Second Quarter
Scotts Miracle-Gro, “Keep Growing”
VaynerMedia
Score: 
Scotts Miracle-Gro shows us a bunch of random, disconnected celebrities—including Martha Stewart, Carl Weathers, Nascar racer Kyle Busch, John Travolta (with his daughter, Ella) and Leslie David Baker (Stanley from “The Office”)—gardening, golfing and generally goofing off in their backyards. The point of the spot is a call to action: Scotts wants us all to text a number shown on screen (which feels like a very circa-2006 commercial strategy, but whatever) to find out how to enter a contest to win “the lawn and garden of your dreams.” It’s a lot to take in in 45 seconds, and, confusingly, we’re supposed to believe that all these celebs live in the same neighborhood with adjoining backyards. In the end, the spot feels disjointed and needlessly overstuffed—as if written, cast and directed by committee.
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Tide, “The Jason Alexander Hoodie”
Woven Collaborative
Score: 
A mom suggests that her son’s hoodie—a trendy, flesh-colored monstrosity that hilariously has the giant face of “Seinfeld” star Jason Alexander printed on it—is dirtier than he thinks. Cue a montage of the hoodie getting subjected to all manner of everyday abuse (a dog drools on it, food gets spilled on it, a basketball gets slammed into it), underscored by the cheesily upbeat 1981 Joey Scarbury hit “Believe It Or Not.”
The brilliant thing is that, thanks to a little CGI magic, Alexander’s face on the hoodie reacts to the indignities with a whole range of over-the-top, Seinfeldian emotion: disgust, horror, despair, self-pity, etc. After the mom declares that “You owe Jason Alexander Hoodie an apology,” her son dutifully tosses it into the washing machine with new Tide Hygienic Clean. An on-screen tagline—“It’s dirtier than it looks''—neatly sums up the whole point of the ad.
And in a wonderfully less-is-more moment, the actual Jason Alexander pops up at the very end to confront the hoodie-wearing son in a chance encounter. Across the minute-long spot we’re not only taken on a very funny journey, we’re possibly even convinced, against all odds, that the world might need yet another variety of laundry detergent.
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Skechers, “To the Max”
In-house
Score: 
In this trying-too-hard-to-be-funny 30-second Skechers spot, Tony Romo and his wife, Candice, are identified on-screen as "comfort enthusiasts." Right before they try to show us what that means, Tony declares that "we take things to the max" in the Romo household. Cue Tony sitting at the kitchen table and calling out “Honey, get my stretch pants” (inconsiderate) before digging into a stupidly massive sandwich (just gross). Moments later we see Candice lying in bed on multiple mattresses that are stacked so high she could touch her bedroom ceiling (dangerous). And then, in their driveway, we learn that Tony’s ride has monster-truck-level tires on them (also dangerous).
So what’s the point of our spending a precious half-minute with this extravagantly misguided, self-indulgent couple? Per Tony: “That's why we love Skechers Max Cushioning footwear. They’ve maxed out the comfort for extreme comfort. Bam!”
And just like that, totally uncool brand Skechers seems even less cool. Uncool to the max, in fact. Bam!
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In a poetic, gorgeously filmed 60-second vignette, Toyota tells how Paralympian Jessica Long came to be adopted from a Siberian orphanage by an American couple. We see Long swimming in open waters that artfully, symbolically meld with the adoption agency and what would become her adoptive home. And we hear how Long’s future parents learned she would have to have her legs amputated due to a rare medical condition.
Long would go on to become a 13-time Paralympic gold medalist. As we see the smiling swimmer, now 28, contemplating her life’s journey, an announcer says, “We believe there is hope and strength in all of us.” The spot is an elegant, quietly moving way for Toyota to call attention to its support of the Olympics—the announcer says the carmaker is a “proud partner of Team USA”—and align its brand with optimism, perseverance and triumph over adversity.
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TurboTax, “Spreading Tax Expertise Across the Land”
Wieden+Kennedy
Score: 
TurboTax serves up a clever visualization of its virtual deployment of TurboTax Live tax experts by showing us a series of desks with computer monitors on them traveling (in a magical, self-driving-car sort of way) through the American heartland. An expert on one of the screens sings a country song that offers obscure tips on tax laws (e.g., “If you’re 100 in New Mexico, you’ll pay no state taxes now”—news that pleases one fabulous centenarian). In the end, as a bunch of the desk-screen combos converge on one all-American neighborhood, the assorted experts join voices and sing their chorus/tagline: “Tax experts spreading expertise across the land.” It’s a surprisingly warm, winning way to (literally) drive home the value-add of the product.
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Car accessory maker WeatherTech, known for its laser-measured floor mats, once again serves up some old-fashioned, made-in-America pride in a pair of complementary 30-second spots. In the first ad, we hear directly from employees on its factory floor, who declare that “I love telling people I work at WeatherTech” and “At WeatherTech, I’m very proud of the work that I do” and so on. It’s an exceedingly simple, no-frills spot that will either make you feel happy for these happy people or worry that they’re actually unhappy but were pressured to pretend to be happy on camera. (See the “Third Quarter” section for the second WeatherTech ad.)
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Bud Light Seltzer, “Last Year’s Lemons”
Wieden+Kennedy
Score: 
“When life gives you lemons ...”—yeah, we don’t need to finish the saying, and neither does this ad for Bud Light Seltzer Lemonade, which declares that “2020 was a lemon of a year” and then shows us apocalyptic scenes of lemons falling from the sky, like a plague of locusts. The ad quickly cranks up to the whimsical conceit to alarming levels, with scenes of mass panic, widespread property damage and implied injuries—an odd and strangely tone-deaf creative choice in the wake of a devastating year marked by widespread suffering and death. Anyhow, drink up!
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In E-Trade’s 30-second Super Bowl spot, a slight, nerdy boy (think Macaulay Culkin circa “Home Alone”) sits on his bed watching a video in which a boxer, flexing a bicep and strutting around the ring with her championship belt, declares, “This is how you become the best!” He’s transfixed—and inspired. Cue a montage of the boy in training mode—doing jumping jacks in his bedroom, lifting some paint cans in the garage, lugging a tire in the backyard—as Joe Esposito’s cheesy 1984 synth pop-rock hit “You’re The Best Around,” from “The Karate Kid,” plays.
We then see our protagonist back in his bedroom, regarding himself pridefully in a mirror as he flexes a bicep (he seems to have made no progress at all), at which point the music abruptly stops and a message flashes on the screen: “This might be the year you finally get in shape.” A moment later, we see a follow-up line: “Financially, at least." An announcer says, “Don’t get mad, get E-Trade”—the tagline of a continuing campaign that doesn’t quite track here—"and take charge of your finances today.”
It’s cute—or cute enough—but instantly forgettable.
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Amy Schumer portrays Hellmann’s Fairy Godmayo—a winged humanoid who suddenly appears in one man’s kitchen as he puzzles over how to make a meal out of all the random stuff he’s got in his refrigerator. Despite the brash home invasion, our everyman rolls with it, deferring to the Fairy Godmayo’s mayonnaise-related food-prep expertise. Fortunately, he’s got a jar of Hellman’s in his fridge, which allows FG to work her magic and instantly whip up a “creamy, dreamy” array of meal options. The spot briskly makes its point, and an on-screen tagline—“Make Taste. Not Waste”—positions Hellmann’s as a go-to leftovers-helper. And the reliably funny Schumer got us to chuckle with her confession about her non-mayo-related skill set.
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Jimmy John’s, “Meet the King”
Anomaly LA
Score: 
Jimmy John’s introduces us to Tony “The King of Cold Cuts” Bolognavich, a Mafia-esque sandwich kingpin portrayed by Brad Garrett. He’s pissed off that Jimmy John’s—the national chain that he keeps referring to as “Jimmy’s John’s” for some reason—has invaded his turf with its “high-quality, reasonably priced sandwiches” and “all-natural meat sliced by hand.” And so he declares that “This is war. Sandwich war,” before a teaser flashes on screen: "The story continues at JimmyJohns.com.” (Most Super Bowl viewers saw a 30-second version of this spot, but selected markets got a 60 with additional scenes.)
Honestly, the call to action here is kind of a big ask. Bolognavich is an amusing enough character, and Garrett plays him with sleazy conviction, but it’s hard to imagine your average TV viewer thinking, “Gosh, I want more Bolognavich content in my life! Lemme fire up my web browser right now!” Good luck with that, Jimmy’s John’s.
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Oatly, "Wow No Cow"
In-house
Score: 
At the very start of Oatly’s 30-second Super Bowl spot, you might think you’re watching Joseph Gordon-Levitt sunning himself. But nope, an on-screen ID appears two seconds in—”Toni Petersson, CEO Oatly”—and the JGL look-alike starts singing “It’s like milk, but made for humans.” The camera pulls back and we can see that Petersson is playing an electric piano in a field.
If this seems vaguely familiar, it’s because Oatly posted some of this footage on its YouTube channel back in 2017 with this explanation: “In a one of a kind performance, multi-talented CEO Toni Petersson sings a song he wrote entirely by himself to explain exactly what Oatly is all about. Please feel free to like, share and comment. Toni is a big boy, he can take it.” (And before that, it turns out, a version of the footage appeared in an ad in Sweden.)
Um, so, this is an eco-conscious commercial, we suppose, because it’s recycled? Anyway, now we can’t get the chorus (“Wow, wow! No cow!”) out of our heads. Damn it.
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Rocket Mortgage (Quicken Loans), “Certain Is Better”
Highdive
Score: 
Tracy Morgan serves up some high-grade, well, Tracy Morganness in Quicken Loans’ Super Bowl spot for its Rocket Mortgage service—which is to say that this is an over-the-top, absurdist delight. The spot starts with a shot of a family arriving at an open house, and then standing in the living room to discuss. Mom says, “Can we even afford this house?” Dad says, “I'm pretty sure we can.” Morgan—who is revealed to be in the nearby bathroom, taking a bubble bath (of course), chimes in: “Pretty sure?! With Rocket Mortgage you can be certain—not pretty sure!”
Cue a montage of scenes of Morgan showing the family how bad it is to be just “pretty sure” in certain circumstances. “I’m pretty sure these aren’t poisonous,” he says of mushrooms found in the woods (bad news for Dad, who just ate some). “I’m pretty sure these are parachutes,” he says about what appear to be children’s backpacks (just before he pushes Dad out of an airplane). “I’m pretty sure you could take Bautista down,” he says of former mixed martial artist Dave Bautista, who overhears that speculation and promptly engages poor Dad in a fight. And so on.
We’re pretty sure—scratch that, certain—this is one of the funniest ads in the whole game.
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Mercari, “Get Your Unused Things Back in the Game”
Rain the Growth Agency
Score: 
A young man and woman (newlyweds?) both simultaneously unbox identical hot air popcorn poppers (duplicate wedding gifts?) in their living room. Our protagonists decide to list the extra on the app-based Mercari marketplace, and then we’re instantly transported to another household where the spare popper is now being deployed by some roomies watching football. “At Mercari, your unneeded things can find a new life,” an announcer declares with cheerful conviction, probably hoping against all hope that we won’t think about the actual challenges of peer-to-peer e-commerce—including the cost and hassle of shipping merch to cheap-ass randos who think that buying unwanted electrical appliances from strangers on the internet is a good idea.
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Dr. Squatch, “You’re Not a Dish”
Raindrop Marketing
Score: 
A regular-guy on-camera spokesman for direct-to-consumer brand Dr. Squatch declares that “Your soap is [bleep]. And your body wash is a synthetic detergent. But you're not a dish. You're a man.” He makes these assertions not only to us, but to another regular-guy guy who is, for some reason, taking a shower in the woods. “Switch to Dr. Squatch natural soap for men,” the announcer advises. “Men who build things. Open pickle jars on the first try. Slay dragons. And let their daughters braid their hair.” (Each of these examples of regular-guy masculinity are briefly, comically depicted.) "Men,” he continues, “who like to feel good and smell...titillating." (He says that last word with exaggerated flourish.)
The ad has an appealingly unpretentious feel, and it avoids all the over-the-top clichés about product features and modern manhood that incumbent personal-care brands for men can’t seem to shake. Sure, the tongue-in-cheek sensibility here is straight out of the Old Spice playbook, but the execution feels more DIY than CGI. It wouldn’t surprise us if this turns out to be one of the lowest-budget-but-highest-return Super Bowl ads.
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Vroom, “Dealership Pain”
Anomaly
Score: 
Vroom has been running a series of ads that focus on the misery of used car shopping. But in its Big Game spot, it ups the ante by serving up a mini horror movie that depicts used car shopping as literal torture. “So, are you going to buy the car?” a dealer says as he emerges from his office, jumper cables in hand, and approaches a sweaty, tied-up customer he’s left waiting. The poor guy pleads with him: "Please! If I could just go home and discuss things with my wife!" The dealer doesn’t like that answer and, as ominous music plays, he makes the jumper cables spark by rubbing the clamps together. “You can leave anytime you want!” he says, obviously not meaning it, as he lurches toward the customer, who screams rather convincingly. (Solid acting and production values here.)
Fortunately, we don’t have to witness exactly where the dealer intended to attach the clamps (nips? nads?) because the customer snaps out of his waking nightmare just in time to watch the flatbed delivery of a car he painlessly bought through Vroom. An announcer instructs us to “Never go to a dealership again.” OK, sure, so long as we also never have to see this ad again—that’s how strangely jarring and traumatizing it is.
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T-Mobile, “Rockstar 5G”
Panay Films
Score: 
In the first of its two Super Bowl spots, T-Mobile offers us a flashback to “a few years ago” (per an on-screen caption). We see pop star Gwen Stefani video-calling fellow pop star Adam Levine. “I think I’m ready to start dating again,” she tells him, and when he asks “What are you looking for?,” she says “I’m sick of L.A. guys. I want someone completely different. Maybe from another country, and someone cultured and sensitive, and who is not threatened by a strong, confident woman.”
Cue the announcer, who says, “On a spotty network, this is what Adam heard.” We now see Stefani’s face on Levine’s phone in a video call that’s clearly glitching and breaking up. “I want someone completely ... country ... uncultured and ... threatened by a strong, confident woman.” (Ha!) Levine happens to be out to eat with his unsuspecting friend Blake Shelton, the country star. “I have your guy,” Levine says, chuckling. Next thing you know, Stefani and Shelton are on an uncomfortable blind date.
T-Mobile’s announcer swoops in to tell us, “Don’t trust your love life to just any network.” It’s a funny conceit, and thanks to deft performances by Stefani, Levine and Shelton (who is obviously a good sport), it works—if you don’t think about it too much. Because, of course, in real life Stefani and Shelton are very much together and apparently in love; they announced their engagement last October. Logically, according to this ad, they owe their happiness to the fact that their mutual friend Adam Levine wasn’t a T-Mobile customer “a few years ago.”
So in a way, this commercial is a cosmic-level endorsement of spotty cellular service.
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Huggies, “Welcome to the World, Baby”
Droga5
Score: 
For its Super Bowl ad, Kimberly-Clark’s Huggies serves up shots of babies that were born on Game Day—literally today—which means pulling this ad off was a major production challenge. (The final cut borrows from some elements that appeared in “Welcome to the World, Baby,” a 105-second version of this campaign released online as an “extended cut” teaser on Feb. 2.) An announcer says welcoming, reassuring things to the babies such as “We're so glad you're here” and “Being a baby is pretty great” and “We got you, baby.” It is, of course, super cute (though it’s cuter in long-form), and Huggies mercifully avoids informing the babies about things like COVID-19, the global recession and the Kardashians. Speaking of being uninformed, the announcer doesn’t seem to realize that newborn babies don’t speak English, so they can’t understand a thing he’s saying. We’re kind of jealous of those babies.
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Microban 24, “Keep killing bacteria for 24 hours with Microban 24”
Saatchi & Saatchi
Score: 
How do you review a Super Bowl ad that isn’t really interested in being a Super Bowl ad? Procter & Gamble uses its 15 seconds in the Big Game to do nothing flashy or edgy or funny or buzzworthy—it simply wants us to know what Microban 24 disinfectant does. “Just spray and let dry to form a shield that’s proven to keep killing bacteria for 24 hours,” an announcer explains as we see some assorted household scenes. Now you know. Maybe this’ll be a trend? Maybe P&G can normalize normal, unremarkable Super Bowl commercials that could have just as easily debuted during “The Price is Right”?
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