SUPER BOWL LX THOUGHTS, MOSTLY ABOUT THE 2026 COMMERCIALS
Because, as many of you may know, I’ve been watching every second of the Olympics, which got derailed by many hours because I also watched the Super Bowl and much of the attendant coverage, I had decided to let myself off the hook this year, and forego writing a review of the football championship.
But then, as the commercials rolled on, I thought that I should at least take some notes about them, just in case I had a change of heart about the situation. And, of course, I have! But just a slight one.
The Super Bowl winning Seahawks’ quarterback, (Sam Darnold,) MVP, (Kenneth Walker III,) and Head Coach (Mike Macdonald.)
So first just a very few thoughts on the rest of it, followed by my commercial takes.
First and foremost, major congrats to the Seattle Seahawks! That was quite the interesting win for them. I was rooting for them from the get-go, for several reasons, only a small part of which is because I detest the Patriots’ owner. (And Mr. X dislikes the Patriots’ coach.)
As to the aspect of the proceedings that received the most pre-event hype, Bad Bunny’s halftime show, I loved it! It was glorious. Perhaps he could have sung at least a tiny bit in English, (only because he has in the past—I can’t wrap my head around all that political stuff right now,) but it really didn’t matter, at all. The music, dancing, and pure joy were the point. And who can understand any lyrics these days, anyway, no matter the language; I just listen to the music.
Bad Bunny Halftime Show.
As far as the commentators go, I got a kick out of Cris Collinsworth surprisingly singing the kids’ song, Skip To My Lou, when one of the guys did a skipping step when running with the ball. That was cute.
Lastly before my ads round-up, I wish that all sports announcers had Mike Tirico’s cut-through-the-air voice, especially on the Olympics! So much of what the others are saying blends in with the crowd noise, music, whatever, since few sound mixers for sports shows do their jobs well. (By the way, as I tweeted last week, Olympics commentator Dan Hicks has that great kind of voice, as well. If it were up to me, Dan and Mike did all the work on every sport.) [Note: But I hate that Dan is among the sportscasters who incorrectly say “pUdium,” for “pOdium.” Ugh.]
Adrien Brody bringing it!
Now here are the highlights, (and lowlights,) of the commercials for me:
The best of the bunch were all three of Adrien Brody’s TurboTax ones. (However, I just had to look-up what company the ads were for, so that’s not good for what they were trying to accomplish with them. But Adrien deserves awards for them!)
Lay’s “farmer getting old and retiring” one pulled on my heartstrings.
Even Emma Stone’s commercial was scary! The purpose of it, and what company it was for, though, weren’t clear, but it reminded me of her last two horrible movies.
The message of the Redfin ad was beyond bogus. Yeah, I’m sure people will be nice to their new neighbors because they bought a house from Redfin! Not.
Right after a commercial telling us to not judge girls’ body types, the very next ad was about how jeans look on butts!!! What terrible planning on the part of NBC!
The Bud Light ad showing people throwing themselves down a dangerous hill for a beer was disgusting!!! It totally sends the wrong message to…everyone!
Perfect ad for a football game! I hope it wins lots of awards.
The one for RelaxItsABloodTest.com, (which tests men for prostate cancer,) was sort-of hilarious. And it’s oh so important! I actually loved it.
The Pokemon one was a tad weird, but interesting. I had thought Pokemon was so over years ago, maybe that’s because my last little kid pals grew up, so I haven’t heard of them since.
Sabrina Carpenter’s Pringles ad (where she fell in love with a “man” made of the potato chips, and then a crowd, including her, ate him!,) was just eww.
Not the ad itself, because it was a bit confusing, but the company, Search Party, is a great idea! I’ve been a little concerned about how far technology has come, and just how fast, but using doorbells around the neighborhood to find your lost pet could be revolutionary! I’m sure it can also be used to locate missing people, but they probably don’t want to say it in a commercial because it’s too depressing, whereas doing it for dogs has a hopeful sense. (But I have a feeling we’ll all learn more about it on Dateline very soon.)
Okay, that’s it for the Super Bowl this year. I have to get back to my Olympics-watching!
