It has been about 10 days since Super Bowl 2023 aired, becoming the second most-watched showing of all time with 113.06 million viewers. Not only was the game exciting to watch, but Rihanna’s performance was also phenomenal and the commercials were more extensive than ever before. 51 total, jampacked into three to six-minute time slots. Here are my Top 3, excluding trailers because they don’t count. Sorry, not sorry. (Farmer’s Dog is Number 4.)
1. NFL’S RUN WITH IT
NFL’s “Run With It” advertisement featured flag football star Diana Flores running away in an epic chase as people tried to take her flags attached to her side. NFL tricked the audience worldwide by pretending the ad spot was filmed live. Starting the commercial, Fox Sports anchor Erin Andrews interviewed Diana on the sideline, but she tries to steal Flores’ flag during the interview. This sets off an energized chase that seemingly spills out of the State Farm Stadium, with disguised male NFL players, influencers and the world trying to steal her flags. These include Sauce Gardner of the New York Jets, Las Vegas Raiders’ Davante Adams and YouTube persona MRBEAST. Although Flores succeeds to evade them all with her impressive skill and speed, she is also helped by other female sports icons such as tennis legend Billie Jean King and Bella Rasmussen, the first female tackle football player with a name-image-likeness (NIL) deal. According to NFL Chief Marking Officer Tim Ellis, in the PR declaration, “Flag football is universal, inclusive, and with this creative, we are thrilled not just to elevate flag, but specifically highlight how women are changing the game, driving the future of football forward and inspiring generations to come.”
2. DUNKIN’ DRIVE THRU STARRING BEN
This year’s commercials were stuffed to the brim with celebrities, but one definitely stuck out from the rest -– especially since it’s been a meme since Oscar-winner Ben Affleck has been in the spotlight. It’s a known pop culture fact that the Boston native actor loves his Dunkin’ coffee, and he’s been the unofficial endorser of the brand forever. The time was finally here for him to be a real one. Affleck posed as a drive-thru operator, fooling around with customers as he spoke in an even more dramatized “Masshole” accent. It’s short, funny and sweet, especially as his wife “J-Lo” makes a pitstop appearance in a minivan and “embarrasses him in front of his coworkers.”
3. POPCORNERS’ BREAKING GOOD
The fact is that this list couldn’t have done it without snack brand PopCorners’ “Breaking Bad” parody. Almost an entire decade has passed since the final episode of the award-winning show “Breaking Bad” aired. Walter White (played by Bryan Cranston) and Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul) returned to the big TV screen. The 60-second advertisement is practically canon, as they filmed with the same grimy RV used in the show. The costumes were from the archival closet and so was the jewelry won by Raymon Cruz in his character as Tuco Salamanca. “We had so much fun shooting it. Just getting back into those characters and seeing all the familiar faces,” Cranston told People Magazine. “Paul and I fit like a glove.”
