Every year family and friends all gather together to watch the NFL’s biggest game, the Super Bowl. However, if you’re not a football fan and don’t care for the halftime show, you can always count on the commercials during the big game to deliver some quality content. Whether it is comedic, sentimental, eye-opening, or awe inspiring, we all have our favorite commercial each year. In this article, I rank the top 10 commercials I thought were the best based on the production, laughability, nostalgia, relatedness, and good marketability. If you would like to voice your opinion for your favorite commercial after reading my excerpts for each, vote in the poll at the bottom of this article.

10. “Workout”, by E*Trade

• The commercial “Workout”, by E*Trade comes in at the number ten spot. This commercial features a kid inspired by an MMA fighter to lift weights and get in shape. We then see a workout montage of the kid struggling to lift various objects around his house such as shoulder pressing paint buckets on the ends of a wood pole. This is both adorable and hilarious. The commercial ends with the boy looking at his results in the mirror where E*Trade announces that this is the year they help you get in shape, financially at least. After the economic downturn the pandemic has caused, this commercial was not only funny, but also very well-timed, which is why it is in the number 10 spot.

9. “Meet the King”, by Jimmy John’s

• “Meet The King”, by Jimmy John’s delivers a lot of comedic value, which is why it comes in at the number 9 spot. The commercial stars Brad Garret as the “King of Cold Cuts” until Jimmy John’s shows up on his turf. Jimmy John’s freshly sliced cold cuts take over and the commercial ends with Brad Garret declaring “sandwich” war on Jimmy John’s to gain back his turf. This commercial is also very well produced with funny action scenes such as a flaming Jimmy John’s billboard falling on top of Brad Garrett’s car.

8. “Alexa’s Body”, by Amazon

• In number eight spot is “Alexa’s Body” by Amazon. In this commercial, a female Amazon store worker is selling a group of customers the new Amazon Alexa virtual assistant which comes in a round ball sort of shape. She then states, “It’s beautiful. I mean I couldn’t even imagine a more beautiful vessel for Alexa to be inside.” This is until she looks out the window and sees actor Michael B Jordan’s face on the side of a bus. She then imagines Alexa inside Michael B Jordan’s Body where she consistently hits on him and disregards her husband (Michael B Jordan was voted sexiest man alive for the year of 2020, so it only makes sense he was cast for this role in this commercial).This creates a quite comedic dynamic between the two characters as the husband has to constantly stop Alexa from being the woman’s “toy boy” which is why it is in the number eight spot.

7. “Drake from State Farm”, by State Farm Insurance

• In the commercial “Drake from State Farm”, by State Farm Insurance, NFL quarterbacks Patrick Mahomes and Aaron Rodgers are directing a State Farm commercial with Jake from State Farm. However, the body doubles for Patrick Mahomes and Aaron Rodgers look nothing like themselves and severely lack athletic ability making for some funny banter. However, Jake from State Farm’s body double is musical artist Drake, currently the number 8 artist worldwide on Spotify, hence the name “Drake from State Farm”. The reason this commercial deserves the number 7 spot is because of the wide range of celebrity features, and the funny banter between them.

6. “Jessica Long’s Story”, by Toyota

• This commercial features the story of paralympic swimmer, Jessica Long, and her adoption story. At a very young age, Jessica Long had to get half of her legs amputated due to fibular hemimelia (meaning she was born without fibulas). This awe inspiring story of how she overcame these obstacles to become a paralympic athlete combined with some great cinematography is why this commercial deserves the number 6 spot.

5. “5 to 9”, by Squarespace

• This eye-opening commercial puts a twist on the usual 5 to 9 jobs much of the American people work as most of the people in these jobs are not following their dreams by working in a cubicle or office space. Squarespace makes it apparent to viewers that by creating a website with them they can work their day jobs from 9 to 5 while striving to accomplish their dreams and make them reality from 5 to 9. 

4. “No Way Norway”, by General Motors

• In 4th place, we have “No Way Norway”, by General Motors. In this commercial, Will Ferrell becomes enraged that Norway has and sells more electric vehicles than any other country. Yet, just like in any competition, America always has to come out on top. In this very laughable commercial, Will Ferrell wages battle against Norway to have more electric vehicles. Combining laughable moments with the promotion of new eco-friendly cars is why this commercial is in the number 4 spot. 

3. “Certain is Better”, by Rocket Mortgage

• In this commercial actor and comedian Tracy Morgan explains why being certain of all the details when buying a house instead of just pretty sure is very important. The commercial then cuts to some very funny scenes where just being pretty sure instead of certain could end in a catastrophe. The commercial then ends with the family using Rocket Mortgage to find all the details on the house they are looking at buying.

2. “It Wasn’t Me”, by Cheetos

• “It Wasn’t Me” by Cheetos was probably my favorite Superbowl commercial this year but didn’t quite have enough relatedness to make it to the number one spot. This commercial features celebrity music artist Shaggy, who is famous for his song “It Wasn’t Me” which details him trying to deny cheating on his girlfriend by saying “It Wasn’t Me”. However, Cheetos put their own spin on it where a man accuses his girlfriend of stealing his Cheetos, but despite her fingers coated in the orange cheese dust from the snack she says, “It Wasn’t Me”. The commercial is then shot like a music video with the song playing in the background but with some of the lyrics changed for the purpose of it being about Cheetos. Overall, this commercial is in the number 2 spot because of its comedic value and nostalgia associated with the song.

1. “Last Years Lemons”, by Bud Light

• In the number 1 spot we have “Last Year’s Lemons”, by Bud Light. In this commercial, Bud Light details how 2020 was a lemon of a year, which is something we all can relate to. Lemons then proceed to pour from the sky damaging everything in sight and causing all out chaos. But what do you do when life gives you lemons? You make the most of it and make lemonade. Or a lemonade flavored alcoholic seltzer in this case. Overall, I thought this was a very well-produced commercial that contained a lot of relatedness with how the year 2020 turned out which made it so good. It also had a few funny scenes and lightened our hearts to be more hopeful for the rest of 2021 all while marketing their new drink exceptionally well.

Overall, Super Bowl LV had some great commercials this year, but which of these was your favorite? Leave your opinion in the poll below.

Samuel Hilsden, Online Editor