It’s time for my look at Super Bowl LX, including the ads, halftime show, and the game itself.
The commercials: The “AI Slop Bowl”
To summarize, this year was definitely the “AI Slop Bowl,” with AI dominating the theme of many ads this year—either promoting AI-based products, or are made with AI. I thought last year’s AI ads were bad, but this year’s AI ads are worse by a mile.
The remaining non-AI ads are a mix of the usual: nostalgia (and celebrities), movies, etc. Most of the nostalgia consisted of references to 80s and 90s (and turn of the millennium) popular culture. For example, it’s been awhile since I’ve seen a reference to the Soviet Union in modern media, but Apartments.com’s ad mentions a “defunct Soviet space station.” A Dunkin’ Donuts ad is centered around 90s sitcom references, but has some pretty shoddy special effects (especially whatever’s been done with Sam from “Cheers”), which I suspect is more AI slop.
Gambling companies like Draft King put in an unwelcome appearance, with a number of ads for gambling apps (“lose your life savings before halftime!”). I note the irony of also seeing a promo for a Peacock show about a football player given a lifetime ban for gambling. Speaking of Peacock, the streaming service promoted itself pretty heavily, though that might partly be from watching the game on Peacock.
A few ads seemed questionable or poorly timed: an ad for a movie about releasing secret government material? One that’s pretty much Trump propaganda (an investment account for kids with his name slapped on it)?
The best ads:
- A State Farm ad with a reference to 80s Bon Jovi song “Livin’ on a Prayer.”
- An ad for an upcoming Mandalorian and Grogu movie that parodies the Budweiser Clydesdale Super Bowl ads.
- A Pokemon ad celebrating the franchise’s 30th anniversary this year, by asking celebrities about their favorite Pokemon. I don’t think I have one myself; I haven’t really gotten a chance to play the games (not owning a Nintendo), but I do have “Detective Pikachu” on Blu-ray.
- The Pepsi ad using CGI polar bears, which feels like a jab at Coca-Cola, especially after Coke faced criticism over the holidays for its AI created ads.
The halftime show: “Starring that Grammy-winning rapper, Bad Bunny”
The halftime show starred Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny. I don’t know much about Bad Bunny, but found the show enjoyable, even if my skills at understanding spoken Spanish aren’t the strongest. The show’s certainly not “controversial,” unless you view people of color merely existing as such.
If wondering, the headline above is a reference to the old Saturday morning mainstay “The Bugs Bunny Show” (and its subsequent variants co-starring the Road Runner or Tweety). In some incarnations, following the main theme song, an announcer introduces Bugs: “starring that Oscar-winning rabbit, Bugs Bunny.”
The game itself
The game this year was between the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots, a repeat of their ill-fated-for-the-former 2015 matchup. Fortunately, things went much better for the Seahawks this time, winning the game with a score of 29-13. Most of the game saw the Patriots shut out.
No surprise I was rooting for the Seahawks, so I’m pleased with the game’s outcome.
Peacock
This year’s Super Bowl was on NBC and Peacock. Peacock held up OK over the course of the game, though I did see some slight stuttering during the fourth quarter.
No post-game sitcom, reality show, or drama this year, with viewers instead directed to stay tuned for the Winter Olympics. Comcast, of course, has spent way too much on the Olympics rights to not promote such.
Photo: “Loudest crowd roar at a sports stadium Seahawks-14” by PhilipRobertson is licensed under CC BY 2.0. (Flickr, cropped from original)
