The 10 Best Food and Drink Super Bowl Commercials
The Super Bowl airs every February, and there are always people who go to parties and watch the game specifically for the commercials. Companies have been making them more extravagant, because those few hours of game time are the most viewed across the entire country. Businesses go all out in their commercials, and some do very well, while others don’t.
This year, food and beverage companies totaled in at a whopping 18 different commercials during the Super Bowl. I’ve taken a look at all of them, both during the game and afterward, and came up with a list of the 10 best food and beverage industry commercials.
Take a look at this list, and see if you agree on the commercials on this list:
10. Snickers – “You Mess Up Live Commercials When You’re Hungry”
Snickers went into the big game with a tease of this “live commercial,” featuring Adam Driver and a horse. When the commercial finally aired, we definitely didn’t expect everything to go completely wrong from the start. Then the tagline came up, reading “You mess up live commercials when you’re hungry,” and we immediately remembered the Snickers motto. I actually face palmed myself when it appeared on the screen.
Well played, Snickers. You got me on that one.
9. McDonald’s – “There’s A Big Mac For That”
Marching bands, catchy rap verses, and three awesome sizes of Big Macs. No matter what you’re doing, there’s a Big Mac for that. It’s a fun, lighthearted, memorable message, and a simple but fun commercial. What’s not to love?
8. LifeWatr – “Inspiration Drops”
Apparently, this commercial was directed by Oscar winner Robert Stromberg. The simplicity and beauty of the commercial is well showcased. If you don’t know the brand, it’s just a cool artsy commercial. However, the art in the commercial (as well as other art) is actually showcased on the bottles of electrolyte water that LIFEWATR sells in stores. Pretty cool concept – especially when you throw a little John Legend into the mix.
7. Heinz – “Make Smunday A National Holiday”
I’m sure many of y’all are still in that Super Bowl hangover phase, so the concept of this commercial was an awesome idea. Making the day after the Super Bowl a national recovery day? I’m totally down for the concept – though this article wouldn’t be coming out the day after the Super Bowl if Smunday were a thing. Hmm.
6. Michelob Ultra – “Our Bar”
People may disagree with Michelob being so high up on this list, but I know one person who would agree with me – my Crossfit-nut mother. I don’t know if she actually drinks Michelobs, but after this inspiring ad about teamwork, struggle, and motivation to get through the toughest of workouts, maybe she’ll drink one or two with her Crossfit buddies after a WOD. And possibly try to drag me into that again. (No means no, mom!)
5. Skittles – “Romance”
I couldn’t help laughing at this commercial over and over again. I definitely feel for the guy, as that was probably me at some point back in high school. But MAN, is he getting used so hard in this ad. Literally everyone is jumping in on the free Skittles, even the cop who’s supposed to be chasing the thief that broke in, but decided that eating Skittles was a better use of his time.
There’s no clue as to how this story ends, sadly. Did the guy run out of Skittles and give up? Did the girl finally have pity on the poor dude and head outside? Guess we’ll never know.
4. Tostitos – “Drinking and Driving”
This was arguably the most powerful ad of the Super Bowl. Tennessee Titan Delanie Walker talked about losing his aunt and uncle to drunk driving, then Tostitos revealed their bag that alerts you to take an Uber if you’ve had too much to drink. We had a lot of fun with the Tostitos bag ourselves, but honestly, it’s important that something like this is done for the big game, when a lot of drinking happens. Kudos to Tostitos, Uber, and Mothers Against Drunk Driving for this ad, and revolutionary chip bag.
3. Bai – “Bai Bai Bai”
Christopher Walken dramatically reading the lyrics to the NSYNC classic “Bye Bye Bye” was way more enthralling than I thought it was gonna be. Having the awkward silence with Justin Timberlake made this Bai commercial all the more hilarious, as did the energy drink in the whisky glass. I mean, do you usually drink your energy drinks out of a whisky glass over ice? Maybe that’s just JT being JT.
2. Budweiser – “Born the Hard Way”
It’s the story of an immigrant who endured many hardships to get to St. Louis and build a beer empire. We’ve all heard the story before, but nobody’s been able to capture the Budweiser did in their commercial. Truly a well done commercial, and one of the most inspirational ads of the Super Bowl.
And for anyone who’s hating on the commercial for speaking out against the immigration policies of our current administration, they conceptualized and shot this commercial in MAY, way before the political conversation. Get over yourselves, and enjoy the great story.
1. Devour – “Audition”
Why is this my number one? Because it’s absolutely hilarious. It starts with a guy auditioning for an ad for a cooked frozen meal, then he falls so in love with the meal, he starts getting sensual with it. He performed so well in the audition, both visually and sexually, that the casters basically had orgasms themselves. If you’re gonna go sexually suggestive, go all out, and that’s what Devour did here. They hit this commercial way out of the ballpark for humor and all-out ridiculousness, and that’s why it gets my number one spot.
Do you agree with my picks? Disagree? Hating on me for how I picked? Take a look at the entire list of food commercials for yourself, and see which ones you would rank as your top 10.
Regardless of how you feel about this list, you have to admit that 2017’s food-related Super Bowl commercials were among some of the best we’ve seen.