Another Super Bowl means time for multi-million dollar commercials. A 30-second commercial costed more than $5 million at Super Bowl LII, according to CNBC, making it high stakes to create an eye-catching commercial. Some of our funny favorites included the Giants spot on rendition of “Dirty Dancing,” Amazon’s Alexa featuring various stars and Bud Knight promoting good ole Bud Light.
As athletic as Eli Manning is, we were impressed by his poise in replicating the iconic dance scene to “(I’ve Had) The Time Of My Life.” The sequence looked like it was taken directly from the movie. Another comical commercial featured stars, such as Rebel Wilson, Gordon Ramsay, Cardi B and Anthony Hopkins. When Alexa loses her voice, these stars must take over her role to provide the Amazon Echo experience. The Ramsay memes came to mind when he was asked how to make a grilled cheese sandwich. “The recipe is in the name!” he screamed. But nothing beats when Wilson was asked to “set the mood,” and that she did. The most loved commercial of the night had to be Bud Knight solidifying the beer as “Famous Among Friends.” What better way is there to watch the Super Bowl than with Bud Light? Dilly, dilly!
However, the Super Bowl ads were not without controversy as Ram, the U.S.-based truck manufacturer, used a sermon given by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in order to drive home their mission of “Built to Serve.” In the sermon, King stresses the theme of equal rights during the period of segregation but many wondered exactly what this message had to do with selling trucks. To many, including us, this is a blatant disregard of King’s original message and only commodifies King’s words in order to sell a vehicle, which is beyond incomprehensible. Especially considering the issue of race in the NFL this year with kneeling during the national anthem, Ram should’ve known better than to include this sermon in their commercial, even if there were good intentions. Though, as they say, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
So whether your favorite Super Bowl ad was controversial or uncontroversial, thought-provoking or simply silly, there is always a necessity to look at these ads through a lense of critique in a socio-political sense. Though with millions of dollars on the line for just a 30-second spot, we’re sure overall messages fall second to capturing audience attention from that bowl of chips in front of you.
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