Ahhh, the Superbowl, the one true holiday of Capitalism. One of the few days a year that America is allowed to stop being so darn frugal in their indulgences and let loose (sarcasm isn’t a thing over there so I’m safe).

Whilst I have no interest whatsoever in watching the game, I have always a huge fan of the ads. It’s a joyous time to be in the industry, and for the last few years I’ve done a roundup of the best and the worst of the offerings.

Paramount Plus – Paramount Mountain

Without a doubt my favourite Superbowl Ad this year. Patrick Stewart doing anything is endearing, but I think this was a case of Paramount+ trusting the creative process and letting creatives actually do their jobs. As well as showing their diverse range of content, it is sells the platform based on their stars.

I can only imagine that this gets funnier the later on Sunday it gets. I think adverts work best with no exposition, or trying not to let ‘everyone in on the joke‘, which is where so many adverts get watered down and become meh. This is fully just batshit, and it really pays off.

Etsy – Gift Mode

Brilliant advertising, which obviously means that the comment are viciously against (however, coming from a country who allowed Big Mamma’s House 2 and Paul Blart Mall Cop to reach Cinemas, I think I’m okay with going against their taste).

Perfectly summarises the “oh fuck” gifting moment when you know you need to return the favour of a fabulous gift in a heightened setting, whilst demonstrating their new app features.

Oreos – Twist On It

I think I like it? I think I hate it? I’ll twist an Oreo on it?

I think the Kris Jenner cameo is great, although for the life of me I don’t know why they didn’t give her a sparkly kaftan and spiky hair à la Kris Jenner of olde, but there is some cleverness to it. My one gripe is that I think they could have pushed the boundaries SO much further. Everything from the market tested audio jingle at the end to high budget VFX and grade is just to clean for me, there are THOUSANDS of examples of historical decisions that are far more reckless and humorous. I'm certain this was the case before the client saw and watered it down

It’s also kind of weird that they want to make twisting an Oreo the new flipping a coin, it's a pretty transparent attempt to start a trend and it's only a matter of hours before the sponsored TikTok campaign drops.

The Oreo has spoken, and me and the cookie think it’s a gross and dystopian way to get Americans to consume even more.

e.l.f Cosmetics – You've Been e.l.f.ing Summoned ✨

Okay, I enjoy this teaser for many reasons, and not only because the long running Twitter joke of ‘the gay intern wrote this’ is immediately acknowledged with Bennydrama’s ‘Intern’ plaque. My reasons are thus:

It’s a cosmetic brand advertising during the Superbowl with an almost entirely gay centric cast (as well as Suits, which is the television equivalent of a bisexual man).
They don’t seem to care.

Lindt – Life Is A Ball

I literally loathe this advert for so many reasons:

The fake American nostalgia using Perry Como singing a song with a tedious link to the fact that the chocolate is a ball of the chocolate. This is not an American heritage brand.
The scene where we pan out the window is clearly not America, as we know there is a distinctive lack of walkable cities, it looks far more like Barcelona, which is also not where Lindtt was created. Eating this chocolate does not mean you get a beautiful plaza with fountain built in your town.
Who parks a car in a field to eat a fucking chocolate on the bonnet…?!
The gross saccharine voiceover at the end. There is something always dystopian about those.
There is one saving grace in that I think it’s beautifully art directed and has wonderful GFX. Props to the Motion Studio who charged them a fortune for this absolute nonsense advert.

Pluto TV – Couch Potato Farms

Another winner for Paramount, this time for their free streaming service Pluto TV. Mimicking the magical ad style that imagines American Farmers as wholesome beet growers instead of factory chicken farmers, Pluto TV offers a refreshing, tongue in cheek look at where they grow the ‘couch potatoes’ that watch such streaming services. The irony is palpable, if only American’s understood it.

Doordash – All The Ads

A simple idea, executed very well. Doordash are a delivery service that claim to be able to deliver almost anything, and what an joyously easy way to show this to the America by delivering everything on all the Superbowl adverts to one viewer, including cars, during the game.

Uber Eats – David & Victoria Forget

Credit where credit is due, Uber Eats turned this around QUICKLY for a documentary moment that came out 3 months ago. Although this is only a teaser ad as of yet, I am fully supportive of it. In my brain the original advert had basically been made with the idea of forgetfulness, and whilst one of the creatives was watching the Beckham doc they had a genius idea that made the last few months for a producer incredibly stressful.

Booking.com – Tina Fey books whoever she wants to be

The 30 Rock Reunion that we never knew we needed. The randomness of Superbowl adverts is always something that has appealed to me, and I assume after a long day of drinking and the realisation that you’ve devoted an entire day to a sport with roughly 10 minutes of gameplay, the celebrities peppered through are some light relief. I also love that it’s a day where almost all logic goes out the window in favour of fun creative and actual budgets, and in terms of spending, I wholeheartedly believe Glenn Close riding a horse is an excellent use of it.

Hellman’s – Make Taste Not Waste

I’ve become strangely desensitised to this type of advert. It’s not that I think it’s inherently bad per se, I just kind of view it as an advert that was the result of whatever the Creatives in New York is responsible for Hellman’s could get past the client after it being a genius concept that was watered down 10,000%. Pair that with the winning formula of everyone who’s ever appeared on SNL and some fake ‘social media sensation’ graphics, and you have yourself an advert that will be forgotten precisely 12 minutes after it airs. For an advert with end line ‘Make Taste Not Waste’, they sure wasted a good few million budget.

The Best (and Worst) Superbowl Ads of 2024