketing at DePaul University in Chicago, does a yearly review of the Superbowl ads and he offered us the opportunity to share his thoughts on Right.Video.
Jim Mourey, Ph.D., is an associate professor of marketing at DePaul University in Chicago where he teaches Consumer Behavior, Experiential Marketing, and the Strategic Marketing Management capstone. His research explores the intersection of social psychology, technology, and creativity with particular emphasis on consumer/AI engagement in creative contexts. Prior to completing his Ph.D., Jim worked as the director of research at an LA-based management consultancy specializing in the science of human behavior. The author of three business books - Urge, Fusion, and The Relationship Diet - Dr. Mourey has also served as the musical director of a Chicago-based a cappella group, graduated from the Second City’s Conservatory program, and recently penned a murder mystery novel under a pseudonym just for fun.
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So, friends, I bring you Dr. Jim Mourey's 2021 Super Bowl Advertising Review -- feel free to agree, disagree, and share. A few gems this year (e.g., Alexa, Ford), lots of total duds, and mostly average spots in a difficult year to strike the right balance between "advertising company" and "caring brand."
The beloved Wayne and Garth make a comeback in this short spot for Uber Eats. Unless the company is targeting older folks who actually remember who Wayne and Garth are and use Uber Eats routinely to order food this one seems to be a bit of a nostalgic miss. At least they showed the logo for a bit at the end?
Grade: C (revised: B-) – If you’re going to bring back iconic SNL characters, at least give them some better material with which to work. Schwing! UPDATE: I saw that Uber Eats were using mini Wayne and Garth heads for the typical back and forth “chat” on their app; bonus points for integrated marketing.
Who buys Tide? I sure hope its people who loved Seinfeld and feel like Jason Alexander is still relevant. A flesh-colored hoodie featuring Jason Alexander’s changing face gets dirty in a variety of contexts. The actor makes a cameo near the end, and…what was the ad for again? Tide? Not really: it’s for Tide Hygienic Clean Power Pods, but we don’t really get the message that these pods are super effective at cleaning dirt that doesn’t even seem like it’s there.
Grade: C – Personifying a dirty hoodie is one thing, but failing to link the messaging and humor with the product’s actual benefit is a missed opportunity.
A woman is discussing Amazon Alexa’s form design and says she simply cannot imagine “a more beautiful vessel for Alexa” until she sees a bus ad (for an Amazon Prime movie, no less) featuring Michael B. Jordan. We fade into her daydreams where she asks Alexa (now Mr. Jordan) to do things like turn on the sprinklers, dim the lights, and read a sexy book (…all while her husband watches on, concerned). The ad ends with the familiar Amazon smiley arrow logo.
Grade: A – The perfect blend of humor, product mentions, showing what all the product can do, and co-promotion of other Amazon-branded products. I imagine this will be at the top of a lot of Super Bowl ad reviews this year.
We see a typical corporate office that transforms into colorful cubicles at 5:00pm when Dolly Parton’s familiar ‘9 to 5’ comes on with new lyrics: 5 to 9. The once-bored office employees can be seen engaging in gardening, woodworking, and other hobbies and side jobs they presumably do from 5 to 9pm in the hours they get off work and regain their freedom. We get a shot of the SquareSpace logo and are told to visit some website.
Grade: B- -- The best part about this commercial is the song; it’s catchy, familiar, and everyone loves Dolly Parton. Thus, as a vehicle for promoting America’s sweetheart, this commercial rocks. As for explaining what is meant by 5 to 9, what SquareSpace is and can do for you, and how it all fits together, well, it would take more than one viewing to “get it” or a visit to that website which, spoiler alert, not many people are bound to do during the big game.
Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher (random choice) show up. Ashton asks if Mila has been eating his Cheetos. She says, “It wasn’t me,” of course. Enter: Shaggy, who begins a revamped version of his song “It Wasn’t Me,” that Ashton Kutcher sings along to.
Grade: C- -- Imagine this: the same commercial but without Ashton Kutcher’s awful singing; in fact, without Ashton and Mila altogether. Shaggy would have been enough, and the comedy of people lying about eating other people’s Cheetos despite having traces of orange powder would have come through. I hate to say it, but Ashton and Mila sort of distracted us away from the product itself (the new “Crunch Pop Mix”), which regular, everyday folks wouldn’t have done. Someone may have really enjoyed Ashton & Mila’s presence but, you guessed it, “It wasn’t me.” Also: noticing a theme of revamped songs this year.
Some guy talks about gardens. We see Martha Stewart gardening, Stanley from The Office barbecuing, some other random D-list celebrities, and then John Travolta making a TikTok in the backyard with his daughter. The host says something about texting or sending something about a garden, but we’re so mixed up in this weird Travolta TikTok and Stanley, out of character for the man we know and love, yelling at him that we miss the message.
Grade: D- -- This spot definitely felt like a Boomer was trying too hard to be relevant to GenZ and succeeded at appealing to no one except for maybe die-hard John Travolta fans, all two of them. Instantly forgettable; this one has some room to Miracle Gro.
A narrator asks us, “What if we were wrong this whole time?” That joy only comes after the win? What if happiness has always been there “fueling the run toward greatness?” We first see famous athletes playing their respective sport, and then we see them in more casual settings drinking Michelob Ultra. The spot ends with the seemingly philosophical query, “Are you happy because you win, or do you win because you’re happy?”
Grade: D – I’m pretty sure people are happy when they win and pretty damn disappointed when they lose. In fact, a lot of very happy people get pretty down and defeated in failure but resilience and perseverance probably fuel their comeback; not so much happiness and definitely not Michelob Ultra, unless your sport is winning bar fights when completely intoxicated.
What seems to be a movie advertisement turns into a commercial for hard seltzer featuring some celebrities (e.g., Sylvester Stallone, Lucy Liu, Megan Fox, etc.) who look…off. We finally get to Don Cheadle on a boat only to learn…it’s not the real Don Cheadle! The commercial then reveals all the celebrities we thought we saw were actually lookalikes and ends with a funny reveal that the Christopher Walken voiceover is being done by someone imitating Christopher Walken’s distinct voice. The message: Michelob Ultra Organic Seltzer is real.
Grade: B – This one brings the funny, for sure, although it does muddle the message a bit: what do they mean by Michelob Ultra Organic Seltzer is real? Real fruit? No artificial garbage? This spot is a vast improvement over their Michelob Ultra spot with a little room for improvement.
The schtick here is that Matthew McConaughey is suddenly flat. His dog finds it weird. The local barista calls his name but can’t see him until he turns and faces her. He pays a visit to Jimmy Kimmel’s show (Mindy Kaling also makes a brief cameo). He longs to be normal again, which he determines might be possible by eating a bag of 3D Doritos. So, he climbs into a vending machine, eats a 3D Dorito chip, and, comedy alert, becomes 3D again but is now stuck in the vending machine. The spot ends with his dog staring at him from outside the vending machine.
Grade: C- -- Matthew went from doing car commercials for Lincoln to doing chip commercials for Doritos. The problem here is, “Who cares?” What’s so special about 3D Doritos? The missed opportunity is that the return of 3D Doritos has an online following (as this is a re-launch of a classic product). Why not lean into those die-hard 3D Doritos loyalists and tease the return of a beloved classic? This commercial did get one thing right, however: eating too many Doritos will make you plump.
The only spot released before the big day was a teaser spot where Amy Schumer opens a refrigerator full of mayonnaise dressed as (what appears to be) a flight attendant and then steps inside. Her shadow has wings. The spot ends with the date of the Super Bowl, suggesting something more is to come.
Grade: F – I haven’t cared this less about finding out what happens than I have when I found out that Deuce Bigelow Male Gigolo was getting a sequel.
A woman looks for Bud Light in a convenience store, but it’s not there. Why? Well, the Bud Light truck has overturned. Oh, no! Never fear, the Bud Light Legends are here! Who are the Bud Light Legends; why, it’s all the “famous” people who have appeared in Bud Light commercials from previous years who randomly show up to help get the Bud Light from the side of the highway back into stores everywhere!
Grade: C+ -- My dad likes things like when they honor old, retired baseball players at baseball games and when they bring back “classic” jerseys in sports. People like my dad will like spotting the throwbacks here and saying, “Oh, yeah, that’s the ‘I Love You, Man,’” guy. That said, this definitely appeals to a particular target. Could have done worse; could have done better. We’ll just chalk this up to nostalgic appeal during a year where it might make people like my dad really happy…like a “Where’s Waldo?” of beer commercial stars.
This spot shows people standing around talking about how 2020 handed us a lot of “lemons,” and proceeds to show lemons falling out of the sky, knocking a biker to the ground, ruining a wedding, canceling flights, etc., etc. It ends with the very obvious, “You know what they say, ‘When life hands you lemons…’.”
Grade: F – I was waiting to see if any brand took on the events of 2020 in their Super Bowl spot, and here we are. Let’s be clear: it’s not a stretch to make a “when life hands you lemons” joke to advertise a hard lemonade (not super creative), but what is a stretch is thinking it is okay to make light of a global pandemic in which over 2 million people have died around the world. Super tone deaf for a company that should have known better. I actually cringed watching the flight board change to “cancelled” using lemons like a casino slot machine. Pretty tasteless, probably like the seltzer lemonade itself.
Lil Baby says he wasn’t born in the spotlight; it was something about the struggle that made him. We see a skateboarder trying to land his trick. He falls. He eventually lands the trick. Then we just see a bunch of random people until Lil Baby wraps up the spot rapping in the background of a shot that has Rockstar Energy drink (both regular and sugar free) in the foreground.
Grade: F – For an energy drink commercial, this spot was super low-energy. The tagline “Hustle on,” is, well, different, and the choice of Lil Baby was a lil strange. Why not someone a lil bit more, I don’t know, Exciting? This commercial left me feeling a lil flat, which should be the opposite of its intended effect.
So, Marshawn Lynch reads us “The Night Before the Super Bowl,” a supposedly clever take on “The Night Before Christmas,” which involves us seeing a mix of once-great football players (e.g., the Manning brothers, Terry Bradshaw, and other people I don’t know or care about but whom many other people will also neither know nor care about) in pajamas in their basement, clubhouse, etc. Chips like Doritos, Tostitos, Lays, and Cheetos make random appearances before Marshawn ends the spot with, “Don’t Forget the Chips.”
Grade: C- -- This is another one my dad will like. Using the same approach as the Budweiser Legends spot, this commercial will appeal to football fans seeing former football players doing what is hardest for them: acting and delivering memorized lines well. The big issue here, though, is that the chips and specific brands take a backseat to the nostalgic overload despite the commercial explicitly saying, “Don’t forget the chips!” Lots of better ways to do this where the chips are the commercial quarterback and the retired players, while attention getting, give support from the sidelines. Definitely not a touchdown here.
This spot consists of a mix of animation and video, Lenny Kravitz reading a poem, of sorts, about all of us being billionaires, and the importance of investing in others so that we all become heartbeat billionaires.
Grade: D- -- A pretty generic commercial with a pretty stale message. In a year where literal billionaires have become exponentially richer while others have lost their jobs, being told to be a “heartbeat billionaire” by a likely millionaire is, well, sort of unnecessary. No thanks, Lenny.
A boy asks the question, “What if this burrito could change the world?” Then, we are treated to a lesson of Chipotle’s corporate social responsibility or at least, what we think is Chipotle’s CSR involving farming, animals, sustainability, and more.
Grade: C+ -- It’s nice to hear how a fast-casual food company might be engaging in more responsible food production, although the messaging is a bit unclear as to whether Chipotle is actually doing this or suggesting it is possible. The tagline “for Real” is smart to underscore the notion that its products are, in fact, eco-friendly, sustainably produced products. Plus, the “Chipotle: for Real” tagline beat out the other possible Chipotle taglines of, “Chipotle: enough sodium for two heart attacks,” and “Chipotle: We’ll Break Your Toilet.”
We see people apologizing for common mistakes: kicking the back of someone’s airplane seat, a gender-reveal party mishap, mansplaining, etc. We end with Schitt’s Creek star Dan Levy apologizing to two M&Ms characters for eating their friends while the red M&Ms character is screaming for help in the back of Dan’s locked car.
Grade: B – The commercial incorporates humor, which is a plus, but it also uses the product as a “peace offering” in each vignette, which keeps the product front and center (although the visual shots of the packaging could have been clearer). Mars’ agency was smart to land Dan Levy, whose fame has never been greater thanks to Schitt’s Creek. The spot does feel a little Snickers “You’re not you when you’re hungry?”-inspired, but this time for apologies. Still, if keeping M&Ms top-of-mind and current is the goal here, well, it’s an okay spot, particularly with modern references and a pop culture icon with which we’re all familiar.
People were sad to hear the Clydesdales weren’t going to be a part of the Super Bowl this year, so whatever agency Sam Adams hired to do its Super Bowl spot seized the opportunity. The commercial begins with what we think is going to be an Anheuser-Busch commercial featuring the famous horses but devolves into chaos when the horses are set free to run amuck and terrorize people nearby. We learn it’s “your cousin from Boston,” Sam Adams, AB’s competitor, who is actually behind this nonsensical commercial.
Grade: B--- I mean, it was wicked smaht to jump on the news that AB was passing on doing a Clydesdale commercial this year, as people have grown to love and look out for any commercial featuring the horses. The risk Sam Adams runs in making this comedic competitive play is that AB is still activated in the minds of viewers, but prioritizing brawn over brain is exactly what your cousin Sean O’Malley from Boston is likely to do, right? Not bad, but it leaves you wanting a series of two or three commercials where Sam Adams picks on other competitors and always comes back with the fightin’ spirit of your cousin from Boston.
The spot begins with astronauts, having landed in the ocean from a trip to space, wondering why they have not been rescued by mission control. The scene cuts to the scientists at mission control stacking together different flavors of Pringles, completely distracted. Return to the astronauts who see a ship coming and have renewed hope. Cut to the ship where the sailors are too busy stacking Pringles chips of different flavors to notice the astronauts in the water nearby.
Grade: D- -- The attempt at humor falls flat, and it’s unclear whom, exactly, is the intended target audience for this commercial. The biggest issue, though, is the missed opportunity for Pringles to launch an innovative new product that includes different flavor chips in the same purchase. I loved the idea of flavor combinations when Pringles first launched the idea, but I don’t know anyone who has picked up several cans of different flavor Pringles for this purpose. Give us a little Jelly Belly reimagining here, Pringles, and show us chip combo recipes on the side of a premium-priced product that gives us a variety of flavors to mix and match.
John Cena is counting out loud when he breaks the fourth wall and lets viewers know that if they can also count then they might win a million dollars on Super Bowl Sunday. How? Well, they just need to count all the bottles of Mountain Dew’s new Major Melon watermelon-flavored soda that appear in their Super Bowl spot. The video then flashes to a dog made out of watermelon before panning back to John Cena.
Grade: D+ -- I mean, who doesn’t like a challenge? This promotion preview is simple enough to entice some viewers to pay more attention to the spot coming during the big game. The watermelon dog was weird, but so is a new watermelon-flavored soda. Although this was just a teaser for the bigger commercial to come, I think the real missed opportunity here was telling us more about the product itself. What does that watermelon flavor taste like? Instead of using a weird CGI watermelon dog, why not give us pinks and greens and little watermelon seeds? I guess we’ll see if they deliver in the full commercial, but this fruity concoction was pretty hollow.
We see a guy tied to a chair in a dimly lit room. A man who turns out to be a car salesman enters with charging cables sparking and asks/threatens the tied-up man if he is going to “buy the car or not?” Then the world turns upside down, and the man is seated outside on a pleasant day next to his wife. The Vroom truck pulls up with a car on it and explains to the viewer how he/she never has to visit a car dealership again.
Grade: B – Short. Simple. Straightforward. People hate going to buy a car. This dramatizes that experience in a familiar tied-up thriller movie trope. The narration says exactly what the company is in the business of doing. We see the logo and the brand colors. If you’re going to spend money on an expensive commercial, then convey what you need to convey. The only risk here: people not remembering the brand name or mistaking it for a similar service (e.g., Carvana). I’d repeat Vroom.com more than once and maybe add a jingle or an “audio logo” soundbite.
Ford takes a serious approach in this Super Bowl spot, showing flashbacks of images from the pandemic while encouraging us to hold on and keep strong, we’re so close to the end and we’ll be able to return to life as we once knew it soon.
Grade: A- – Let’s be clear: tackling anything related to the pandemic was going to be tricky. You shouldn’t use comedy, as making light of many people’s tragedy is uncaring. Lean too far into drama and sadness and you risk stirring sad emotions in your viewers and, potentially, linking those sad feelings to your brand. Here, Ford struck the right balance: it did not feature its cars, it did not brag about whatever it has done to help during the pandemic; it simply gave a message of hope while directing people to learn more about the Ford Fund, which, it turns out, gives PPE to underserved communities and helps generate innovations to keep people safe. Ford walked a fine line with this spot, but it seems like they did it quite well.
The teaser spot shows a garage door opening and someone standing in the light.
Grade: F – Sure, this is only a teaser, but we’re supposed to know from this teaser that what we’re seeing is actually Four Seasons Total Landscaping. We do not know this. The person standing in the light is the company’s president. We also do not know this. As far as a teaser is concerned, this one fails. Even showing the title “Four Seasons Total Landscaping” would have been enough to pique audience interest in watching the full spot. Missed opportunity for the teaser; let’s hope the full spot is better.
In the Romo’s house, they “take things to the max,” which includes eating tall sandwiches, sleeping on five mattresses, and driving trucks with monster truck-sized wheels. We see the tagline “to the max” several times. It’s a Sketchers commercial for Sketchers Max Cushioning.
Grade: C- -- Here’s the issue: overusing former football players in Super Bowl spots means all the commercials blur together. I applaud the use of “to the max” given the name of the product, but if maximum cushioning is the game, then let’s see more of the mattresses, pillows, a bed of flowers, clouds, cotton candy, and anything else that evokes the idea of soft cushioning.
It’s Jake from State Farm recruiting a team of football players. But…this is a teaser. We have to tune in to see whom he adds to the State Farm team roster.
Grade: F – I don’t care.
We see athletes making “ugly faces” while grunting and struggling lifting weights, performing their respective sport, etc. These faces are what the commercial refers to as “profaces” in what we learn is an ad for protein yogurt by Oikos. 20 grams of protein straight to your proface. The end.
Grade: C+ – I appreciate the attempt of Oikos to get into the protein-laden food space by launching a line of Oikos protein products. They hit the right target here – athletes – and the spot is pretty simple. The only challenge here is that it’s pretty easy to forget it’s Oikos five seconds after the commercial is over. I’d have integrated the brand name into a remix of the song so it could be repeated a few times, but that’s just me.
The premise of the spot: anytime we say, “Let’s Grab a Beer,” we’re actually saying something else. We see different scenarios – from a rained-out wedding to someone getting fired, an orchestra celebrating to a couple making up. The spot ends with the narrator explaining that what we’re really saying when we say “Let’s Grab a Beer” is that we need each other.
Grade: A- – In a clever shot for the emotional punch, AB tangentially touches on the social isolation of the past year in a way that does not explicitly remind people of the past year. Importantly, the spot digs deeper into what we marketers like to think of as the underlying truth of what consuming a particular product is really about. Here, we’re getting into some Maslowian needs for love and belonging, which I can support. Right as the spot pulls at the emotional heartstrings, we see AB’s brands flash across the screen in black and white. Good timing. Clever approach to advertising during a trying year; if I drank beer, I’d offer to grab one with whomever came up with this idea.
We see desks roaming a cattle range like cows. The narrator says that, in some places, cow flatulence is taxes. In New Mexico, you don’t have to pay state taxes over the age of 100 (so says the narrator as the desk zooms through a birthday party in New Mexico). “In Hawaii,” the narrator says from the computer screen on the desk passing by, “You get a tax credit for maintaining a tree.” Eric, the tax expert, answers some question two people have about taxes. An old-timey western-inspired song plunks along with some lyrics about taxes as we watch several desks travel down the streets of America and into the driveways of (likely) unsuspecting Americans.
Grade: D - I’m literally writing the review having just watched the commercial and I have no idea which tax company this was a commercial for. In a world where basically every tax company looks, acts, and sounds the same, trying to differentiate yourself would be wise, particularly if you’re spending a lot of money on a Super Bowl commercial. Also, there seems to be something here about TurboTax *live* - which also makes Eric the “tax expert” make more sense if it involves being able to connect with a real tax expert in real time. The spot doesn’t make this clear, however, which seems like a real missed opportunity.
In this spot, Lil Nas X narrates a lil story about defying logic while a bunch of shots feature people using technology in various ways. Nothing is branded, and one is left wondering what, exactly, is this a commercial for? At the end, we learn that it’s a commercial for Logitech.
Grade: F – Catchy music, yes, but the fact we don’t know it’s a commercial for Logitech until LITERALLY the 59th second of a one-minute commercial is not a good use of anyone’s time or money. Reshoot the spot and feature the brand name throughout. Hate to break it to you, Logitech, but your products are not well known or distinct enough to rely on their mere presence alone. You’re not Apple.
The spot begins with Nick Jonas listing how technology has allowed us to do so many incredible things–from deep fake videos to drones flying packages, self-driving cars to robot vacuums, etc. Yet he raises the concern that, despite all its wonder, technology has failed to make finger prick diabetes tests a thing of the past. Introducing: Dexcom!
Grade: B- – While this may be targeted to a very specific audience, it’s important to have this conversation and to make people aware of this technology. Who better than to do it than a famous diabetic in the form of Nick Jonas. The only concern: the spot doesn’t say one thing about how the technology works. This could drive traffic to the featured URL at the end, but it sure would be nice to have some insight about the product.
The spot consists of WeatherTech people talking about how happy they are to work at WeatherTech, how much it feels like they’re a part of a family, how supported they feel, etc. Some of the company’s products are presented throughout along with shots of people working in a WeatherTech factory.
Grade: D- - I mean, I’m happy for these people. I am glad they are gainfully employed and a company they say they really like in a commercial. But…shouldn’t that be sort of the bare minimum we expect from corporate America? Let me hear about how WeatherTech gives paid parental leave and college funds for the children of employees. That would impress me. Otherwise, this spot isn’t much different from saying, “They let us eat lunch every day,” and, “The parking lot usually has enough spots”…why shouldn’t these things be true?
Brad Garrett, of Everybody Loves Raymond fame, stars in this commercial as Tony Bolognavitch, a.k.a. The King of Cold Cuts, who lives in a mansion where money rains down on him because “the cold cuts business has been real good to [him].” However, it turns out that Tony is a sketchy character who doesn’t really use good bread or meat products. He feels the heat when Jimmy Johns shows up on his turf with freshly baked bread, all-natural meat sliced by hand, etc., and then the spot takes a dark mob-themed turn where Tony intends to take out Jimmy Johns. It ends with Tony threatening Jimmy and referring to war, a “sandwich war.”
Grade: F – Let’s be clear here: the creator of Jimmy Johns, Jimmy John Liautaud, made headlines years ago for hunting big game (e.g., a rhinoceros, a lynx) and for being a piece of human garbage, in general. Thus, it’s rich that all these years later, while the memory of JJ’s creator’s past transgressions are still fresher than their bread, a spot that leans into a villainous fictitious competitor is what they offer up for the Super Bowl. Granted, not everyone in America will know the story of JJ’s creator, but it was enough to get me to stop eating from the company. This just feels a bit tone deaf when the company could have just as easily created a spot touting its fresh bread and all-natural meat without referencing garbage leadership, regardless of whether or not he’s still a part of the company. Also, don’t try to own the “sandwich wars,” Jimmy Johns – that’s a chicken sandwich war still ongoing among other fast food restaurants.
It’s an old Western. We see four miniature Maya Rudolphs riding on four miniature horses while the song “These Boots are Made for Walking” plays (which, it turns out, is a great song); a pair of pink boots are pictured. The townspeople look on as each Maya Rudolph says she’s going to pay one of four small payments for the boots. The copy that appears lets us know that Klarna allows you to make four small payments because Klarna is all about “Smoooth Shopping” (extra o included).
Grade: C- – The song catches your attention, everyone loves Maya Rudolph (so having four just makes the world a better place), and the notion of “four small payments” is visually represented (even if a bit clunky) with the four small Mayas on four small horses. What’s missing, however, is any explanation of what Klarna actually is, the fact that the payments are interest-free (which they are), and the way the service can be used for a variety of products and brands. I love all-things Swedish, but there’s ABBA-solutely room for improvement here.
Indeed, the job listings website, uses the song “Rise Up” and imagery of various people with copy over them reading “We help _________ get jobs,” filling in the blank with words like “the ones starting out,” “the experienced,” “the hell-bent,” “the ready,” etc. The commercial tugs at the heart strings by showing parents with children, dogs, a pregnant woman, and then, of course, happy people getting jobs at the end of the commercial.
Grade: B – In a time when many people are unemployed for reasons well beyond their control, it’s a good time to be a job listings company and a nice gesture to show how unemployment affects people of all backgrounds, at all levels, and in all circumstances. As much as I hate the song from its overuse this past year (can someone please write a new uplifting song ASAP? Note: NOT you, Katy Perry), It packs an emotional punch with the imagery in the spot. The constant use of “We help____get jobs,” is smart repetition and works well here.
The spot begins with a couple sitting on the couch as the narrator says, “It’s time to cut out, cut to it, cut slack, cut back, cut open, cut to the chase, cut out with Cutwater,” while the visuals change to people at a pool party, jumping in a lake, hiking, closing computers (in various ways?), which then shifts to closing the lid of a Cutwater cooler and people chatting around camping tents. Throughout, we get previews of canned cocktails including Vodka Mule, Lime Tequila Margarita, Tiki Rum Mai Tai, and Vodka Soda, the four flavors being offered.
Grade: B – Lots going on here, but the repetition of “cut” in various forms helps us wrap our head around the brand name – Cutwater – although I’d argue the full name “Cutwater Cocktails” could have been stated more throughout. The commercial gets people excited about being outdoors again, which is a plus, but the spot should have explicitly called out the four flavors more or at least lingered on a shot of the four different varieties. Not bad…but, also, do people drink cocktails while hiking? More beach shots and summer evening soirées, methinks.
Will Ferrell begins by saying that Norway sells more electric vehicles per capita and then gets angry. He won’t stand for it! He goes to recruit Keenan (randomly in a pirate costume) and Awkwafina (randomly shooting arrows) and tells them to meet him in Norway so they can give those Norwegians a piece of their mind. They arrive only to discover that 1) Norway is adorable, and 2) they have wound up in Finland and Sweden. The spot ends by saying GM plans to have 30 new EVs by 2025, showing off its fancy new tech-company-esque logo and its clever tagline “everybody in” (with the ev highlighted in the same blue as the new logo)
Grade: A- - Will Ferrell is likely to capture the attention of the typical football fan. People like Keenan and Awkwafina. There’s enough of a narrative to keep people interested; the spy-movie-like soundtrack propels the spot forward as we anxiously await to see what happens once they get to Norway, which, of course, they humorously never do. This isn’t your typical car commercial because GM isn’t advertising cars: they are advertising their future in electric vehicles. Get used to it America, and watch out Norway.
NOTE: Not to be outdone, our friends in Norway, a country known for its troll folklore, does a swell job trolling America with a response video. The rector from the University of Agder in Norway cleverly goes all out to hide all the things Norway does so much better than the U.S. before Will Ferrell arrives (as to not irritate him any further). The satirical humor and social commentary here show just why I love Norway (and Sweden and Denmark and Finland) so much. Grade: A+ -- you can watch the trolling response here:
We see a woman who had her legs amputated swimming in open water with the text “Jessica Long: 13x Paralympic Gold Medalist.” A woman sitting at a desk placed in open water makes a phone call. We hear the conversation. A woman tells soon-to-be new adoptive parents that their agency has found a baby girl for their adoption, but there’s an issue: she was born with a rare condition and will need to have her legs amputated. Things won’t be “easy.” Meanwhile, we see Jessica Long swimming through the orphanage, through a family room where a younger version of herself is learning to walk, through a locker room where a younger version of herself is getting ready to go swim, and then we see her swimming at the Paralympic games before swimming up to her parents’ kitchen the day of the phone call we’re hearing. After a pause, the adoptive mother replies, “It might not be easy, but it will be amazing. I can’t wait to meet her.” The narrator and copy state, “We believe there is hope and strength in all of us,” before announcing the brand – Toyota, a proud partner of Team USA (for the Olympics and Paralympics).
Grade: A -- It’s hard not to tear-up at this commercial, which is just such a beautiful telling of Jessica Long’s story. There is not much to criticize, here; we could argue that Toyota isn’t really selling its cars and there’s some who might argue that the commercial seems exploitative, but the sincerity of the commercial, the fact that it isn’t selling a product but, instead, showing support for the Paralympic games, brings a lot of credibility and heart to Toyota. I’d say that’s gold-medal marketing.
A man is showering…in a forest. Another man pops up and says, “Your soap is sh*t” (it’s bleeped) and says that body wash is a “synthetic detergent” but “you’re not a dish.” Blah, blah, you’re a real man – you open pickle jars on the first try, you wield a sword to slay dragons, you let your daughter braid your hair – Dr. Squatch is a natural soap for man that “takes you places you never thought you’d go…naked.”
Grade: D- – I mean, there are some weird gender issue statements being made here – do men really need their own natural soap? In an era of Proud Boys ignorance, I am not sure that gender-based products, especially for “manly men,” is necessary. I suppose there could be an audience of dudes that are into it, but the brand name is immediately forgettable, it’s unclear if it is for purchase in stores (or just online), and we hear nothing of what it actually smells like. My guess for its scent? “Smokey Cigar Ashes,” “Bourbon-Infused Woodchips,” and “Fragile Masculinity.”
This spot opens with a dog, a man running, a guy picking up his baby, someone coloring her hair, a woman turning the open sign around on her business, people dancing at a country bar, someone crying on a computer while a narrator spouts off things about investments, diversifying interests, etc., and then something about how “we’re all investors.” We then get the company name and logo – it’s a Robinhood commercial – and the reminder that the first stock is on them (certain limitations apply).
Grade: F – I mean, bad timing on Robinhood’s part, although they probably had no way of knowing their brand would be so controversial by the time their Super Bowl spot ran. Recent events aside, this commercial is all over the place. Random shots of people doing random things. Clunky, jargon-filled narration. Just tell us what you do, Robinhood, and if you can’t manage your own marketing, I hear there are a bunch of people on Reddit who seem to know your business better than you do.
We see a bunch of famous characters – Patrick Stewart, Gayle King, a Crank Yanker puppet, Stephen Colbert, etc., climbing a mountain, the Paramount mountain, and learn that Patrick Stewart summoned them all there to “dance like a metaphor.” It’s very confusing. The spot ends by promoting Paramount+, the streaming service, with the tagline, “A Mountain of Entertainment.”
Grade: D – I like the “Mountain of Entertainment” tagline, but Nora O’Donnell (who is also in the spot) put it best: it’s a little complicated. We get it: all these people and their shows are streaming on Paramount+, but the dancing on the mountain bit just feels, well, stupid and lazy. I’ll sit this dance out.
We get some sad-sounding music. There’s a tent inside a house that a little boy climbs out of. He puts on his hiking boots while a narrator talks about how we’ve been stuck indoors. But, the narrator says, “There are still rocks to be skipped, trails to be trampled, fish to be caught, etc.” We see pictures of people doing outdoor activities while the narrator says, “We need nature more than ever.” We see framed pictures of people catching fish, kayaking, etc., with their children, as if to say, “Remember when we did this?” The spot ends with an appeal: “Let’s get back to nature.”
Grade: D – This feels exploitative. While it is possible that Bass Pro Shops may have seen a decline in sales over the past year, our social media feeds tell us otherwise, as the outdoors were the ONE place people COULD feel like they could safely go. Plus, if you live in a red state, chances are you never stopped living as if there were any restrictions because there probably weren’t any. I’ll agree that nature is wonderful and magical, but Bass Pro could have taken a different approach and reminded viewers that nature was the one safe place for everyone over the past year, highlighting the value that being ready with outdoor products and equipment could bring to families in unexpected times. Sorry, Bass Pro, toss this one back into the lake.
We see a house getting messed up: a dog tracks in dirt, dishes piling up in the sink, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich strangely falling to the floor. The narrator says, “With so much time spent at home” (tapping into the past year’s situation) our houses have gotten messy. Then we see copy showing that “65% of chores fall on one person” (it’s implied this is mom, but it’s not stated explicitly). The spot ends with messes being cleaned up, narration about “doing better by working together,” a shot of Dawn and Swiffer’s logos, and the tagline “Come clean: Close the chore gap.”
Grade: C+ -- The spot hints at gender inequality, unity (better together), and the finding that pandemic-related changes have negatively affected women disproportionately, which are all fine topics to tap into. Still, we don’t see much of the brands, it’s unclear what is happening between them (are Dawn and Swiffer coming together? Can I get Dawn-scented Swiffer wet wipes now? Can I Swiffer my dishes?), and we don’t exactly know what these brands are doing to close this “chore gap.” Maybe we need to get Windex in on this spot to clear things up a bit.
We get Joe Montana talking about being the greatest of all time, what that means, etc. We see images of him playing football mixed in with Guinness-related imagery. He ends by giving cheers to the greatest player we have yet to see and the greatest year ahead of us.
Grade: D- - Again, using a former football great just means it is more likely to get lost in all the other spots playing the exact same card. Again, we get the “tangential pandemic reference” where the spot doesn’t directly call out the past year but hints at it indirectly by talking about a better year to come. Although Guinness is shown throughout, there’s nothing particularly memorable or unique about the imagery we see; we could replace Guinness with just about any other beer and have the exact same commercial. Luck is not on the side of this boring spot from the beloved Irish brand in this year.
In this throwback to Edward Scissorhands, we see Wynona Ryder reprising her character from the classic film except, this time, the focus is on her son, Edgar Scissorhands (played by Timothée Chalamet). We see Edgar suffering from the many challenges one might face if s/he had scissors for hands (e.g., cutting the bus stop pull line, magnets clinging to his hands in physics class, etc.). We get a full 90 seconds of these challenges–the bus refuses to pick him up, he “drives” using his virtual reality console because he cannot use his scissor hands to drive a real car. His mom surprises him at the end of the commercial with a new Cadillac Lyriq, which features hands-free driving. The end.
Grade: C+ - This is a very expensive way for Cadillac to communicate it has hands-free driving. While the Edward Scissorhands connection is likely to capture attention (and, note, it was wise to leave Johnny Depp out of the spot given recent events), the spot barely mentions the name of the specific car model (the Lyriq), hardly shows the car, alludes to the fact that it’s eco-friendly (without really calling it out or connecting that to the narrative), and fails to mention whether this hands-free driving technology is unique to the Lyriq or is something being integrated into several Cadillac cars. It’s fine, I guess, but it feels like it beats around the bush instead of carving a clear statuesque topiary à la Edward Scissorhands. Side note: I hope Edgar Scissorhands doesn’t try to eat a peach with those hands.
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