2025 Super Bowl Ads: The Good, The Bad, and The Weird
Like most Americans, I look forward to the Super Bowl every year. While football is entertaining enough, I look forward to one thing in particular: the ads. Since 1984, when Apple released its now-famous Macintosh computer ad, the Super Bowl has become a staple of creative and expensive advertising where companies go all out. Recently, there has been a noticeable drop in quality, with fewer and fewer memorable ads each year. This is due to the expensive time slots and a shift in focus from funny and easy-to-watch ads to crazy graphics and celebrity appearances. In 2025, we saw ads from lots of big companies and some small ones, too, but let's take a closer look at what I feel are the most memorable.
Bud Light gave us a fan-favorite commercial with simple slapstick humor. The ad had a simple storyline where Shane Gillis and Post Malone’s neighbors needed help livening up a cul-de-sac party, and they did so with the help of Bud Light. The celebrity appearances were natural, and it felt like they were excited to promote a product they enjoyed. Overall, this commercial was short, sweet, and to the point while remaining funny and memorable. This was easily my favorite ad of the night.
Tubi’s Skin Cowboy Hat ad was perhaps the biggest “swing and a miss” of the night. The plot of the advertisement was that some people were born with hats molded to their skin. The focus of the ad was on a boy who had a cowboy skin hat and two bullies with wizard skin hats who made fun of him. Finally, at the end of the ad, the cowboy hats come back in style, and he can finally fit in. This concept felt very forced and was downright creepy at times. On my first watch of the ad during the Super Bowl, I did not even understand what the advertisement was for. After watching the ad a few more times, the message did become clearer, but for something that's supposed to be easy to watch, it did not succeed.
Finally, Mountain Dew released a commercial that was directed by Taika Waititi, the same person who directed the movie Jojo Rabbit. This commercial made next to no sense. It was your standard energy drink ad until the scene switched to a tropical island with singing seals. At the center of the singing seals, there was a seal that had the musical artist Seal’s face on it singing. The CGI was subpar, and the seal ended up looking like something out of a horror movie. I don't know a single person who enjoyed the ad or who was made anyone want to buy Mountain Dew. I think we all expect more from a Super Bowl ad and even more from such a good director.
Simplicity is always better when it comes to commercials. Time and time again, the short, funny, and catchy commercials are what people remember the most. Companies don't need to spend an absurd amount of money on special effects and crazy storylines; they just need to have good writing. Hopefully, we will see more of this in the next few years, and companies will realise that there is more to a good ad than CGI and celebrity appearances.
By Gavin Morrissey