The Super Bowl has served as both a global binge-watching staple and a platform for corporations to flex their wallets with the aim of captivating viewers in roughly 30 seconds.
While the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles supplied an all-time memorable battle — or unforgettable depending on which side you leaned toward — so did a handful of multi-billion-dollar companies with their commercials. With public figure collaborations, celebrity cameos and a few classic Bostonian stereotypes sprinkled on top, Super Bowl LVII was no exception to what we’ve always received as the audience: Some good and some bad.
And with that being said, here are the three best and worst commercials aired Sunday night during Super Bowl LVII:
The Three Best (in no particular order)
A 30-second testament to the power of the internet, Popeyes teamed up with the widely-recognized internet meme kid, now fully grown and on football’s biggest stage.
Dieunerst Collin went viral years ago for his facial expression while holding a cup at a Popeyes restaurant location back in 2019, and now is a freshman on the football team at Lake Erie College in Ohio. Collin is living the good life with his new NIL deal, courtesy of Popeyes. As Collin highlights throughout the commercial, he’s got everything he needs — a nice car, an army of puppies and his own personal meal offer.
As proven time after time, the internet remains undefeated!
This heartstring-tugging 60-second advertisement was a completely condensed story that’s sure to touch dog owners and animal lovers everywhere. And simultaneously, it doesn’t reveal what it’s selling (dog food from The Farmer’s Dog) until the very end, giving it that genuine feel rather than a typical Michael Bay flick.
The journey of a little girl and her puppy is followed, ending with her being a full-grown adult with a child of her own. And still by her side is her now fully grown dog as the two lock eyes while the dog reflects on the early memories when its owner was a young child. The commercial cuts to the words “nothing matters more than more years together” to cap off an effective way of promoting dog food with an emotional appeal.
A nostalgic revisit to Vince Gilligan’s drama series “Breaking Bad” featured the show’s lead characters Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul) and Walter White (Bryan Cranston) reunited in their iconic trailer. This time, instead of collaborating to produce a prison-sentence-worthy product, the two are unveiling “PopCorners” chips. And while not nearly as heinous a project as the one that put them on the map, both Pinkman and “Heisenberg” are exactly as we last saw them during the 2013 series finale.
Even series villain Tuco Salamanca (Raymond Cruz) makes a brief appearance to taste test the “tight, tight, tight” snack himself, like he did way back in season one.
This ad was clever, eye-grabbing and incorporated just the right amount of pop culture references to the series in order to produce an overall great commercial. Sometimes less is just more, right?
The Three Worst (in appropriately-arranged order)
TurboTax wanted to show viewers just what they’re able to do with all the free time they’ll have when not having to file their taxes themselves. And they produced the equivalent of a last-minute attempt at a college student writing their thesis overnight.
This could’ve easily been any random TurboTax commercial played throughout the late-night hours of binge-watching “Family Guy” and you wouldn’t realize it. Why? Well, because the insinuated concept of a man dancing in front of a public sprinkler in celebratory fashion while someone else does his taxes is a snooze fest. These 46 seconds lacked both creativity and unawareness, which resulted in a wasted opportunity.
The sight of 68-year-old John Travolta singing about T-Mobile’s latest bundle offer was nothing short of cringeworthy. The commercial features Travolta alongside a pair of “Scrubs” actors to produce an odd and random 40-plus-year-old version of “High School Musical.” Instead, this time Zac Efron is light years beyond his glory days and he’s trying to get you to reconsider your cellular and internet provider.
Consider this attempt at paying homage to 1978’s “Grease” a massive fumble. They did the complete opposite of what the folks over at PopCorners accomplished with “Breaking Bad.” Just an overall failed usage of nostalgia.
Not the time, nor the place. If we’re being honest, this franchise has no excuse to surpass Tom Brady’s retirement. Therefore, shoving yet another poorly executed attempt at an action film with the guarantee of being butchered by film critics, raises several questions. How on Earth are they still generating multiple hundreds of dollars for each release? What is the series even about anymore? And what cringeworthy death stunt will Vin Diesel dodge for the millionth time now?
Universal Pictures’ “Fast X” is the latest installment of over-the-top action theatrics with some of Hollywood’s worst actors.
To put it simply, the Super Bowl should be reserved for some form of creativity rather than a billboard for cinema’s all-time biggest one-trick pony.
