A parade of hilarious and incredibly creative TV commercials hit the airwaves Sunday afternoon during the Super Bowl LIX telecast on Fox Network.
As reported by wire service and advertising trade news outlets, viewers agreed that this year’s Super Bowl commercials relied on comedy and nostalgia — perhaps in an effort to avoid backlash by offending anyone.
Advertising Age, a trade publication, said brands played it safe this year. “Advertisers seem to share one goal this year, don’t get into trouble, and avoid anything that could be remotely seen as political,” said Ad Age. “Marketers are doing everything they can to avoid being in the middle of the culture wars.”
Indeed, brands gave viewers what they wanted: 60% of consumers said they wanted funny TV ads during Super Bowl 59, according to a Harris Poll of about 1,000 consumers conducted in mid-January.
Speaking of nostalgia, Budweiser returned its Clydesdales with a story about a foal who yearns to join his older peers on a beer delivery run and then goes on an epic journey to prove his worth. The soundtrack included the Bellamy Brother’s 1976 hit “Let Your Love Flow.” The spot includes a pool player starting to tell the familiar “a-horse-walked-into-a-bar” joke as the colt, quite literally, walks into the bar.
Another eye-catcher was the Muppets’ search for accommodations with Booking.com, as well as Reese’s “Don’t Eat Lava” from a volcano. The takeaway was eat Reese’s Chocolate Lava Big Cup instead of hot lava.
The Reese’s spot highlighted hordes of frenzied people visiting a volcano, thinking they could eat actual molten lava, not the candy kind, which created chaos for the park rangers in charge. It was filmed in the Malibu hills outside Los Angeles in late October, not far from where the wildfires would erupt a few months later.
Among the fan favorites was first-time advertiser HexClad, a consumer cookware brand. Its spot, titled “Unidentified Frying Object,” featured chef Gordon Ramsay and comedian Pete Davidson in a sci-fi spoof where Ramsay uses a HexClad pan to cook for an alien, revealed to be Davidson. The HexClad company with its non-stick, stainless steel surfaces and an aluminum core claimed that it was the first kitchenware brand to run a Super Bowl ad.
Another first-time advertiser was grocery delivery service Instacart. Its spot featured a variety of brand mascots, including Heinz wiener dogs, the Pillsbury Doughboy, Jolly Green Giant, Mr. Clean, the Kool-Aid Man and Energizer Bunnies.
It wasn’t all fun and games. Pharmaceutical company Hims & Hers, a tele-heath weight-loss company, talked about America’s obesity epidemic. The spot took a bold stance with images of scales and belly fat are followed by health news headlines and gluttonous junk foods as a voiceover throws out alarming stats, “74% of us are overweight and obesity leads to half a million deaths each year.”
My favorite was Pringles’ “Call of the Mustaches,” featuring mustaches leaving such celebrities as Nick Offerman, James Harden and Andy Reid and flying to deliver chips to actor Adam Brody. The commercial marks the brand’s eighth consecutive appearance in the Big Game.
The advertising cost for 30 seconds of airtime during Sunday’s Super Bowl telecast surpassed $8 million for the first time, according to news reports.
San Diego’s Conservative OAN Replaces NBC News at Pentagon
One America News, a San Diego-based, conservative-leaning, cable TV news network, has been selected to occupy shared office spaces formerly reserved for mainstream news organizations at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.
Beginning Friday, Feb. 21, OAN will occupy an office previously held by NBC News along what’s known as the Correspondents’ Corridor.
A Jan. 31 memo from John Ullyot, assistant to the Secretary of Defense, announced the eviction notice to NBC News from an office that is designated for a national TV news outlet. The memo said OAN will be invited to move into Correspondents’ Corridor workspace formerly occupied by NBC News.
Other outlets kicked out of free Pentagon office space include the The New York Times, replaced by The New York Post; National Public Radio, replaced by Brietbart News Network; and Politico, replaced by The Huffington Post.
The memo said the change will “broaden access to the limited space of the Correspondents’ Corridor to outlets that have not previously enjoyed the privilege and journalistic value of working from physical office space in the Pentagon.”
A statement to Times of San Diego from OAN said, “OAN, is dedicated to providing its viewers with thorough, fair and accurate daily reports from the Pentagon. OAN looks forward to having access to physical office space at the Pentagon and will utilize the accommodations full-time as soon as it’s available.”
News outlets have described the announcement as “a significant shift within the Pentagon’s press offices” and “a notable change in the media landscape within the Department of Defense.”
Blabber Buzz wrote, “Newly appointed Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has made a bold move by replacing several established, left-leaning media outlets with newer, conservative news organizations.”
OAN, operated by Herring Networks, is expected to occupy office space at the Pentagon for the next 12 months as part of an annual media rotation program for dedicated media spaces.
The Pentagon memo said, “Each year, one outlet from each press medium — print, online, television and radio — that has enjoyed working from a physical office in the Pentagon will rotate out of the building to allow a new outlet from the same medium that has not had the unique opportunity to report as a resident member of the Pentagon Press Corps.”
“To be clear, the outlets that vacate the spaces loaned to them by the Secretary will remain as full members of the Pentagon Press Corps. They will continue to enjoy the same media access to the Pentagon and will able to attend and cover briefings.”
In a statement, NPR said the eviction “interferes with the ability of millions of Americans to directly hear from Pentagon leadership, and with NPR’s public interest mission to serve Americans who turn to our network of local public media stations in all 50 states.”
The Pentagon’s move coincides with an announcement from White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt who said independent journalists, including podcasters and social media influencers, will now be eligible to apply for press access to the White House briefing room.
TV Personality’s Foundation Pays for Valentine Day’s Weddings
The Larry Himmel Neighborhood Foundation, named after the late San Diego TV personality and humorist, announced it will pay the $129 marriage license fee, plus flowers and a box of chocolates, for 10 couples who get married at a wedding ceremony held on Valentine’s Day, Friday, Feb. 14, at the County Administration Center.
It will be the third consecutive year the Himmel Foundation is partnering with Jordan Marks, San Diego County Assessor-Recorder-County Clerk, who serves as county commissioner of civil marriages.
“Valentine’s Day 2025 will be extra special this year because it falls on the Friday of a three-day weekend, allowing more time for the newlyweds to celebrate their love,” said Marks. “Happiness begins here at my county clerk office for hundreds of couples looking to tie the knot on this Valentine’s Day.”
Miles Himmel, Foundation president and Larry Himmel’s son, said, “My dad loved Valentine’s Day and he was always looking for ways to spread joy on this special day. He would buy dozens of roses and hand them out to random people. In 2005, he even married a couple at the county clerk office on Valentine’s Day, which became a story on the evening newscast. In keeping with my dad’s spirit, we want to continue the tradition by helping couples tie the knot and ease the cost burden on their special day.”
Larry Himmel, a feature reporter for 35 years with KFMB-TV, passed away in November 2014 from pancreatic cancer. He was 68.
Marks’ office is responsible for recording vital records, including birth, death, and marriage certificates. It also oversees the valuation of real and personal property, recording of legal real estate documents and registering fictitious business names.
Rick Griffin is a San Diego-based public relations and marketing consultant. His MarketInk column appears weekly on Mondays in Times of San Diego.
