2023 Super Bowl Commercial Review: A Hollywood takeover
Celebrities take over commercials for Super Bowl Sunday in a very bland and boring batch of ads
There’s not much to say about this year’s batch of Super Bowl Commercials, which is perhaps the worst since these reviews started here in 2007. For the second year in a row, there were too many celebrities – including a few I’ve never heard of (who’s Jack Harlow?) and many lacked any imagination and some were flat out boring. Obviously, it’s not the consensus elsewhere, but this is T Dog Media Land so if you want an alternative look at this year’s Super Bowl Ads, you’ve come to the right place.
But that doesn’t mean all of them were bad. There were some gems, including The Farmer’s Dog and MolsonCoors return to the big game in 33 years (as they were separate companies then) with an interesting twist. But most were meh for the most part.
The best part of Super Bowl Sunday? No political ads for the upcoming mayoral race as the candidates probably felt buying spots in the game were too expensive or maybe they decided to give us a break from their yammering. Also missing were crypto ads, as doubt is surrounding the currency.
Here are the ten best and eleven worst ads (two are bundled together as they are from the same organization) in our seventeenth annual Super Bowl Commercial Review. Keep in mind videos posted here may be taken down by YouTube at anytime.
The Best
It’s a miracle I even came UP with ten ads in this category this year:
1. The Farmer’s Fog – Forever. All right, I’ll go with everyone else here and say this is the top Super Bowl ad as it was very touching and well-received from viewers, ranking first in USA Today’s Super Bowl Ad Meter. Let’s see the staff at Checkerboard Square come up with something to beat that. (Editor’s Note: The Farmer’s Fog is actually a cool name, but it’s actually The Farmer’s Dog.)
2. Miller Lite and Coors Light- The High Stakes Beer Ad. For MolsonCoors’ first Super Bowl Ad in 33 years (before they merged) a battle between “Great Taste Less Filling” and “It’s The Right Beer Now” – only to be beaten by Blue Moon, another brand in their portfolio. Hilarious and fun.
3. Google – Fixed on Pixel – A little bit long, but enjoyed it nonetheless. I’m certain Eagles fans would like to erase the Super Bowl ending.
4. Peacock – Poker Face. Heard so much great things about this new Peacock show and the ad certainly works.
5. Disney – Disney100 Special Look. A 90-second montage of what made Disney so great to viewers and moviegoers over the last century and it was well done.
6. Skechers – All Walks Of Life. Any commercial pairing Martha Stewart and Snoop Dogg is a party.
7. Downy’s Unstoppables – Call Me Downy McBridge. Another celebrity I’ve never heard of, but he was funny.
8. T-Mobile – Neighborly. When I saw these two in T-Mobile commercials last year, I thought “these two should be in a TV show together”. Then I realized…Wow (they were.). Anyway, nice ad with John Travolta.
9. Rakuten’s Not so Clueless. I needed an ad to fill out this category, so here it is.
10. Crown Royal – Crown Royal x Super Bowl LVII. Oh, there was another spot to fill? Damn. Okay, Crown Royal was good.
The Worst
They were actually triple the number of terrible Super Bowl Commercials. Too bad we can only limit this category to ten entries.
1. Dunkin’ – Dunkin’ Drive-Thru starring Ben: Bennifer is back and worse than ever in this very overrated ad with Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez. The celebrity-working-in-the-drive-thru trope is so tired. And people liked this? Don’t give a damn how popular this is, it sucks.
To view the rest of these, click on the links:
2. He Gets Us – Be Child Like and Love Your Enemies. As stated on Twitter, using organized religion for commercial purposes is a complete turn-off and not surprisingly, those behind the ads aren’t stand-up citizens devoted to equality and inclusion.
3. Bud Light, “Bud Light On Hold” – This ad feature two more celebrities I’ve never heard of and it channels American Bandstand far more than Soul Train.
4. Kia – Blinky Dad. This commercial would’ve been more interesting if the Dad used a USB dongle and a screwdriver to steal a Kia, which is incredibly easy to do these days.
5. M&M’s – M&M’s Super Bowl 2023 The planned decision to replace the M&Ms spokescandies with Maya Rudolph and back again is something the public saw coming a mile away.
6. Uber One – One Hit for Uber One. Their Super Bowl ad with Sean Combs proves the charisma-free person we knew he always was. As for these one-hit wonders, it would be no different if you swapped out Montell Jordan and Donna Lewis for Right Said Fred and Blu Cantrell.
7. “Michelob Ultra – Caddyshack“. I guess no one is getting laid tonight.
8. E-Trade – Wedding. I thought we got past the concept of Look Who’s Talking. And that movie came out 35 years ago
9. PopCorners, “Breaking Good”. Oh look, A Breaking Bad-inspired ad. When did this show go off the air again?
10. FanDuel with Gronk. This promotion featuring former NFL player Rob Gronkowski went off the rails as it seemed he made the field goal, but it turns out he hooked it just left.
Of note, the U2 ad touting their Las Vegas residency was ranked the lowest in USA Today’s Super Bowl Meter Ad.
Super Bowl Halftime Show
Presented by new sponsor Apple Music, Rihanna was the featured performer for this year’s Halftime Show and while a fan in passing, the Grammy winner was a sight to be hold, performing her greatest hits and for the finale, was hoisted on a glass perform more than 100 feet up in the air. You won’t get the person writing this piece up there that high!
Much of the discussion on social media was if Rihanna was pregnant as she wore a puffy outfit and yes, she confirmed she is expecting her second child. She teased there would be a “special guest” during the show. Who knew it would be the baby!
Grade: A-
Watch this space as we’ll have ratings results from Super Bowl LVII and see if my hit my total viewers prediction. If you want to see an archive of Super Bowl Commercials Reviews dating back to 2007, click here.