"Brilliant idea," someone shouted at some point. The fake orgasm scene in When Harry Met Sally adapted to a Hellmann's mayonnaise Super Bowl ad. Just get Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan back at Katz's Delicatessen. This was likely the most anticipated food ad in Super Bowl LIX.
The ad seems clever and very basic but we have a few issues. Katz's deli is a rather famous Jewish deli in New York City. Mustard would be perfect for a Super Bowl ad set in a Jewish delicatessen. Mustard provides moisture, taste, and isn't restricted by some elements of Judaism.
Katz's specifically has on its online menu that you can order mayonnaise "if you must." I am not Jewish (likely blood on my father's side) yet I know mayo and a Jewish deli is as fake as the "orgasm" Meg Ryan has over putting Hellmann's on a turkey sandwich in a Jewish deli.
The brilliant move by Rob Reiner, director of the original movie, was to put his mother — Estelle Reiner — in that scene and say, "I'll have what she's having." Sydney Sweeney is young and well-known to young people. I have nothing personal against Sweeney but is there a specific reason she gets the line? I may be missing that point.
Kate McKinnon, who has done a previous Hellmann's Super Bowl ad, would have been a better fit. Tracy Reiner, who was in When Harry Met Sally, Rob Reiner's adopted daughter (parents Penny Marshall and Michael Henry), would have been a poetic choice. (Reiner adopted her when he was married to Marshall.)
Lay's had one of the best Super Bowl ads this year in any category, much less food. A young girl saves a young potato. Earnest efforts to grow the potato. Then she makes the ultimate sacrifice as she gives the potato to the truck holding the other potatoes going to make Lays potato chips.
A Super Bowl ad that explains what goes into a product is rather rare these days. This ad will have lasting power in the months that the ads run. The Hellmann's ad won't have that connection.
The Pringles ads features flying mustaches, only the second ad of the day featuring flying male facial hair. Good news for Pringles: not the worst food ad but pretty close to the worst. (Some of this content is from our sibling blog, CanadianCrossing.com.)
Little Caesar's had 2 Levys from Schitt's Creek — Eugene and Sarah — for its Crazy Puffs.
Eugene Levy has been in a myriad of Super Bowl ads before Little Caesar's went with highlighting his eyebrows. This was in a reaction to Crazy Puffs. We didn't learn anything about the food, except that some come with bacon.
The Detroit-based national chain was stealth to tease the ad but not show it over the last 2 weeks. There should be a business axiom that if you feature a male whose facial hair is running rogue, be the first ad to run with that theme. Pringles later had wayward mustaches.
We got the Super Bowl ad debut (as far as I can remember) of Sarah Levy. 3 members from her family were featured in Super Bowl ads this year. Dan Levy had a couple of Homes.com ads touting how the site is "the best" even as a lawyer tells them they can't say it.
Coffee Mate cold foam creamer had a Super Bowl ad with a Canadian. Shania Twain sings the song while the tongue is dancing on screen.
Funny fact: regular Coffee Mate in Canada is referred to as a "coffee whitener" while American lower standards allows for it to be described as "non-dairy creamer."
Seems like a regular milk, half and half, or alternative milk makes a lot more sense than a cold foam "creamer" with an artificial sweetener.
Didn't want to like the Ritz crackers Super Bowl ad, but I did. Aubrey Plaza and Michael Shannon did a great job promoting the salty part of Ritz crackers being salty.
People who don't smile was the theme. I never thought of Ritz crackers as being salty, so this was a bit of a surprise. Not sure salty is a good adjective for a cracker when corporate made food is usually very salty.
This was by far the most memorable Ritz crackers ad since Andy Griffith sold them with the tagline "good cracker," which could have referred to the cracker or a white person.
Ranking food Super Bowl LVIII ads
Ranking food Super Bowl LVII ads
Ranking food Super Bowl LVI ads
Ranking food and drink Super Bowl LV ads
Taco Bell had an overall good Super Bowl ad in featuring non-celebrities in the ad. Of course, we still need celebrities to try and get into the ads: Lebron James and Doja Cat served that role. Taco Bell is one of those places where emphasizing the product is to their detriment.
Pringles had Adam Brody and Nick Offerman in its Super Bowl ad featuring the flying mustaches. The potato chip company has definitely had better ads.
Haagen Dazs played on the Fast and Furious series of movies. The drawback was the target: ice cream bars. If I had a $25 gift card to spend on the high-quality ice cream catalog — free money — I would never spend them on ice cream bars.
Liquid Water had an ad that included iced tea. Might consider that over a cola option that involved water, also in the same ad. Dunkin Donuts had an ad for coffee that featured Ben Affleck. Odd to have a Super Bowl ad for a product that isn't a primary offering. They used to advertise the donuts.
Totino's Pizza Rolls had the worst Super Bowl ad in the food category. 2 words: dead alien. A waste of money on an ad you don't want to watch more than once. If there is quality control at Totino's, they were absent that day.
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The Super Bowl ad phenomenon does not lend itself to advertising healthy food. Broccoli can't afford a 30-second or 60-second ad in the Super Bowl. If we missed your candy ad, we want to limit this to food that is actually food, up to a point.
video and photo credits: individual manufacturers