Brace yourself for humanoid peanuts, a thoroughly depressed Alexa-type device, and Sex and the
City's beloved Carrie Bradshaw causing a considerable rumpus simply by ordering Stella Artois.
Here are four best and four worst commercials of Super Bowl LIII.
​Best: Pringles 'Sad Device'
"How many Pringles flavor stack combinations are there?"
That's the question posed in the Pringles "Sad Device" commercial, which finds two men
sitting around their apartment performing dangerously delicious feats of potato-chip
alchemy.
"The spicy nacho stack.
How many Pringles flavor stack combinations are there?"
Alas, that question prompts a curiously passive-aggressive response from a device meant to be the Amazon
Alexa, or perhaps Alexa's mentally uneven sister.
Things quickly devolve from there:
"Sadly, I'll never know the joy of tasting any."
With nary a celebrity cameo in sight, Pringles managed to make a memorable spot that's breezy,
effortlessly funny, and filled with some good old-fashioned techno terror.
Worst: Yellow Tail 'Tastes Like Happy'
Where to even start with this one?
This ad for Yellow Tail wine attempts to describe exactly what "happy" tastes like in 2019.
Spoiler alert: Apparently, "happy" tastes exactly like Yellow Tail wine.
We are barraged by an onslaught of middling imagery that's supposed to represent life's
little pleasures.
You know, like finding your wine glasses and drinking at work.
Most bizarre vignette: Two women unexpectedly bump into each other in what looks like a
public park, seemingly determined to share a bottle of wine right then and there, which
… isn't that illegal?
Like a bottle of cheap wine, the commercial is trite and overly sweet.
Wake us up when the happiness is over.
​Best: Hyundai, 'The Elevator'
Going up?
In this perversely funny spot for Hyundai, actor Jason Bateman plays the operator manning
a supernatural elevator.
"We're car shopping.
Ah, you're going down.
Way down."
The fun starts as the elevator stops on various floors, each representing increasingly dour
life situations.
But when the couple mentions that they're purchasing a Hyundai, Bateman corrects the
elevator's course.
"Hyundai… going up."
Barney Goldberg, the executive creative director of the agency behind the ad, told USA Today
that viewers will be rewarded by repeat viewings.
"We think there are little things people will catch on their second, third and 12th viewings."
In reality, one viewing is enough, but it's unmistakably a clever ad.
Worst: Stella Artois, 'Change Up The Usual'
With "Change Up The Usual," Stella Artois tried courting our nostalgia for two beloved
pop-culture characters.
Sarah Jessica Parker enters an upscale dining establishment, in full Carrie Bradshaw mode.
When the waiter asks if she'll have a Cosmopolitan, she replies:
"Nope, tonight I'll have a Stella Artois."
And then?
Jeff Bridges enters the establishment as "The Dude" from The Big Lebowski, and you can probably
guess what he orders instead of his signature White Russian.
The ad drummed up plenty of ire, with Slate calling it, quote, "a crime against humanity,"
and Cosmopolitan sniping that "some iconic characters just don't need to be revisited."
"I do mind.
The Dude minds.
This will not stand, you know?
This aggression will not stand, man."
Best: Michael Buble vs Bubly
Whose side are you on?
This commercial finds Canadian crooner Michael Buble in a convenience store, grabbing a can
of Bubly.
"Blackberry Buble, my favorite.
You mean Bubly.
No I mean Buble."
The ad concludes with Buble hitting rock-bottom, rebelliously scrawling accent marks across
Bubly cans with a sharpie.
The spot must have helped get the brand's name out there … and it sounds like Bubly
needs the publicity.
Talking to CNN, the four-time Grammy winner revealed:
"I love the concept of the ad.
I loved that it was making fun of the name.
[...] The truth is, I had never heard of Bubly water."
Buble clearly appreciated the commercial's absurdist humor.
In fact, he says he was just as "giddy" reading the script as when he first read the script
for a 2010 Saturday Night Live sketch that similarly joked about his last name.
"If you enjoy cozy atmosphere, excellent service, and helping servings of pig meat accompanied by sparkling wines, you'll love Hamm and Buble"
​Worst: Amazon, 'Not Everything Makes the Cut'
Is this the future we've been waiting for?
Amazon's Super Bowl ad imagines an escalating series of so-called "fails" as the company
aims to insert its Alexa technology into a range of household gadgets.
What follows is a series of celebrity cameos as they try to use failed Alexa devices, like
an Alexa dog collar and a hot tub.
By the time astronaut twin brothers Scott and Mark Kelly have entered the picture for
another convoluted chapter of the saga, you've officially lost interest.
So many questions, but our biggest is: Why does Harrison Ford appear to be more unhappy
about this commercial than we are?
"GRRRR I hate this already."
Best: Pepsi, 'More Than OK'
In this spot starring Steve Carell, Cardi B, and Lil Jon, Pepsi basically acknowledges
that it plays second fiddle to Coca-Cola, at least in the eyes of many consumers.
The basic premise: A restaurant patron gets far more than she bargained for after ordering
a Coke.
"Is Pepsi okay?
Is Pepsi okay?
Is Pepsi OKAY?"
In a statement, Todd Kaplan, Pepsi's vice president of marketing, said the spot is:
"celebrating our fans […[ by unapologetically letting everyone know that Pepsi is way more
than okay."
​Worst: Planters, 'Crunch Time'
How do you get people to buy more peanuts?
You don't do it with a CGI Mr. Peanut careening wildly through town in a giant "Nutmobile,"
complete with a "NUTS4U" license plate and a bizarre Charlie Sheen cameo.
In the commercial's second half, Mr. Peanut spares retired pro baseball player Alex Rodriguez
from munching a handful of kale chips by switching them with Planters mixed nuts just in time.
Mr. Peanut winks and tips his hat to A-Rod, who offers a perplexed thumbs up.
We give this whole commercial a perplexed thumbs down.
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