Well, the Super Bowl just wrapped up, and the Philadelphia Eagles are officially NFL champions. As I wrote last week, I wasn't all that enthusiastic about the big game, but I'm glad we weren't subjected to another postgame Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift lovefest, and I'm super happy that six of our University of Georgia guys now have both college and pro championship rings.
— Radi Nabulsi (@RadiNabulsi) February 10, 2025
Even so, I'm a fan of the sport itself, so I like to watch and try to enjoy the last game of the season. After all, it'll be six or seven months before we see another one. I really couldn't care less about the commercials and all the other hoopla surrounding the game, so I might see a handful of them when I'm not taking that time to run to the bathroom or refill my drink or text with someone about the game or whatever.
And last night, I couldn't help but notice there was an awful lot of preaching and virtue signaling going on. Most of it was harmless, and some of the things I actually agree with or feel passionate about myself, but come on, read the room. There's a time and a place. I don't want someone shouting at me about obesity and eating healthier when I'm stuffing my Super Bowl snacks in my mouth, and I don't want to hear about breast cancer and antisemitism when I'm just trying to escape from the world for a bit.
Believe me, the NFL does enough virtue signaling on its own without getting other companies involved. This might be an unpopular opinion, but Super Bowl commercials should be fun and/or funny, plain and simple. Anyway, I thought I'd point out some of what I'm talking about.
1. Standuptoallhate.org
Snoop Dogg and Tom Brady are both huge stars and both people I generally like. When I saw that they'd gotten together for a commercial, I was intrigued. Unfortunately, it was about the dumbest thing I'd ever seen. It was an ad for Standuptoallhate.org, paid for by the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism (which I didn't even realize was what the commercial was promoting until I looked it up for this article). All I saw was a boring and generic ad that did not make proper use of its access to two of the most famous faces in the country. And I am firmly against hating others, so can't I have a few hours out of the year without being preached to about it?
This has to be one of the worst ads in Super Bowl history. Somebody out there actually wrote a check worth millions to create & air this. pic.twitter.com/gPR1fUS5qi
— George (@BehizyTweets) February 10, 2025
2. Hims & Hers
Look, I'm all for Making America Healthy Again by making changes to our food system and all that good stuff rather than promoting Big Pharma and quick fixes. And I try my best to be healthy. I even raise and grow my own organic food. But on Super Bowl Sunday, when I'm parked in front of my TV, stuffing a delicious chicken taco in my mouth, I don't want to be knocked over the head with information about how 74% of the country is overweight and obese and all of that, especially from a company that pretends to against the weight loss industry when it literally sells weight loss drugs.
Hims & Hers $HIMS just had a Super Bowl commercial 👀
— Evan (@StockMKTNewz) February 10, 2025
Here’s the full thing ⬇️
pic.twitter.com/1YZ12GM82T
3. Nike
I'm a fan of Nike products. I wear Nike shoes. I wear Nike workout clothing. I use Nike gear when I swim. I'm also a fan of some of the female athletes in this Nike commercial I'm about to share. But I do not need Nike promoting "Girl Power" and pretending like female athletes are some sort of victims of oppression. The only way female athletes have been oppressed in the last few years is when they were forced to compete with males when they're trying to do their own thing (and that's being handled), so please don't come at me with your archaic way of thinking, Nike. We don't need a feminism lesson in the middle of the Super Bowl.
nike women’s sports ad narrated by doechii oh my god this is so good pic.twitter.com/wSo69zNA3l
— whitney medworth (@its_whitney) February 10, 2025
4. Novartis
This ad starts out upbeat, and I'm sure it's fun for the guys out there with all the bouncing boobs. But then at the end, Wanda Sykes — who I find funny and who I respectfully acknowledge is a breast cancer survivor — hops in and starts talking about cancer. Look, I get it. It's a huge deal. It's impacted my own family. But again, for a few hours out of the year, can't I get a break from having to hear about serious diseases?
This breast cancer commercial is wild, lol. pic.twitter.com/azEkOW19Va
— Paul (@WomanDefiner) February 10, 2025
5. He Gets Us
I'm not going to say much about this one because I think my colleague Chris Queen is planning to take a deep dive later today. I'll just say that I respect what this organization is trying to do, but if they could do it without making subtle political digs, I'd respect it a little more. And I don't need anyone's politics mixed in my football (or my faith for that matter).
Somebody should look into if "He Gets Us" gets any money from USAID-backed NGOs, foundations, etc. pic.twitter.com/DiyTDPJP0Y
— Nate Hochman (@njhochman) February 10, 2025
There were others, but you get the idea. Overall, I was not impressed. It just felt like one downer after another. Maybe Trump can sign an executive order to make commercials fun again?
What did you think of the Super Bowl commercials? Let us know in the comments!
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