The superest and not-so-super of Bowl commercials

By Haley Williams with special input from their mommy 🙂

Michael CeraVe: My mom and I agree that this was really funny and perfectly silly. Truly Michael Cera’s niche. Bonus points for CeraVe reaching out to Michael Cera first — he did nothing to get this gig except be born with the name. My mom’s favorite of the bunch. 10/10.

Christopher Walken… car: My mom and grandma both thought this ad was funny, but I just felt vaguely bad for Christopher Walken. I’m convinced this is how his life truly is. Plus, I couldn’t even remember which car brand it was for, so obviously this ad didn’t do its job (apparently it was for BMW). I’ll give it one bonus point for the Usher appearance. 3/10 from me, and 5/10 from my mom for a final score of 4/10.

Nerds Clusters: I think this commercial was short, sweet, simple, and memorable. My mom, however, LOVED this commercial. She messaged me about it before I even got a chance to see it, and she really enjoyed the “Fame” reference. Maybe not as grandiose as you usually expect from Super Bowl ads, but thoroughly enjoyable nonetheless. 9/10.

“Twisters”: My reaction was, “Dear God no, leave ‘Twister’ alone!” However, my mom is really excited, and I’ll undoubtedly end up watching it anyway. 6/10.

Oreos: Stop trying to make “Let me twist on it,” happen, Gretchen, it’s never going to happen! 2/10.

Google Pixel AI: I thought this one was actually really sweet. As much as I love to hate Google, and as much as I wanted to hate an ad for more AI, this one really got me. My mom agrees that it’s really cute, and honestly we think it’s nice to see AI be used for good rather than evil for once. 8.5/10.

Duolingo: Ummm… what? My mom said, “The Duolingo came out of the butt.” Need I say more? 6/10.

No T in Skechers: My mom didn’t see this one, so I had to pull in my grandma as an extra special guest. She said, “I liked it.” I agree, Grandma! 8/10.

Foot Fetish Jesus: We’re not going to get into the evils of He Gets Us here, but we all agree that there are way better things you can do with the amount of money it takes to buy a Super Bowl ad, and way more people you could’ve helped with that cash. 0/10.

T-Mobile Jason Momoa: Another “Fame” reference AND Jason Momoa? My mom was absolutely the target audience for this ad. I think it was the right amount of silly, but maybe leaning just a tiny bit annoying. 7/10.

Paramount: My mom and I both somehow managed to miss it during the actual game, but we were both shown this ad after the fact. I loved the star-studded cast, the ridiculous premise, the “Creed” appearance, and the ending gag. My mom thinks Tua should’ve thrown Arnold. She gives this one 6/10, but I’ll give it 8/10 (with bonus points for Arnold’s tiny helmet). Final score: 7/10.

Final thoughts: My mom and I were both shocked by the lack of a Budweiser Clydesdale ad, but we’re theorizing that it may have been because the Clydesdales were actually on the scene in Las Vegas. We were also underwhelmed by this year’s Doritos ad, despite their reputation for really off-the-wall Super Bowl slots. Overall, the showing this year was pretty strong, but best in show HAS to go to Michael CeraVe.