The Superbowl is a major sporting event that showcases the best NFL teams competing against each other. Millions gather to watch football, so this is also a great opportunity for companies to promote their products. Every year, some commercials demonstrate cleverness and creativity, while others flop. This year, there were some winners and losers from the 2023 Superbowl commercials. Following are my top five best and worst Superbowl commercials. 

Best: 

1.) Breaking Bad PopCorner Chips: This commercial brought back one of the best television shows— “Breaking Bad.” Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul return as Walter White and Jesse Pinkman, respectively. The two are seen creating PopCorner chips in a trailer, and they sell it like a drug to a distributor. The callbacks to “Breaking Bad” make the commercial shine and were a great way to promote the chip product.  

2.) The Farmer’s Dog “Forever”: This commercial is a tearjerker—a dog follows their owner throughout their life. The commercial begins with a young girl telling her puppy that she’ll always love him. The dog follows the girl as she grows into adulthood. It becomes more emotional when the adult girl sings “I’m gonna love you forever” to her old dog. The use of flashbacks shows the dog’s life from the time when they were a puppy to the present. It also captures memories shared with the owner and him.  

3.) Dunkin Donuts Ben Affleck: It was funny to see the actor Ben Affleck working at Dunkin Donuts taking customers’ orders. Affleck’s wife, Jennifer Lopez, comes through the drive-thru and asks for a coffee. The commercial is genuine, and some customers don’t recognize that Ben Affleck is serving them. 

4.) “Why Not an EV?”: The actor, Will Ferrell promotes Netflix by including electric vehicles in their shows. It was funny to see Ferrell trying to be characters from different TV shows like “Stranger Things” and “Squid Game.” 

5.) Pringles “Stuck In”: Recollection is brought back from this commercial, and the gag of getting your hand stuck in pringles is hilarious. The commercial shows various people getting their hands stuck in the pringles can. There was a surgeon, airport ground crew, and even the celebrity Meghan Trainor. 

Worst: 

5.) Fanduel Rob Gronkowski’s Live Field Goal: This concept could have been done better. Rob Gronkowski’s an ex-NFL tight end. The commercial’s use of bad CGI and having viewers believe it’s live from TV, when it’s not, makes the commercial substandard. The commercial was stale, which is disappointing because Gronkowski is charismatic when he talks. The commercial showed the opposite and had Gronkowski try to kick a field goal in silence, not allowing his charisma to shine. 

4.) Avocados from Mexico “Adam and Eve”: The commercial starts in The Garden of Eden showing Eve eat an apple. Adam and Eve realize they are naked and start freaking out till a groundhog gives Eve an avocado. Everyone is depicted as being naked in the commercial and Adam says, “You were right, avocado’s make everything better.” The commercial was bizarre and had a religious theme but seemed like a commercial for avocados. 

3.) Tubi “Remote”: This commercial made my family and I confused and upset. We thought someone was switching the football game to another show from the remote. The commercial had us look for the remote. 

2.) Hellmann’s: What do you get when you put two monotone actors with names of food in a commercial together? The result is a weird, boring, and not so funny. Joh Hamm & Brie Larson are stuck in a refrigerator with a mayonnaise jar. Larson cracks the obvious gag that Hamm’s last name is meat, and her first name is a type of cheese. Pete Davidson makes a cameo by opening the fridge saying, “I’m going to eat you guys.” Davidson makes a sandwich on a panini press, and Larson and Hamm are at a party with him. Overall, the commercial was weird and stale for a commercial about mayonnaise. 

1.) M&M’s Maya Rudolph’s Ma&Ya’s: This commercial was very weird and gross. Maya Rudolph released her version of M&M’s which are Ma&Ya’s. The new candy doesn’t contain chocolate inside, but instead has clams. The commercial is a bad marketing technique because of the recent controversy regarding Tucker Carlson. The company switched their M&M characters with Maya Rudolph. This was a marketing tool to bring the old M&M characters back since Rudolph’s clam candies weren’t appealing. 

According to USA Today, the best voted commercial out of all of them was The Farmer’s Dog. 

According to Forbes, the least effective commercial was M&M’s. According to the Forbes ad meter, it ranked 49 out of 50. 

Whether you watch the Superbowl for the game or halftime show, commercials fill the void and are a key marketing tool for businesses. This year had hits and misses in commercials. Some commercials flopped, while others didn’t disappoint. Overall, the 2023 Superbowl commercials were good, with only some truly missing the mark.