Super Bowl commercials sometimes have more staying power than the big game itself. Everyone remembers the introduction of Apple’s Macintosh computer in 1984 and the Budweiser Whassup? guys, for example. Iconic ads like these start conversations and spark trends nationwide.
What’s coming this year, when the Los Angeles Rams take on the New England Patriots on Feb. 3? Here’s what we’ve seen of the big Super Bowl ads so far. We’ll add to this story often as more commercials show up.
Zoe Kravitz goes ASMR for Michelob
Michelob is smartly capitalizing on the ASMR (autonomous sensory meridian response) craze, which has people loving videos that make specific sounds that create a tingly sensation in some listeners. Zoe Kravitz whispers, clicks her fingernails on a beer bottle, and pours the fizzy drink. ASMR-ers will love it (the video already has a whopping 10 million views in just three days) but some of us will never get the appeal.
Sad Michelob robot
In another Michelob ad, a buff robot shows how it can blow all the puny humans away in running, boxing and golf, then is sad when it realizes even all the workouts in the world won’t allow it to enjoy a beer. This is why Skynet is inevitable.
Alexa wants a Pringle
Two guys are stacking different varieties of Pringles to make unusual flavor combinations, but their Alexa smart device wants in on the fun. Sometimes, it can be sad to be a robot.
Sprint taps double threat Bo Jackson
Super-athlete Bo Jackson meets a mermaid and a horse with wings in Sprint’s Super Bowl 2019 ad titled “Best of Both Worlds.” Paul Marcarelli, the Sprint spokesman formerly known as the Verizon spokesman, also appears in the 30-second spot, as do a few cute robots.
Microsoft: ‘We all win’
Regular gaming controllers don’t always work for children with disabilities. That’s where Microsoft’s Xbox Adaptive Controller comes in. “I never thought it was unfair,” one young gamer says in the company’s ad. “I just thought, ‘Hey, this is the way it is and it’s not going to change.'”
The Batmobile swings by Walmart
Classic movie cars like the Back to the Future DeLorean, the Ecto-1 from Ghostbusters and Scooby Doo’s Mystery Machine rush to Walmart to pick up groceries in the company’s commercial. Reads the tagline: “Order groceries online. Pickup for free. No matter what you drive.”
A Jeep gets crushed
In a kind of disturbing ad for Jeep, a 1963 Gladiator Jeep pickup gets put in a crusher and the camera lingers on its torturous death. It’s eventually replaced by a new Gladiator 2020, but it’s hard not to feel sorry for the classic old truck that’s so cruelly been put out to pasture. It’s worth noting that while this ad is targeting the big game, it won’t actually air during the Super Bowl broadcast as FCA is instead targeting digital and social channels this year.
Pepsi gets defensive
Pepsi plays off the fact that people wanting a cola tend to ask for their rival, Coke, and are often asked by the servers if a Pepsi is OK. Overhearing this exchange, Steve Carell defends the drink, and gets a little help from Lil Jon and Cardi B. Really, Pepsi is missing out if they don’t find a way to sell that sequined can.
Mercedes-Benz aims high
In Mercedes-Benz’s ad for the A-Class, a random guy gets god-like powers that force the world, and its people and animals, to do his bidding. It’s a great commercial, but we have serious concerns about what happens to Free Willy and Ludacris.
Buffy fights bad skin
Olay created a mini horror movie, with Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s Sarah Michelle Gellar and a creepy masked stalker. He doesn’t know what he’s up against, taking on the legendary Slayer.
Tony Romo takes it easy in Skechers
The former Dallas Cowboys QB demonstrates a number of lazy-man items that make his life easy. He’s selling slip-on Skechers shoes, but the funnier ones involve a golf hole so big a small car could fit in it, and an elaborate way of exercising his dog.
2 Chainz won’t keep his receipts
Do rappers really have to photograph receipts for the bling they buy? Adam Scott tries to get 2 Chainz to save paper receipts for his seafood towers and sports car made of ice, but the rapper has Expensify for that. You can also watch the whole video, which features a gold toilet.
Colgate’s Close Talker
Actor Luke Wilson gets uncomfortably close to his co-workers in an unnerving ad for Colgate toothpaste. As office ads go, it’s no Terry Tate, Office Linebacker or OfficeMax “Rubber Band Man.”
Serena Williams for Bumble
Tennis champion Serena Williams talks about women’s empowerment in an ad for Bumble, the social networking and dating app, though the teaser for the ad doesn’t make clear what the company even does.
Skittles is making a musical
Will the Skittles ad-musical be pawsome, or a catastrophe?
Skittles
Last year, Skittles candy went off the grid(iron) by playing its big Super Bowl ad for only one person. This year, the brand’s showing its ad to a slightly larger, but still very limited audience. Michael C. Hall is starring in a Skittles commercial presented as a Broadway musical, which will really play to a live audience in New York while the game is being played.
According to theater magazine Playbill, the show will take a “self-reflective look” at consumerism and brand advertising. Ticket proceeds will be donated to Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, and Skittles will match the donation.
Mr. Peanut and A-Rod
Retired Yankee Alex Rodriguez goes a bit nutty in a Planters ad where he co-stars with monocle- and top hat-wearing mascot Mr. Peanut. The teaser shows Mr. Peanut tossing nuts at his new buddy, who attempts to catch them in his mouth. A-Rod might need to go back to spring training to practice up on his new skill.
Amazon drafts astronauts, Harrison Ford
Alexa, the voice of Amazon’s Echo, can do many things, but as seen in this ad, perhaps she shouldn’t allow Harrison Ford’s dog to order its own food, or connect podcasts to Forest Whitaker’s electric toothbrush.
Backstreet Boys meet Chance the Rapper
In two short teasers for a Doritos ad, 1990s boy-banders The Backstreet Boys seem to be auditioning Chance the Rapper for a role in their band, but he’s just not getting that patented Backstreet choreography down.
Christina Applegate and M&Ms
Christina Applegate is trying to get into her car in a parking lot, but someone small seems to keep locking her out. Could it be one of those pesky candies, the M&Ms?
Bublé vs Bubly
Singer Michael Bublé is apparently irritated that the flavored water Bubly almost, but not quite, has copied his name. In this clip, he’s caught in a convenience store marking up the cans.
The Dude returns for Stella Artois
It seems like The Dude (Jeff Bridges) from The Big Lebowski, with his love for bowling and White Russians, would roll his eyes at rich Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) from Sex and the City. But in commercials, anything can happen. In an ad for Stella Artois beer, Parker decides to order a Stella instead of her traditional cosmo, and Bridges’ Dude rejects his beloved White Russian for a beer as well. Some fans had hoped Bridges’ enigmatic tweet meant a Big Lebowski sequel was coming, but at least The Dude abides in an ad.
Mermaids like seltzer
Move over, Aquaman. Mermaids Bonnie and Vivian star in an underwater Big Game ad for Bon & Viv Spiked Seltzer in which they pitch their drink, Shark Tank-style, to a posse of real sharks.
Color my world, T-Mobile
Not sure exactly what kind of Super Bowl ad T-Mobile is ringing up, but according to a tweet from John Legere, the company’s US CEO, it’s coming, and it seems likely to involve the color magenta. That light purplish-red color is to the company what blue is to Tiffany, or brown to UPS.
Avocados have gone to the dogs
In a teaser for an ad for avocados from Mexico, three pups face a doggone ruff time trying to bark out the product’s jingle. Even acclaimed Broadway songstress Kristin Chenoweth can’t get them in tune.
Budweiser feels the wind
Few companies have as many memorable Super Bowl ads as Budweiser. This year, the company is hyping its use of wind power, thanks to Bob Dylan’s Blowing in the Wind and a Dalmatian whose ears fly in the breeze as the famous Clydesdales trot past a field dotted with wind turbines.
Audi reconnects a young man with his grandfather
Audi’s E-Tron commercial seems to reunite a man with his grandfather in an automobile-centered vision of heaven, before a swift Heimlich maneuver apparently saves the man’s life, sending him back to his office life.
Toyota partners with a female football star
Toyota is spotlighting Antoinette “Toni” Harris, the first woman to be offered a college football scholarship to play on a regular defensive team. The spot shows Harris as she trains and tackles the football field before driving off in a Rav4 Hybrid.
Hyundai’s hellish elevator
Hyundai’s commercial puts actor Jason Bateman as the manager of a elevator to all kinds of horrible situations, including sitting in the middle seat of a plane next to a sick passenger, jury duty and car shopping. That latter situation serves as a highlight for Hyundai’s Shopper Assurance program.
The Super Bowl airs on Feb. 3 on CBS, CNET’s parent company.
This post first published on Jan. 25 and is updated often as new ads come in.
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