Ever since the first Super Bowl aired in 1967, businesses from across the country (and beyond, in some instances) have paid top dollar to air commercials during the game. As the years have gone by, these commercials have gotten bigger and more memorable, featuring big-name celebrities and funny skits to get their products in your homes. With the Super Bowl coming soon, I figured I’d take a second to talk about some of my favorite commercials. Since the span of these commercials is massive enough to seat everyone at MetLife Stadium, I’ll be focusing on commercials from 2000 onward, since Super Bowl XXXIV.
At Number Three, I have Walmart’s “Famous Cars” commercial from Super Bowl LIII. The year was 2019, and Walmart was advertising curbside pickup about a year before the COVID-19 pandemic. To pull this off, they showed numerous different cars from across fiction coming to pick up their groceries, as well as bringing some of the series with them to the parking lot. Such examples include KITT from Knight Rider calling somebody Michael, Slimer of Ghostbusters fame chowing down on groceries in the trunk of the Ecto-1, and even Bumblebee from Transformers rolls out to grab some groceries, converting into a Volkswagen Beetle. With its famous faces, slick references, and the somewhat eerie timing of the commercial, this one left a burning impact on me, enough to make it into the top 10.
Coming in at Number Two is the Snickers “Betty White” commercial. Have you ever seen commercials where someone just isn’t themselves without eating a Snickers bar? Like when a single man was trapped in Joe Pesci’s body? How about when Willam DeFoe pulled a Marilyn Monroe? Well, Super Bowl XLIV in 2010 was where this famous series of commercials got its start. It’s a friendly game of non-professional football, except one player, Mike, isn’t playing like himself. Why? Well, that’s because he’s Betty White. However, his girlfriend gives White a Snickers Bar, and asking if he feels better, Mike is now an actual football player and gets back in the game, only for another player to become Abe Vigoda. Funny, iconic, and it was nominated for an Emmy.
And finally, rounding out this all-star team, is my number one pick of commercials this century, which goes to the E*TRADE’s “Baby.” The well-known wisecracker in a onesie come to life at Super Bowl XLII in 2008, when I myself was a baby, where he starred in two commercials- “Baby,” which was his big debut, and “Clown,” where he spent his earnings from E*TRADE on a clown named Bobo, whom the baby felt creeped out by. Since then, the million-dollar baby appeared in numerous commercials, but then he vanished. However, during 2022’s Super Bowl LVI, two agents and a helicopter pilot- also a baby and one of the E*TRADE baby’s pals- found him living a quiet life off the grid. Although hesitant at first, the baby jumped back in the fray once he learned that people were receiving spending advice from memes. Armed with financial knowledge, an eternal youth that shows anyone can invest, and a mouth that would make Deadpool kneel before him, E*TRADE’s Baby will forever be an icon, and will forever remain my top pick of commercials.
Feb. 8 marks Super Bowl LX, where the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks are set to clash in a Super Bowl rematch almost 10 years in the making, and along with it will come a new wave of commercials. Names like Totino’s, Avocados from Mexico, and Skittles are just a few of the brands you can expect to see going on the air. Will these new commercials go down in history with some of the greats listed in this article? Will they fumble and be inducted into the Hall of Shame? Only time and the people’s voices will tell.