This year's Super Bowl features the Seattle Seahawks taking on the New England Patriots, but for many spectators, the spectacle is only partly about the sports on the field. Plenty of football fans wait all season for the main event, but the Super Bowl is also all about pageantry and musical spectacles at halftime—and also all the commercials. Car companies don't seem to be putting out the big spends this year, with a few notable exceptions. Here's a car spotter's guide to the ads of Super Bowl LX.
A simple 30-second spot leans into the RAV4 with its family-friendly image, and a big dose of nostalgia for the 1990s. The opening shot shows a grandfather buckling his grandson into the back of a first-generation four-door RAV4, calling it his 'superhero belt.' Decades later, the now-grown grandson returns the favor.
It's uncluttered and effective, no jokes or special effects. If you'd like a bigger wallop of Toyota-based family themes, check out this Japanese ad from 2015. No translation needed, and it kicks things off with a sweet vintage Supra.
Cadillac Formula 1 Team
We haven't seen previews of Cadillac's Super Bowl ad, but the content of it has leaked out. Caddy is going to stick its new F1 car right in the middle of Times Square, starting on Friday of the Super Bowl weekend, hidden away behind frosted glass in a giant box.
The 30-second commercial will reveal the team's new livery, and then the glass box will go clear. It's a bit of showmanship that's hoped to mark Cadillac's entry into the F1 field with a bang. Certainly the team's two seasoned drivers, Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Pérez, are experienced at using social media to draw eyeballs.
Fighting against the established top teams will be a big challenge. Getting people on your side through big media stunts should get things rolling.
Love them or loathe them, the Kardashian/Jenner family know how to leverage any kind of publicity whatsoever into financial success. The joke here, from the sports-betting company Fanatics Sportsbook, is that Kendall Jenner is actually making shrewd bets on her romantic ups and downs. Start dating a new basketball player? Better bet on him to drop the ball.
One onscreen windfall is a gorgeous 1960s Ferrari 250 GT in dark blue—possibly Blu Pozzi, the color named for Ferrari's French importer. It's only onscreen for a few seconds but the ability to steal the show? Bet on it.
VW went big on its Super Bowl ad with a full one minute and 30 seconds of run time, not to mention licensing 1992's Jump Around from House of Pain. There's essentially the whole VW lineup onscreen, with an overall message of getting out of your rut and heading out with friends.
Tellingly, there's not a smartphone to be seen. If you remember jumping around to House of Pain in your college days, well, you're probably middle-aged now. Jumping might be a little hard on the knees. However, a dose of 1990s nostalgia might go a long way in selling crossovers to people who have fond memories of 16V Jettas and scrappy little GTIs.
Speaking of 1990s nostalgia, here's internet specialist Xfinity with a genuinely funny commercial of gargantuan proportions. It's a twist on the original Jurassic Park, with the gag being that simply plugging in an Xfinity box would have saved the park from disaster. Selfies with a T. rex for internet clout ensue.
You can't have Jurassic Park without the park's signature Ford Explorers, a couple of which make their appearance here. As far as movie cars go, these remain some of the most reasonably priced machines to build out a tribute version. Life, uh, finds a way.
Matthew McConaughey annoying Bradley Cooper incessantly is a funny premise that should probably be developed into an entire movie franchise. Here, though, it's just an ad for food-delivery service Uber Eats.
Having said that, the spot does open with McConaughey behind the wheel of a very McConaughey-spec vintage Toyota pickup, scruffy and lifted. You can practically hear this truck making a cameo in the next Cars movie, possibly while wearing a cowboy hat.
Brendan McAleer is a freelance writer and photographer based in North Vancouver, B.C., Canada. He grew up splitting his knuckles on British automobiles, came of age in the golden era of Japanese sport-compact performance, and began writing about cars and people in 2008. His particular interest is the intersection between humanity and machinery, whether it is the racing career of Walter Cronkite or Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki's half-century obsession with the Citroën 2CV. He has taught both of his young daughters how to shift a manual transmission and is grateful for the excuse they provide to be perpetually buying Hot Wheels.
While some car companies may not be putting out big spends this year, there's still plenty of creative and engaging ads to look forward to during Super Bowl LX. As an expert in the field, I think it's exciting to see how different brands are using their commercial time to tell unique stories and connect with audiences.
