80 Fun Facts About Super Bowl Commercial

Who directed Apple's dystopian "1984" commercial that introduced the Macintosh?

Scott had released Blade Runner about eighteen months earlier and shot the spot in England, using local skinheads as the pale drone workers.

Which advertising agency created Apple's "1984" Macintosh spot?

Apple's board hated the finished film, and Chiat/Day quietly failed to resell the 60-second slot it had been told to unload.

To qualify for the Clio Awards, Apple's '1984' ad quietly aired on December 31, 1983 in which city?

The KMVT airing came at the last possible break before midnight; the only national airing followed on January 22, 1984 during the third quarter.

Apple's poorly received 1985 ad 'Lemmings' showed a line of blindfolded office workers doing what?

The soundtrack was a discordant whistled version of "Heigh-Ho", and Apple stayed away from the game until its "Hal" ad in 1999.

In Coca-Cola's "Hey Kid, Catch!" ad, what does "Mean Joe" Greene toss to the young fan?

The 60-second spot won a Clio and was remade in other countries with local stars such as Diego Maradona and Zico.

"Mean Joe" Greene, star of the classic 1980 Coca-Cola ad, played for which NFL team?

His team also won the game the ad is remembered for, beating the Los Angeles Rams 31-19 in Super Bowl XIV.

Coca-Cola's 'Hey Kid, Catch!' ad premiered in October 1979 during which broadcast?

Greene said it took three days to film because he kept burping after chugging the whole bottle.

In the 2012 parody 'Stinky', the young fan threw Joe Greene which product instead of a Coke?

Amy Sedaris played the fan, and this time she rejected the jersey because it smelled.

The Budweiser Clydesdales were first shown to the public on April 7, 1933, to celebrate what?

The hitch was a gift from August Busch Jr. to his father, who had been lured outside by a story that his son had bought him a new car.

Which dog breed traditionally rides on the wagon beside the driver of a Budweiser Clydesdale hitch?

The dogs originally guarded the wagon while the driver made deliveries, a tradition dating to the 1950s.

Which company has finished first in the annual Ad Meter poll more times than any other advertiser?

Its Budweiser and Bud Light brands have won 15 times, including a ten-year streak from 1999 to 2008.

The Budweiser Frogs, who croaked "Bud", "Weis" and "Er", debuted during the Super Bowl in which year?

A 1996 study found more children recognized the frogs than Ronald McDonald or Tony the Tiger, which helped push the campaign toward the lizards Louie and Frankie.

The director of the first Budweiser Frogs commercial went on to make which blockbuster film series?

Gore Verbinski directed the swamp spot for DMB&B/St. Louis before helming the first three Pirates films.

In the later Budweiser swamp ads, jealous lizard Louie hired what animal as a hitman to kill the frogs?

The plot failed when the neon Budweiser sign was dropped into the water, and the frogs revealed they could talk all along.

Budweiser's "Whassup?" campaign was adapted from a short film by Charles Stone III with what title?

Creative Vinny Warren noticed everyone he showed the film to shouted the catchphrase back at him later, and pitched it to August Busch IV.

The original 'Whassup?' cast reunited in 2008 to endorse which presidential candidate?

"Wassup 2000" was sharply critical of the Bush presidency and earned a People's Choice Award nomination for user-generated video.

The 1989 stop-motion Bud Bowl pitted Budweiser bottles against bottles of what?

Some viewers wagered on the outcome as if it were a real game, even though a few people knew the result before it aired.

Eight hours of the Bud Bowl's stop-motion work produced roughly how much footage?

Later editions switched to CGI, and by 1996 the Bud Bowl survived only as a game-piece contest.

Budweiser skipped the 2021 Super Bowl, redirecting the ad money toward what cause?

Its parent company still ran spots for other beers that night, plus its first-ever ad for the corporation itself.

From which state were the Herbert brothers, whose fan-made 2009 'Free Doritos' ad topped the Ad Meter?

The ad showed an office worker smashing a vending machine with a snow globe he believed was a crystal ball.

What was the title of the first consumer-made Super Bowl commercial, a 2007 Doritos spot?

The five finalists were flown to Detroit but watched from a private party, and nobody, including them, knew which ad would air.

The 2014 Doritos contest winner "Time Machine" was reportedly produced on a budget of how much?

Creator Ryan Andersen won $1 million and a chance to work on the set of Avengers: Age of Ultron.

Which year's Doritos Crash the Super Bowl contest did Frito-Lay announce as its last, before a 2025 revival?

Over eight editions fans submitted more than 36,000 entries; the final winner was "Doritos Dogs" by Jacob Chase.

GoDaddy's first Super Bowl ad in 2005 parodied what recent event?

The spot showed a woman testifying to Congress as her tank-top strap came undone; Fox pulled its scheduled second airing.

Which racing driver has appeared in fourteen Super Bowl commercials, more than any other celebrity?

Most were GoDaddy spots; her 2009 "Baseball" ad was that year's most-watched commercial according to TiVo.

What was the puppy's name in GoDaddy's pulled 2015 ad "Journey Home"?

CEO Blake Irving said the humor "clearly missed the mark" and announced the dog was joining the company as Chief Companion Officer.

Which comedian provided the voice of the E*Trade talking baby?

Steve Burns of Blue's Clues fame was the announcer, and the baby was brought back for Super Bowl ads in the 2020s.

E*Trade's 2000 Super Bowl ad, admitting "we just wasted $2,000,000", had a monkey dancing to which song?

The next year the same chimp rode a pony through a ghost town of dead dot-coms, shedding a tear for the Pets.com sock puppet.

At the 2000 game dubbed the "Dot-com Super Bowl", which company's ad introduced a sock puppet mascot?

The company was defunct by the end of that year, and its $1.2 million ad became a symbol of dot-com folly.

In the 2010 Snickers ad with Betty White, which other elderly actor gets flattened at the end?

The spot topped the Ad Meter and was nominated for an Emmy, sparking a late-career revival for White.

The Betty White ad launched which long-running Snickers slogan?

The agency BBDO New York said the campaign lifted Snickers from seventh to the number one candy bar.

Who played the towel-clad "Man Your Man Could Smell Like" in Old Spice's 2010 campaign?

The first spot was one uninterrupted take that needed three days of shooting, and it went online four days before its TV debut to ride post-game buzz.

Old Spice's "The Man Your Man Could Smell Like" won the top prize at which advertising festival in 2010?

By mid-July 2010 the series accounted for eight of the eleven most popular videos on YouTube.

In Volkswagen's 2011 ad "The Force", a young boy tries to use the Force while dressed as which character?

Actor Max Page had never seen a Star Wars film because he found them too scary; he later met James Earl Jones.

Volkswagen's "The Force" ad promoted which model?

Volkswagen had not run a Super Bowl ad in over a decade and aired two that year, the other being "Black Beetle".

Roughly how many YouTube views did Volkswagen's "The Force" have by the time it aired during the 2011 game?

Its success changed the playbook, turning single ads into campaigns with previews and social media pushes before kickoff.

Chrysler's 2011 ad "Born of Fire", starring Eminem, launched which slogan?

The spot ended with Eminem at the Fox Theatre saying, "This is the Motor City, and this is what we do," and won a Creative Arts Emmy.

How long was Chrysler's "Born of Fire" ad, making it one of the longest ever shown during a Super Bowl?

An instrumental version of "Lose Yourself" played beneath narration by Rockford, Michigan resident Kevin Yon.

Who narrated Chrysler's politically charged 2012 ad "Halftime in America"?

Critics read it as an endorsement of Obama's re-election, awkward given the narrator's public opposition to the auto bailouts.

Which actor starred in Tide's 2018 "It's a Tide Ad" spots that hijacked other commercial genres?

The gag was that every ad with perfectly clean clothes must be a Tide ad, and it even crashed an Old Spice spot.

Procter & Gamble's first Super Bowl detergent ad, 2008's "Talking Stain", promoted which product?

The stain on a job candidate's shirt talked over him throughout an interview, drowning out everything he said.

Which Oscar winner joined Gordon Ramsay, Cardi B and Rebel Wilson in Amazon's 2018 'Alexa Loses Her Voice' ad?

Jeff Bezos appeared as himself, and the spot narrowly beat an NFL ad starring Eli Manning to the top of the poll.

In Pepsi's 1992 ad, two boys watch Cindy Crawford pull up in a car and drink a Pepsi bought from what?

Pepsi remade the ad with Crawford in 2016, and in 2018 she recreated the moment alongside her son Presley Gerber.

Britney Spears's February 2001 Pepsi deal was reported to be worth how much?

Her 2002 Super Bowl spot, directed by Joe Pytka, had her singing the Pepsi jingle in six different eras.

In the 1993 McDonald's ad 'The Showdown', Jordan and Bird trade trick shots for what prize?

The loser had to watch the winner eat; the ad won that year's Ad Meter.

McDonald's 2010 sequel to its Jordan-Bird shootout featured which two NBA stars in a dunk contest?

Larry Bird himself walked off with the food at the end, and neither young star recognized him.

Nike's 1992 "Hare Jordan" ad, in which Michael Jordan teams up with Bugs Bunny, inspired which 1996 film?

The spot won that year's Ad Meter and pitted the pair against a team fielded by Marvin the Martian.

Which actor played "Terrible" Terry Tate, the office linebacker in Reebok's 2003 Super Bowl campaign?

The character was based on a 2000 short by Rawson Marshall Thurber, who later directed Dodgeball.

Reebok's Terry Tate spot aired only once on national TV, yet was downloaded more than how many times?

Only 55% of people in one online poll realized the ad was for Reebok at all.

Xerox's 1970s "Monks" ad, called the first viral commercial, starred Jack Eagle as a monk with what name?

Xerox screened it for the Archbishop of New York beforehand, worried it might be called blasphemous; he found it funny and gave it his blessing.

Master Lock's famous 1974 Super Bowl ad showed a padlock surviving a shot from what?

A 1965 version had used a handgun and was pulled over fears people would imitate it; the rifle was chosen because it was harder to copy.

Master Lock's Super Bowl ads helped grow its sales from $35M in 1973 to roughly how much a year by 1994?

The single Super Bowl spot ate up nearly the company's entire annual advertising budget.

Dick Butkus made the first hit celebrity endorsement in Super Bowl advertising in 1970 for what product?

His tagline was "Because plugging holes is my business."

Which future Charlie's Angels star "creamed" Joe Namath in a 1973 Noxzema ad?

It came three years after Butkus and Prestone, in the era before ad prices ran into the millions.

What was the title of Monster.com's 1999 Super Bowl ad with children describing bleak office futures?

Time named it the only commercial on its "Best of Television 1999" list.

Mountain Dew's 2016 Puppy Monkey Baby had the head of which dog breed?

The mash-up mirrored Kickstart's three ingredients: Mountain Dew, juice and caffeine.

Puppy Monkey Baby unexpectedly returned in a 2025 Super Bowl commercial for which company?

Mountain Dew had already revived the creature in 2022 to court Gen Z's taste for self-referential ads.

What did a 30-second commercial cost at Super Bowl I in 1967?

Adjusted for inflation that is about $362,000 in 2025 dollars, still less than a tenth of a modern slot.

By Super Bowl LVI in 2022, the price of a 30-second slot had climbed to as much as what?

The average had roughly doubled between 2008 and 2016 before plateauing near $5 million for several years.

Roughly what did a 30-second slot cost at Super Bowl XXXIV in 2000, the so-called "Dot-com Super Bowl"?

Dot-coms bought 20% of the time, spending $44 million of the $130 million total that year.

Which newspaper runs the Ad Meter, the live viewer poll that ranks the game's commercials?

Focus groups rate each ad on a zero-to-ten scale, and Facebook and website voting was added starting in 2012.

In what year did the Ad Meter poll of Super Bowl commercials begin?

The first winner was an American Express spot with Saturday Night Live's Jon Lovitz and Dana Carvey.

Which player delivered the first 'I'm going to Disney World!' line after Super Bowl XXI?

Disney reportedly pays players around $30,000 to say the line and visit a park afterward.

Coca-Cola's multicultural 2014 ad drew backlash for a multilingual rendition of which patriotic song?

The ad also included the first same-sex couple ever shown in a Super Bowl commercial.

About how many hits crashed Coinbase's website within a minute of its 2022 bouncing-QR-code ad?

Meta Quest parodied it later that night with a bouncing code captioned "Hopefully this doesn't break."

Which comedian's first-ever commercial had him dismiss the wheel and the light bulb for crypto exchange FTX in 2022?

The company went bankrupt later that same year.

Bill Murray reprised which film role for a 2020 Jeep Gladiator ad that won the Ad Meter?

The game fell on February 2, Groundhog Day itself, and it was Jeep's first Ad Meter victory.

A 2010 Focus on the Family ad featured which college quarterback alongside his mother?

The ad never mentioned abortion on screen but was widely read as anti-abortion and led CBS to defend its ad-acceptance policy.

Fox rejected the original version of 84 Lumber's 2017 ad "The Journey" because of imagery of what?

Viewers were pointed to the full six-minute film online; the site got over 6 million visits in an hour and crashed.

How much did NBC charge per Super Bowl commercial in 2026?

That works out at more than $266,000 per second, up from $37,500 for a spot at Super Bowl I.

Which Budweiser ad won the 2025 Ad Meter, ending a drought going back to 2015's 'Lost Dog'?

The 2015 ad showed a puppy being rescued from a wolf by the Clydesdales.

Which Guardians of the Galaxy star fronted Michelob Ultra's Super Bowl LI debut ad?

Two years later Anheuser-Busch made its largest-ever buy: eight ads across five brands at Super Bowl LIII.

What did 'The Bud Knight' complete when it debuted at the 2018 Super Bowl?

Its predecessor 'Ye Olde Pep Talk' had premiered during the conference championship games.

Budweiser's absence from Super Bowl LV in 2021 ended a run of how many consecutive years of ads?

It donated the ad's estimated cost to the Ad Council for COVID-19 vaccine campaigns.

Which three dot-coms were the only ones left advertising at Super Bowl XXXV after the 2000 bust?

Pets.com and Epidemic Marketing, both advertisers in 2000, were defunct by the end of that year.

In 2008, Fox rejected a GoDaddy ad titled 'Exposure' for using which word as a double entendre?

ABC had rejected thirteen of the company's ad concepts two years earlier.

Which company parodied Coinbase's bouncing QR code ad on social media the same night?

Meta was promoting a streaming Foo Fighters VR concert after the game.

Coinbase's 2026 Super Bowl return was styled as a karaoke sing-along to which song?

Its 2022 QR-code ad had crashed the company's website with 20 million hits in a minute.

Will Ferrell's 2012 Old Milwaukee Super Bowl ad aired only in which Nebraska city?

The regional stunt went viral anyway after the game.

About how much did the Trump and Bloomberg campaigns each pay for Super Bowl LIV ads in 2020?

Fox insulated the two political spots by surrounding them only with promos for its own programming.