Each year during the Super Bowl, people don’t just look forward to the game itself, but also to the many mthat air in between the game and the creativity and effects companies usually put into them.
But this year, the Super Bowl had a lot of ads made with AI or had advertisements promoting AI. Many technology companies, especially, were using AI ads to promote the use of advanced AI, such as Meta and Google.
Many of the Super Bowl advertisements used AI because it is dirt cheap to make low-quality advertisements with AI, since getting an advertisement in the Super Bowl is so expensive.
Considerably the creepiest ad of the game, Svedka’s dancing robot advertisement “Shake Your Bots Off” promoted their new line of vodka. Made entirely with AI, this advertisement centers around two robots. One pulls a beer bottle from their stomach and the other from their bicep and begins dancing with the bottles and drinking while “Super Freak” by Rick James plays in the background.
Freshman Jaylen Johnson said, “This commercial was definitely weird, but stood out at the same time, that’s why I remembered it.”
One of the best advertisements of the Super Bowl this year was Pepsi’s “The Choice” advertisement attacking Coca-Cola in their years-long rivalry. In the advertisement, Pepsi shows polar bears, Coca-Cola’s mascot, blindly trying two drinks: Pepsi and Coke, and finds he likes Pepsi more than Coca-Cola. Plus, a scene of two polar bears drinking Pepsi at a concert and looking embarrassed when the Jumbotron spots them, mocking the “Coldplay affair” incident last year.
Many viewers seemed to enjoy how Pepsi brought humor into the competition and continued the long-standing soda rivalry creatively. The advertisement felt more traditional compared to the AI-made commercials shown earlier during the Super Bowl.
While some companies focused on new technology, Pepsi relied on storytelling and history, which caught the eyes of a wider audience. The contrast between AI-generated videos and original creativity made this year’s commercials especially interesting to watch.
Super Bowl advertising continues to evolve each year as companies compete not only for customers but also for viral attention on big social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok.
A successful commercial no longer just airs during a game; it trends online, sparks debates, and becomes a part of pop culture conversations.
Whether people were disturbed by dancing robots or entertained by a unique soda mascot, the advertisements achieved their purpose of being memorable.
This year’s 2026 Super Bowl advertisements showed how quickly advertisements. The use of AI sparked many conversations among viewers about whether technology is improving creativity or taking away from it. At the same time, classic rivalry advertisements like Pepsi’s proved that humor and storytelling still play an important role in making memorable commercials. Whether viewers loved or hated the ads, they accomplished their goal: getting everyone talking long after the game ended. Freshman Darien Partida shared his overall thoughts on this year’s commercial.
“The ads were okay, I feel like companies are trying to focus more on trends than actually trying to sell their product using creativity,” he said.
Darien’s opinion reflects what many viewers noticed during this year’s Super Bowl.
As companies prepare for future Super Bowls, they may need to find a better balance between using artificial intelligence and keeping their advertisements authentic and relatable.