Canada didn't have as huge a presence in Super Bowl LVI as we saw the previous 2 years. Still, there were plenty of Canadians in this year's Super Bowl ads.
Toyota ran a beautiful ad that featured celebrated Paralympics athlete Brian McKeever and his brother Robin, who served as his guide.
U.S. viewers are used to seeing jingoistic stories about winter and summer athletes that having actual Canadians was a pleasant surprise. Brian McKeever won 17 medals, 13 of them being gold medals, at Winter Paralympics.
Eugene Levy is the star of the fictional film Thrill Driver featuring the all-new 2023 Nissan Z. Catherine O'Hara has a brief moment in the ad. They starred together in Canadian classic TV shows Schitt's Creek and SCTV. A special mention for Brie Larson, who is also in the ad. Larson won a Canadian Screen Award in 2016 for her performance in the Canadian film Room.
Eugene Levy had a much smaller role in a Snickers Super Bowl ad in 2016. This marks the 3rd straight Super Bowl that featured at least one Schitt's Creek actor in a Super Bowl ad. Dan Levy (M&Ms) was featured in 2021 and Emily Hampshire (Tide) in 2020.
NBC, home of Super Bowl LVI, ran a promo for Season 2 of Young Rock, the story of Dwayne Johnson aka The Rock. He introduced the teams in the game in an on-field appearance.
The NBC promo shows Johnson in training camp with the "legendary Calgary Stampeders." The scene shows a coach yelling at him that he is offsides. The implication is that Johnson was in the middle of the 1-yard distance between offence and defence, an element in the CFL that does not exist in the NFL or in U.S. college football.
Young Rock runs on NBC in the United States and Citytv in Canada.
Super Bowl LV through the eyes of Canada
Super Bowl LIV through the eyes of Canada
Seth Rogen teamed up with Paul Rudd for the Lay's Golden Memories ad. The chips ended up in past memories the two friends had before the wedding for Rogen's character.
The characterization made Lay's chips seem cooler than the brand's usual image. Basic chips are now not so basic.
Rogen appeared in a Bud Light Super Bowl ad in 2018 with Amy Schumer.
Mike Myers returned as Dr. Evil from the Austin Powers world for General Motors. The premise was that Dr. Evil had to save the world so he could rule the world. This was one of quite a few electric vehicles ads during the game, battling the existential threat of climate change.
This is the 3rd year in a row where Myers has appeared in a Super Bowl ad. Myers revived the Wayne character from Wayne's World for Uber Eats in 2020 and was in a Discover credit card ad (as Dr. Evil) in 2019.
CanadianCrossing.com advertising coverage
Honourable mentions go to Canadian actors Ryan Reynolds, shown in scenes from The Adam Project coming to Netflix, and Sandra Oh, for the final season of Killing Eve on AMC+.
CanadianCrossing.com NFL coverage
This marks the 3rd year in a row where the winning team had Canadians on the roster. The latest Canadians to play in the Super Bowl (and be on the winning side were defensive lineman Michael Hoecht and offensive lineman Alaric Jackson of the Los Angeles Rams.
video credits: the companies in the ads
photo credit: Young Rock/NBC
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