Super Bowl LV didn't have an update from Avocados from Mexico. There were a few ads for decent foods and other food ads that ran during the big game.
"How we grow our food is how we grow our future." In a sea of chips and soft drinks, Chipotle had a nice ad showing actual farms and real-looking food. The kid as the narrator was more of the future, even as his sister mocks him. Even if you aren't a Chipotle fan, talk of real food doesn't happen too often in Super Bowl ads.
Oatly CEO Toni Petersson sings the praises of Oatly oat milk. I had to go back and watch a second and third time to follow what he was singing about. "Wow, no cow." Okay. There is likely a correlation of people who like the product or interested in oat milk who will like the ad. If you hated the ad, and there are many of you, well you aren't likely to want to buy oat milk. A Super Bowl ad is usually designed to grow a product. If the company keeps the ad running in the next 2 months, the Oatly ad will seem better over time.
Amy Schumer has shown a suitability for doing ads lately. Her latest is for Hellmann mayonnaise. Schumer helps out a poor, single guy who has ingredients but doesn't know what to do with them. "What even is an artichoke?"
Schumer shows how the mayo can stretch a lot of foods. An ad that shows how to use the product is rare indeed. I do find Hellmann national ads hilarious since the brand shifts to Best Foods in some parts of the country. The mayonnaise is the same despite the name change, similar to Carl's Jr. and Hardees.
Super Bowl ad analysis in recent years
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Brad Garrett pops out of nowhere to star in the Jimmy John's ads. The sandwiches at Jimmy John's have been more about speed of delivery than actual quality. The Super Bowl ad refers to the Jimmy John's product as "high quality, reasonably priced sandwiches." Anecdotally, I have had 2 of their sandwiches, neither of which I could finish because of the lack of quality. I think the Federal Trade Commission could reasonable investigate the "high quality" claim. Fast food and "high quality" don't go together.
The "sandwich war" referred to in the ad means there will likely be follow-up ads. Ugh.
The Pringles stack ads are getting monotonous because they are selling a concept that doesn't exist. No one outside the company is buying multiple canisters and building different combinations. Either sell people different combos of different kinds of Pringles or stop this insanity. Fans might actually want shorten versions where they can build different combos, unlike the Frito-Lay ads trying to sell a product it won't describe.
Uber Eats and Doordash do not make food but they like to take credit for that food. Their high rates cut into the slim profit margins of local restaurants, even in good times. Spending $5.5 million to run ads may be necessary in the marketplace, but some of those restaurants could have used that money to stay in business.
Uber Eats brought in Mike Myers and Dana Carvey to go back to Wayne's World along with Cardi B. The emphasis of the ad was to eat local and support local, something better done with picking up the food yourself or having the restaurant deliver the food to you.
Doordash using the Sesame Street characters was a crass use of heartwarming childhood characters for a nefarious purpose. In our world, ads that cross the line get a F-.
Frito-Lay weighed in with 2 spots: 3-D Doritos and Cheetos Crunch Pop Mix. The 3-D Doritos ad was reasonably clever with Matthew McConaughey as a 2-dimensional version before he eats the 3-D version. Mindy Kaling and Jimmy Kimmel help out in the ad.
Super Bowl ads with a physical presence are good at standing out if watching the big game at a bar. Not as applicable with fewer bars open for the game. Still, the ad will stand out for awhile in February and March.
Not sure what is so different about the 3-D version of the snack, so the ad may just reinforce the 2-D version of the snack.
Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher are playful in the "did she/didn't she" dance off whether she ate the Cheetos. Not as clever as the Cheetos ads with the husband who tries to find out whether his family is eating the Cheetos. Those ads are good.
Did not notice the first time that the ad actually was for Cheetos Crunch Pop Mix. Don't know what that is and likely won't find out. Like the 3-D Doritos, without explanation, the ads refer back to the primary product. Run an ad to explain what the hell is a crunch pop mix.
BalanceofFood.com advertising coverage
Dan Levy finishes the M&Ms commercial of people apologizing for infractions where candy is the reward. In an era of yelling, actual apologies make for a good commercial. Then again, I would accept the apology but not the candy. We covered the M&Ms and Uber Eats ads for our Canadian blog entry on Super Bowl LV.
Mountain Dew has a melon flavored version. I drank the regular and Code Red versions back in the old days. I would drink watermelon juice but not a melon-flavored soft drink. The potential $1 million offer wouldn't move my judgment on the soda.
photo credit: Oatly oat milk
video credits: individual companies
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