See the spots from Super Bowl LIII that left us all in stitches.
Every year, Americans gather together on Super Bowl Sunday to watch an iconic American sport and an arguably more quintessentially American endeavor: advertising.
The Super Bowl has long been home to the funniest commercials in a given year. But in a year when the most buzzworthy documentaries so far are offer diverging viewpoints on the same fraudulent punchline of a music festival, it's no surprise to note that comedy was in a complicated place this year, particularly among the hallowed commercial breaks of Super Bowl 53. The humanitarian and heartfelt impulse continued to carry the trend of the past few years, embodied in standouts like Microsoft's "We All Win" and Bumble's "Ball in Her Court." Big teases included Avengers: Endgame, The Twilight Zone, Us, Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw, Toy Story 4, The Handmaid's Tale, and Captain Marvel.
Of the spots that attempted comedy, many relied too heavily on their celebrity talent, cashing in on cheap references for reliable, but ultimately hollow returns. The commercials on this list are the ones that demonstrated some attempt at risk or innovation -- ranging from surprising non sequitur to outright cynicism.
With that, let's get to the 10 funniest Super Bowl commercials of 2019:
10. "Mr. Peanut Is Always There in Crunch Time" - Planters
Nuts aren't the first snack that comes to mind when you think of the word "exhilarating"...until now. In this rip-roaring spot, Mr. Peanut proves his superhuman worth in delivering sacred nuts in the "crunch," with a cameo from Charlie Sheen to boot.
9. “Stinky Booty Duty 2.0” - Pampers
Pampers wants to flip the script on a parent's dreaded task: changing their babies' diapers. To that end, we find a star-studded musical ensemble, with John Legend and Adam Levine leading a catchy number while addressing baby Miles' "stinky booty" -- all in service of helping parents "love the change."
8. "Top Dog" - Avocados from Mexico
Last year, Avocados from Mexico took a stab at those who believed the only application of avocados was guacamole. We find a splash of that here, alongside a more concept-driven piece that finds the human-dog dynamic flipped, with humans performing various tasks in service of winning the ultimate goal: avocados from Mexico.
7. "Not Everything Makes the Cut" - Amazon
Amazon's Alexa campaign last year was one of Super Bowl LII's highlights, and with this year's effort, it's starting to look like a mainstay of comedic Super Bowl gold. Carrying the notion of "misadventures with Alexa," this spot finds various celebrities engaging with not-quite-right applications of Alexa. It's a slanted approach that again teases itself just the right amount, carried in no small part by the schaudenfrade of seeing celebrities falling victim to Alexa's powerful capabilities used in unconventional ways.
6. "Chunky Style Milk? That's Not Right" - Mint Mobile
There's something preternaturally upsetting about chunky milk -- a fact that Mint Mobile uses to impress upon us the difference between something that is "not right" and something that is just a great deal (their mobile offer). It's a simple premise well-executed -- the moment when Dad walks in and urges Mom to save some chunky milk for him
5. "Sad Device" - Pringles
Pringles offers up another absurdist presentation, this time with a harder existential punch. A artificial intelligence trapped inside of a smart device bears its virtual soul to two men playing with Pringles combinations, only to find it is sharing the depths of its soul to deaf ears. Depending on your feelings about the role of AI in our lives, this spot can feel incredibly poignant, alongside the dark comedy.
4. "Food porn" - DEVOUR (NSFW)
Even the "clean" version of this commercial is not the sort of spot you want to watch with close family. Playing off of a combo-reference with "food porn" and "porn addiction," DEVOUR situates itself, in this case, as the delicious, unstoppable drug. It's a strange stance to take, but ends up lodging itself firmly and viscerally in your mind.
3. "Expensify This" - Expensify
The premise of this spot -- that it's the first music video you can expense -- is itself pretty hilarious. But toss in the juxtaposition of 2 Chainz and Adam Scott alongside an utter commitment to conceit and you get a video that continues to bring the comedic punch...even if listening to it generally just makes you feel like a baller.
2. "More Than OK" - Pepsi
The Super Bowl may have taken place in enemy territory (Coca-Cola is based in Atlanta), but Pepsi didn't flinch -- turning an ongoing punchline levied against the brand as a conversation starter...featuring Steve Carrell, Lil Jon, and Cardi B. Though it might not strike you on first blush, this is a quietly risky spot; Pepsi has to cop to its silver-medal status in the marketplace in order to have fun with it -- a move few brands would be willing to mirror. And the general star-power from its cast make for a goofy, jubilant ride.
1. "Advertising Ruins Everything" - Skittles
No commercial this year felt quite so 2019 as "Advertising Ruins Everything," a deeply cynical and self-referential skewering of advertising...in musical form. Where it steps out of light meta fare is in actually pushing the premise to its absolute terminus. There was in fact a real Broadway show written by Will Eno and starring Michael C. Hall running (only) yesterday. It's metamodernism at its finest, feeding us a veritable rainbow of competing impulses; at any given moment, you want to groan or buckle over laughing. Skittles has been producing top-tier absurdist advertising for years now, but this is their crowning achievement; this may be the most socially relevant advertisement of any kind of the past few years.
Honorable Mention: "Robochild" - TurboTax Live, "Nacho Fries: Retrieval" - Taco Bell, "Chance the Rapper x Backstreet Boys" - Doritos.
For more Super Bowl commercial coverage, read the ranked list from 2018. For more technology and media coverage, follow @JesseDamiani on Twitter.
