My reaction to some of the Super Bowl 2026 Ads

I watch the Super Bowl for the ads, so here’s my reaction to a few.

Jurassic Park X-Finity

Was awesome. I loved the callback to “That’s a huge pile of shrimp” and when the lady said “That could have been really bad.” It made me chuckle, and the thing they were advertising was actually an integral part of the ad’s story. Hold on to that, it will be important in a minute.

Mandalorian, Grogu, Beer, and Tide

A few years ago, Tide made a few ads that looked like they were an ad for one thing, cell phone service, beer, etc, and then did a record scratch moment in the middle when they noticed a stain on a character’s shirt. This created an anticipation and excitement…when would the next ad switch and not be an ad for whatever, but an ad for Tide instead.

It made every ad at the Super Bowl an ad for Tide.

If an ad came up and we didn’t know what they were saying or who they were advertising (which happens a lot. Every year. Come on team.) Then we thought, maybe this is an ad for Tide?

The Mandalorian and Grogu did this to me again, though I don’t know if they did it to anyone else. It looked like a beer commercial. It spoofed the clydesdales and supposed deep brotherhood friendships, but it there was Grogu behind the tauntauns! It got a laugh from me and the folks I was watching the show with, but then we were on the watch for more like it. Would a cell phone commercial have the Djarin family getting an unlimited cell phone plan? Would a cruise ship feature Grogu eating eggs while sitting in a hot tub?

Sad trombone, it never happened.

More Absurdist and Weirder than Ever Ads

There were a whole swarm of ads that I don’t remember, and I don’t remember what they were advertising, but they were weird. We were more distracted thinking they were made with AI, or even AI-inspired plots. There may have been a story, but the story didn’t relate to the product they were advertising.

Storytelling is the big buzzword in marketing these past 4 years, but if the story and the item don’t overlap, I’m left confused about what the ad was for.

Can Alexa open my garage door or light my gas log? I don’t even know how that works to see what Chris Hemsworth is afraid of. And what’s with that snake?

That weird collection of old sitcom actors at Dunkin Donuts? I was just confused. I think there were a lot of inside jokes going on, but I didn’t catch them, so I was busy trying to play catch-up instead of knowing what was going on.

Liquid Death, Nerds, and Appropriate Weirdness

The people without heads got my attention and fit the silly weirdness of Liquid Death. The story they told fit the brand. It’s a weird name for a drink, so here’s some weird ads that fit in our universe.

The giant Nerd thing? That was weird, but Nerds are weird! It’s a candy commercial. The not-weird thing about that ad was what confused me. Who was that human with the big red thing and do humans really co-exist with Nerds in the Nerd universe? Then why is he eating a bag of his friend?

No Blockbusters, but They Were Alright

I cried at the Lay’s Potato Farm inheritance ad. It wasn’t weird, and they are probably talking to a ton of folks in the demographic of retirement, inheritance, and what to do with the family heritage. That was a better ad for the American Farmer than any ad that explicitly tries to pull my heartstrings for farmers.

It told a story, and their product was the heart and soul of the story.

So what did you like? Did you get a bunch of jokes that I missed? Did I forget one that was awesome? (I know, I didn’t mention turning every playing of “Sweet Caroline” forever into a mayo commercial.)