By Theo Miller
News Editor
The 55th Superbowl may have been a bit more understated compared to years past, but one thing remains constant in live sports: the opportunity to make money. Super Bowl ads this year went for around $5.6 million for a 30-second slot, which means that companies put the best marketing agencies in the world to the task of creating these commercials.
Some of these commercials are veritable pieces of cinema, and others are just bizarre. Every year, countless talking-heads form their tier lists and engage in banter about how ‘they aren’t as good as last year.’ In that spirit, we’ll throw our hat in the ring too. Here are our picks for the best commercials of Superbowl 55.
BEST OVERALL: Jimmy John’s: Sandwich War
This one had it all. A spoof of a classic mobster movie, this pits The Sandwich King against the local Jimmy John’s establishment, using freshly baked bread, cut meat, and the power of good ingredients to take down that scum-of-the-earth sandwich restaurant (definitely not a reference to Subway), all packaged up in the polish of an action movie trailer. This took the crown for best overall commercial.
Runner Up: Michelob Ultra Seltzer
Excellent concept. I expect more commercials narrated by not-Christopher-Walken in the future.
MOST 2020: Bud Light Lemonade
It’s a nice, lighthearted take on a lemon of a year. We’ve all lived through it, and this was a good way to justify introducing new products in spite of a coming economic disaster. Not much needs to be said beyond that.
BEST GAG: Rocket Mortgage’s Pretty Sure
I do not have a mortgage, but I found this commercial funny enough to almost justify ruining my entire financial wellbeing with. The actors did their job well. The production was good, and the timing was right. This one felt like a Superbowl commercial.
Runner Up: Drake from State Farm
Guys, hear me out. What if Jake from State Farm was actually Drake. Think about it…
BEST FEEL-GOOD: NFL ‘As One’
This one was really sweet. It took up about four slots of airtime so it had better have been, but based on one of the most famous speeches in NFL history, deepfaked actor and everything. It was touching, and it had the right atmosphere for such a unifying event that was now operating with a skeleton crew. Good job, NFL. I hope those diversity investments you keep talking about materialize.
Runner Up: Michelob Ultra
This wins the award for most athletes in one commercial. I literally cannot count them all on my hands.
MOST BIZZARE: Amazon Alexa’s Micheal B. Jordan
Weirdly sexual in nature, and really does not say very much about Alexa aside from that if you buy an Echo device, it will not come in the form factor of Micheal B. Jordan.
Runner Up: Oatly Oat Milk
Wow. No Cow.