The cost of Super Bowl ads has doubled in recent years, to $5 million for a mere 30 seconds of air time. Which means the end result had better be pretty darn memorable. Fortunately, these commercials gave us some serious bang for their buck on game day. Enjoy!
GRONK’S CLEANERS DISCOUNT — TIDE
New England Patriots tight end Rob ‘Gronk’ Gronkowski ain’t one for sleeves, what with his super-jacked physique n’ all. Which makes the idea of him running his own dry cleaning business particularly delightful. Especially when Jeffrey Tambor (Transparent, Arrested Development) is tossed in the mix as a poor, hapless customer.
ROMANCE — SKITTLES
The advertising folks at Skittles bring the magic all year long with their borderline insane commercial ideas. And at the risk of mixing metaphors, they’ve scored another home run at this year’s Super Bowl. The message: Sometimes we all benefit from a little romance.
CLEANER OF YOUR DREAMS — MR. CLEAN
Let’s not kid ourselves: Mr. Clean is pretty darn sexy. Any argument to the contrary is invalid.
ACTION MOVIE — WIX
Starring Gal Gadot (Wonder Woman) and Jason Statham (every action flick ever), this Wix commercial doubles as a pared-down popcorn film, replete with butt kicking and delicious desserts. Thanks, Wix!
HERO’S JOURNEY — KIA NERO
With Saturday’s iconic SNL performance as White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer, Melissa McCarthy has been on a comedy roll this past week. In Hero’s Journey, she takes on her most formidable opponent to date: nature itself.
BORN THE HARD WAY — BUDWEISER
Budweiser may be viewed as America’s good ol’ boy working class beer, but its views on immigration are refreshingly liberal. Maybe this has something to do with the company’s founders being immigrants themselves. Check out this heartstring-tugging origin story of how Mr. Anheuser met Mr. Busch.
BRADY EVERYDAY — INTEL
After Sunday’s impossible come-from-behind victory (the biggest in Super Bowl history), New England Patriots’ Tom Brady is now officially the greatest quarterback who’s ever lived. And you’ll be happy to know his home life is just as exciting — if not more so — than all 51 Super Bowls combined.
CAM NEWTON — BUICK
Weird but true trivia: Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton and I once dated the same woman. (Albeit at different times — I ain’t no fool.) The good news for me: She liked me better. The good news for him: He’s a famous and filthy rich NFL superstar who appears in hilarious Buick commercials. So hey, we’re even now, right Cam?
DAUGHTER — AUDI
Think equal pay for women is important? Of course you do. And this touching ad from Audi will make you support the cause all the more. Bonus: soapbox derby!
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Steven Shehori is a Canadian Comedy Award winner and Gemini Award loser. He writes TV comedies and is one of the resident music and pop culture guys over at the Huffington Post. To enhance your overall quality of life, consider adding him on Twitter or following his comedy podcast, ‘You Better DON’T!‘
