The Advertising Super Bowl - All Ads From Super Bowl LV
The best part about the Super Bowl is that it’s also the Super Bowl of advertising. The biggest brands in the world spend outrageous amounts of money competing for American consumers’ attention.
Advertising is important. It shows us what American culture values. It shows us what American culture aspires to be. It’s a pulse check on who we are currently, what we want, and where we want to go.
Sometimes it’s worth being proud of. Sometimes its worth being embarrassed of. Either way, it’s a time capsule of who we are today.
Ads from Super Bowl LV in 2021 showed us that Americans are coming to believe that representation is important, that moderation is important, and that streaming services are important. The events of 2020 had an obvious impact on our ads in 2021. Does casting more people of color in our ads solve the reality of racial injustice in America? No. Do more streaming services cause people to take COVID-19 more seriously? Probably not. But in some way, these ads show us where we want to go. In a strange way, they set a course for us to follow. They point our sailboat in a specific direction, and when the wind blows, catching our sails, we just might get somewhere close.
You don’t have to support big brands. You don’t have to agree with them. Sometimes, you might even have to hold them accountable when they create advertising that has a negative impact.
But if you want to understand America, watch our ads.
