How’s that Super Bowl hangover treating you today?
I’m assuming that a lot of America is powering through right now thanks to coffee, ibuprofen, tums, and the joy that comes from seeing the Kansas City Chiefs lose. Those four things together create a powerful elixir that should make this post-Super-Bowl-Monday a little easier to stomach.
The Super Bowl between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles wasn’t all that exciting, eh? Philly completely took the wind out of the Kansas City’s sails, controlling the game from the jump and winning 40 to 22. To be honest, the game wasn’t as a close as the score makes it seem.
And you know what a crappy Super Bowl means? The real entertainment was in between the action in the form of commercials. There were some that really stood out as great, whether they were funny or trying to capture a more serious aura. The Bud Light ad with Post Malone and Shane Gillis was funny, as was Michelob Ultra’s pickleball hustling with Willem Defoe and Catherine O’Hara. And I personally really liked Harrison Ford’s patriotic Jeep commercial.
But on the flip side, there were some advertisements that just fell flat. It seems as though picking out bad Super Bowl commercials has gotten a lot easier in recent years. Back in the day, there was the occasional one that missed the mark, but for the most part, a lot of the “Big Game” ads always warranted a chuckle (remember the E-Trade Baby commercial that broke the internet?).
However, in the 2020s, companies have opted to move away from funny altogether, or try too hard to be humorous, which brings us to the list of the top five commercials from this year’s Super Bowl that missed the mark.
5. Mountain Dew “Seal Kiss From A Lime”
I’ll give credit where credit is due. Mountain Dew really went for it with this one, but it might have just gotten a little too strange. Granted, going obscure can make a commercial memorable, and I doubt anyone that saw this soda ad is going to forget seeing the R&B legend Seal as a… a seal. Though I think the actress in the commercial nailed it when she said, “Well this is the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen.”
4. TurboTax “Now Taxes Is So Sweet”
This Turbotax commercial lands here just because… do any of us really want to be reminded that tax season is upon us? Issa Rae did the best she could, but this was one of the more mundane Super Bowl commercials. It didn’t really feel like it met the moment, you know? The highlight, if there was one, was the box of taxes being cake. Other than that, this ad spot landed a little flat for me.
3. Tubi “Cowboy Head”
Do I even need to explain this one? Like the aforementioned Mountain Dew commercial, if you go weird with your Super Bowl ad, it’s gotta be worth it. I’m not sure that the “Cowboy Head” imagery was worthwhile. I think we all understood the message that Tubi wanted to get across. But all of that just to direct viewers to a streaming service? The only thing that saved it was featuring Eddie Arnold’s “Cattle Call” playing in the background. One of the best yodeling songs of all time… too bad it was featured in one of the worst Super Bowl commercials.
2. Hexclad “Unidentified Frying Object”
This one certainly felt like Hexclad was just hoping that their celebrity endorsements would be able to carry the weight. Gordon Ramsey tried to act his you-know-what off, and Pete Davidson jumped in for the last 15 seconds to deliver the overplayed “all famous people are aliens” joke.
If you ask me, the better alien commercial was the Totino’s Pizza Rolls spot with Tim Robinson.
1. Coffee-Mate “Cold Foam Tongue”
No surprise here. We here at Whiskey Riff were skeptical of this one from the jump. Coffee Mate released this one early – like many of the other companies that advertised during the “Big Game.” Shania Twain teamed up with Coffee-Mate, but you never saw the ’90s country star… you just saw a dancing and singing tongue.
Seems like the downfall of most of the Super Bowl commercials this year was just being too weird, and this one takes the crown.
The post Top 5 Super Bowl Commercials That Wildly Missed The Mark first appeared on Whiskey Riff.