In years past, many viewers tuned in to the Super Bowl not only for the athleticism and excitement of football but also to enjoy the spectacle of commercials that air during one of the most popular sporting events in the United States.
Now, those following the Super Bowl can also add memes to the night’s entertainment.
On Sunday night, amid a range of commercials and a halftime performance by singer The Weeknd, plenty of memes flooded social media.
Whether it was Twitter freaking out over the nostalgia of 3D Doritos or getting motion sickness from The Weeknd’s performance, there were plenty of laughs to be had online.
Here’s our round up of the best memes from Super Bowl LV.
Oatly’s CEO and that bizarre commercial
Commercials are frequently fodder for memes and there is no better time to meme them than during the Super Bowl.
One that stuck out to those on social media featured Oatly’s CEO Toni Petersson singing in a field about the company’s oat milk product. The bizarre song, which Petersson wrote himself, according to Adweek, featured lyrics, “It’s like milk. Like made for humans. Wow.”
Immediately, the commercial began trending on social media with people saying they never wanted to buy Oatly again because of how cringeworthy the spot was.
“the CEO of oatly is now my sworn enemy,” tweeted writer Marissa Kabas.
“That commercial was so bad that I’ll never buy Oatly milk ever,” tweeted Joseph P. Huber, community strategist for Social Sprout, a social media software company.
Comedian Caleb Hearon tweeted he wasn’t sure how the commercial came to be, but regardless, he was not pleased.
“either they forced the ceo of oatly to do that or he wanted to and neither will make me happy,” Hearon tweeted.
Drake’s swole State Farm commercial
Another commercial that captivated the internet was a State Farm commercial featuring rapper Drake as a stand-in for the face of the insurance company, “Jake From State Farm.”
Although the light-hearted commercial, which also featured cameos from actor Paul Rudd and Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, appeared to be generally well-received, many took the advertisement as an opportunity to both dunk on and praise Drake, who appeared noticeably buff in the spot.
“Hahahaha I swear the first words outta my mouth ‘DRAKESWOLE AIN’T HE!!?!?’” tweeted user Hana Williams.
“Drake really delayed his album to make a State Farm commercial,” tweeted user @Three_Cone.
“Nothing Was The Same since @Drake From @StateFarm dropped,” tweeted Republic Records, Drake’s record label, along with a photo of Drake from the commercial photoshopped onto an album cover.
Others said the commercial was now one of Drake’s biggest hits.
“Drake from State Farm’ already platinum,” tweeted CNN correspondent Omar Jimenez.
MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle crowned the commercial the best of the evening.
“@Drake from @StateFarm really won this night for me,” Ruhle tweeted.
The Weeknd’s halftime performance
Arguably the most memeable moments of the night came from The Weeknd’s halftime performance.
The Weeknd, real name Abel Makkonen Tesfaye, performed a medley of his hits, including “Blinding Lights,” “Can’t Feel My Face” and “The Hills,” in front of a host of robot-like choir singers.
At one point during the performance, The Weeknd entered what appeared to be a golden hallway and looked as if he was filming himself while confusedly traversing the corridor. Quickly, social media seized on a 3-second clip of The Weeknd walking through the golden hall, camera shaking as the singer feigned disorientation.
“me trying to follow the hostess to my table at the Cheesecake Factory,” wrote Conor Ryan, a writer for the Boston Sports Journal. Just after 9 p.m. Sunday, Ryan’s tweet had 49,000 likes and that number was quickly rising.
Emily C. Singer, a reporter for the American Independent, tweeted that the 3-second clip reminded her of a very familiar feeling.
“When you lose your phone in your house and it’s on silent mode,” Singer wrote.
Others joked that The Weeknd’s backup dancers, who wore what appeared to be medical wrappings on their face, looked like an image of Spongebob Squarepants, in which the character wears underwear on his head.
While the short clip was being turned into countless memes and some joked about the backup dancers’ appearances, others referenced the 2019 film “Uncut Gems,” which included a cameo by The Weeknd.
“oh the guy from uncut gems,” tweeted New York Times reporter Astead Herndon as the performance began.
New York Times reporter Dave Itzkoff tweeted a still from the film, in which The Weeknd kicks Adam Sandler’s character out of a club, and added, “cant believe they wouldn’t let Sandler into this.”
Some grabbed stills from the performance, picking moments that appeared to show the camera’s confused blur and likened it to what happens when kids get ahold of a smartphone.
“Kids running the second they take your phone,” writer Jasmine Watkins tweeted. Others shared images their children had accidentally taken of themselves in response to Watkins, proving just how similar the two images looked.