Food & Bev Super Bowl Commercials Mostly Disappoint for Another Season

Bud Light — Keg

Joshi: Keg lost at a wedding – this one got a lot of laughs. Thumbs up! I think we could all relate a little bit to this ‘worst-case scenario.’

Hanacek: Come on, Bud Light. This commercial just did nothing for me. I get the reference to the cheese rolling race, but there’s nothing at all special or funny about this attempt. Hey Bud Light, even Peyton Manning gets it, saying, “This is not necessary, there’s a trail.” And guess what? He’s right. The entire commercial was unnecessary and could have been better.

Hellmann’s — Sandwich Time

Joshi: A play on Neil Diamond with Meal Diamond and a parody of “Sweet Caroline” in a diner received mixed reviews from our watch party. While I love the song, I’d say this one fell flat.

Hanacek: Boy, I think this was a missed opportunity. This commercial concept should have been given a full minute, in my opinion. It was catchy and also a funny concept, but I felt like it left me wanting more, being only 30 seconds long. As is, it was a good entry, but again, with more time, I felt like it could have been memorable. And, I guess a part of me kind of wished it were Will Ferrell playing “Meal Diamond,” to be honest — this was on NBC, after all.

Kinder Bueno — Yes Bueno

Joshi: Bueno chocolate had fun with “no bueno.” Knowing the company is still making headway in the United States, I could appreciate their efforts here and the ad did a decent job of making their presence known to the larger masses.

Hanacek: Kudos for the “2001: A Space Odyssey” spoof and following that pretty closely. And using that to drive the “No bueno; yes, Bueno” tagline. This one also did a good job of taking candy and showing it’s not just for kids, and, in some ways, this candy brought the astronauts back to their childhood, “2001” style, when they could also enjoy it. A good entry, but this was another one of those commercials that could have run anytime in the calendar year and been the same.

Lay’s — Last Harvest

Joshi: Father-daughter potato farmers is a heartwarming look at generational farming and what it’s like to be raised on a farm. Compared to the other lackluster commercials we’d seen so far, this one got an immediate thumbs up from our group.

Hanacek: While I held it against Budweiser for recycling a storyline for its commercial, Lay’s does a good job of tugging at the same heartstrings from last year’s commercial and communicating the same message about Lay’s potato chips being grown on family farms in North America. It’s definitely a cute and touching look back at this farmer and his daughter’s life growing potatoes for the company. Furthermore, it sends a message that consumers need to hear from numerous food and beverage segments about how these farms are not some faceless, nameless corporate operations. The story is nicely conceived and relayed to the viewer.

Liquid Death — Exploding Heads

Joshi: While the missing heads were a clear attempt to be humorous, this one got a thumbs down from our group.

Hanacek: Liquid Death has done quite well with these Super Bowl commercials in the past, but this one missed the mark. It was a valiant attempt, but it didn’t land the same way its past commercials have landed, if I’m being honest. It tried to be irreverent but really just ended up being too silly at the end of the day. This one was a miss.

Liquid I.V. — Take a Look

Joshi: I think there are other ways to tell folks to up their supplement game than singing toilets. We were all pretty turned off by the entire message.

Hanacek: I will give big credit to Liquid I.V. for waiting for the big reveal that it was a commercial for its product to the very end. It was, um, “fun” trying to guess why we had all manner of toilets (and then the shower drain throwing a monkeywrench in there) singing to take a look at them. At first, I figured it was a toilet cleaner commercial, until the porta-potty showed up. So this was a pretty good one too — clever, at least. Although having this commercial not too long after the manscaping commercial didn’t do it any favors with viewers who may not have been expecting as much “gross” factor as those two commercials combined may have caused.

Michelob Ultra — The Ultra Instructor

Joshi: Team USA training with Kurt Russell was both lighthearted, endearing, and hey, the highlighted skijoring! But really, it was a well-recognized trope to never give up and find your motivation. Our watch party liked this one and gave it two thumbs up.

Hanacek: In days long past, this commercial likely wouldn’t have stood out. In this year’s field, this was one of the better ones. The star power was well-used (though it was odd that the NHL player and the Olympic gold medalist were relegated to a quick clip reacting to Greg’s skiing successes), and although it followed the old “underdog trained by the aged master” trope, it was handled well. The only thing that keeps this from being a truly good Super Bowl commercial was the lack of memorable taglines or catch-phrases.

Poppi — Poppi Vibes

Joshi: This one didn’t hit our audience of Gen-Xers; we immediately noticed we were not the targeted Gen Z demographic. A bunch of college kids looking for a good time? We’re far too old for that.

Hanacek: Look, I may be approaching the celebration of my fifth decade on Earth, and I understand how boring a college lecture can be — but nothing that showed up during the Poppi-fueled “party” particularly caught my interest as something that would be fun to be doing instead. So, maybe I’m disconnected from the youth today, I don’t know. But I will say this: It’s a VERY interesting departure for a healthy soda brand (that was acquired by a perceived “big soda” company in PepsiCo in the last year) to decide to promote the “fun” aspect of drinking it versus, you know, the health benefits it brings over traditional sodas. And I really don’t think that is the right play, to be honest.

Pringles — Pringleleo

Joshi: Pop star Sabrina Carpenter and a man made of chips was a parody that should have been funny, but our group just wasn’t feeling it, generating some thumbs down. The suspended belief that Carpenter needed a “chip man,” was just too much of a stretch for this audience. One guest immediately pointed out the Lay’s farmer commercial was way better in comparison.

Hanacek: This was another good one, for its oddity, simplicity and humorous ending. Sabrina Carpenter is a great get for the brand, and the rom-com parodying throughout is well done with a few funny moments highlighting the fragile nature of a mannequin made of Pringles. Even in strong years, this one might have had enough staying power to be memorable. Nicely done, Pringles, especially after a few years of weirdness revolving around the Pringles mustachioed logo. Sell the chips, not the logo!

Raisin Bran — Will Shat

Joshi: Will Shat…this one got some chuckles- What do you get when you combine fiber and Star Trek’s favorite captain. Kellogg’s boldly went there with “Will Shat” and received two thumbs up from our guests. This one did a better job of humorously depicting bodily functions than Liquid IV’s attempt, in my opinion.

Hanacek: I wanted to like this more than I did. Considering the entire world is talking about how fiber is the new protein, that needs to be in every food and beverage product in 2026, this messaging is great timing. And, really, when was the last time we saw a Raisin Bran commercial, seriously? Time to get that brand back on the map, I’m guessing Kellogg’s is saying. And William Shatner does a good job here. Yet, I still feel like they could have cut out the tailgate scene and maybe expanded on the others in a better way. Besides, who is bringing Raisin Bran to a tailgate, seriously? Fiber doesn’t have to be in EVERYTHING, folks.

Red Bull — Dog Date Commercial

Joshi: Cheeky cartoon dog outsmarts his owner. Nothing new to see here, which is odd for how much Red Bull’s theme is about pushing the limits in all its other marketing. They played it pretty safe here.

Hanacek: Red Bull hasn’t seemingly given characters in its commercials wings for years now. Maybe Red Bull needs to figure something else out? Last year, the Red Bull was frozen for the penguins, which was clever (except I still would like to know if you EAT frozen Red Bull, would it still give you wings?), and this year, the dog just gains more intelligence and freedom from drinking the Red Bull. It’s time for Red Bull to change its message, I think.

Ritz — Ritz Island

Joshi: Jon Hamm, Bowen Yang, Scarlett Johansson, and a beach party — one would think this would be a successful recipe. It got a few chuckles, but at the same time didn’t have a lot of traction despite the star power, in my opinion.

Hanacek: This is another one that really didn’t do anything for me. OK, so Ritz is the driving force behind the fun party on the sand, but let’s spend half the commercial with the “salty” people not participating in the party because they’re salty? That’s boring. So is most of the rest of the commercial. If you’re trying to sell the fun of the crackers, then let’s get to the fun, not the crabby people NOT having fun.

Svedka — Shake Your Bots Off

Joshi: Thumbs down for robots enjoying vodka. It was mostly underwhelming, especially right after the half time show.

Hanacek: So many boring, forgettable commercials this year, and this was yet another one. And to be honest, the animation seemed to have its flaws too. This one was so pedestrian to me that I honestly don’t have much to say about it beyond that. Next commercial, please …

Food & Beverage Adjacent Commercials

Dunkin’ — Good Will Dunkin’

Joshi: Filled with lots of recognizable characters — if you’re a GenX-er. Anyone under the age of 20 probably wouldn’t get all the 1990s references. Thumbs up, but also we recognize this hit differently since it’s our demographic. For our group, this one was an immediate favorite.

Hanacek: This had a few funny moments, but this is a case study on cramming 10 pounds of content/star power into a five-pound bag. There was just too much star power needing to be highlighted and not enough time to do that and tell a stable story while highlighting your product. You don’t pay for all those actors to give them one line — or at least you shouldn’t. But Dunkin’ did, and the commercial just bounced around for a minute without sending a clear message home.

Grubhub — The Feest

Joshi: Grubhub’s commercial was a little “on the nose” with little being memorable other than its repeated “No Fees” statement. It’s not lost on me that messaging is entirely the point, but to be deemed a Super Bowl-worthy commercial? This one is far from it. George Clooney’s appearance was really the only thing that helped it stand out.

Hanacek: Another boring commercial, though the message did hit home — and it should have, as it was repeated over and over. Getting the message across is the ultimate point, so this should be viewed as a successful commercial. It just, like so many others this year, wasn’t really a “Super Bowl” commercial. It was just a good commercial.

Instacart — Bananas

Joshi: Ben Stiller’s attempts to replicate Benson Boone’s backflips while dressed like a version of his Zoolander character gave us all a few chuckles.

Hanacek: This commercial was bananas, and I didn’t get to choose what kind of bananas it was (“Instacart let’s you choose your bananas”). The craziness of Ben Stiller somewhat distracted from the message, which was delivered, if you were listening closely enough. But why was there a carrot dancing with the banana instead of another banana? And although physical comedy from Stiller is often funny, this didn’t make me laugh that much this time around.

MAHA Center — Mike Tyson Real Food

Joshi: It’s a no-brainer to me that processed foods are unhealthy and we should be better about eating our fruits and vegetables, but to have Tyson tell us so, was just ... no. It was pretty cringeworthy, and none of our watch party liked it, with one saying, “This is really off-putting.” I couldn’t agree more.

Hanacek: Mike Tyson opens by saying obesity killed his sister. Certainly got my attention, and I wish it hadn’t. He then says he was “so fat and nasty,” ate “a quart of ice cream every hour,” and talks about how he had thoughts of suicide when he weighed 345 pounds. Look, I feel for the guy, and I can’t say he didn’t go through any of that or not. But I don’t view Tyson as particularly relatable or a particularly good spokesperson for anything at this point. Then the commercial lost me when they had the stereotypical single tear (fake or not). After that, he eats an apple and starts in on the propaganda about being the most powerful country … of fat people … in the world (and, by the way, they edit in him laughing about it for a split second, which is odd). The message that something needs to be done about the nation’s obesity problem is not incorrect. However, this commercial attempts to spread that message in the worst possible way: pandering toward uninformed opinions, shaming people and making it seem as though processed foods are the only issue (important to note, not “ultra” processed … insinuating that a much wider range of food and beverage are a threat here). I sure hope that Tyson and those who made this commercial aren’t leading the charge on the ultraprocessed foods definition or any other issue.

Uber Eats — Hungry for the Truth

Joshi: Big names such as Matthew McConaughey and Bradley Cooper got some big laughs — the first commercial of the night to do so! Thumbs up from our group.

Hanacek: Uber Eats continues to point out the food-related terminology peppered (see what I did there?) throughout the game of football as a ploy to sell food. OK, I get it, and as a professional word-wrangler, every one they point out makes me smirk for a second. And overall, they continue to surprise me with new parallels every time. But I’m starting to get tired of it and wishing Uber Eats would move on to another theme. That said, yes, the Pro Football Hall of Fame looks a lot like a juicer than half of a football on its end. That was funny.