Super Bowl 2021 ads: Bud Light and Amazon ads start the rush

There are no Budweiser Clydesdale horses hitting puppies during this year’s Super Bowl, but the commercials will still be a TV you have to watch.

The competitive advertising landscape with high interests looks a bit different this year, as big names like Budweiser, Pepsi (the sponsor for the break) and Coke keep out their usual commercial purchases while reconsidering how to best promote their brands during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. But there’s still no shortage of creative and entertaining commercials to watch as the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers take on the reigning champion in Kansas City Chiefs. Sunday 7 February.

Here are some of the best, funniest and most entertaining commercials of the big game released early. We will continue to update this message when new ads appear.

Knoblig

The Bud Light Legends ad is an outing in memory. It gathers the stars of Bud Light commercials from the past, including the Bud Light Knight and Cedric the Entertainer, to help save a overturned truck full of beer.

Frito-Lay

In an ad that would appear just before the coin toss, snack maker Frito-Lay featured a who’s who of Super Bowl stars, including the Manning brothers, Jerry Rice, Troy Aikman, Terry Bradshaw, Jerome Bettis and Deion Sanders. Former Seattle Seahawk Marshawn Lynch Tells a Custom Version of A Visit From St. Nicholas, who redesigned it as ‘Twas the Night Before Super Bowl’.

Squarespace

This is the expanded version of a shorter Squarespace ad featuring Dolly Parton’s reworked version of her hit song 9 to 5. The website provider’s ad is full of dancing entrepreneurs performing after their normal office hours. And there is upper form like a squirrel.

Amazon

Amazon has put out quite a few different Alexa devices over the years, with a few different looks. The company’s Super Bowl ad raises the question, “What would be the ideal body for Alexa?” The answer is Michael B. Jordan, star of Black Panther and Creed.

Doritos

Actor Matthew McConaughey appears as a flattened 2D version of himself bowled by a footballer and confused with a robotic vacuum cleaner until a bag of Doritos 3D chips restores him to his normal self.

Cheetos

Mila Kunis, Ashton Kutcher and Shaggy come together for a semi-musical mashup ad in which Kutcher repeatedly accused Kunis of eating his Cheetos Crunchy Pop Mix. She is caught orange-finger, but manages to deny it.

Logitech

Logitech described its big game ad as an ‘ode to creators’. The ad is powered by music star Lil Nas X of country rap Old Town Road fame. It’s all about using technology to unleash creativity.

Pringles

Pringles got a case of space fever with a story about returning astronauts left at sea because mission control was too busy stacking chips to save them.

Gety

In a big nod to surreality, Tide Detergent lingered over all the ways a hoodie with Seinfeld actor Jason Alexander’s face got dirty. Yes, it’s as weird as it sounds. This is an early contender for the game’s weirdest ad.

Anheuser-Busch

Anheuser-Busch, Budweiser’s parent company, said in a statement that it would abandon the brand’s airtime and instead place the funds for public awareness and education for COVID-19 vaccination efforts.

Anheuser-Busch still awarded slots to Bud Light and Michelob and filmed his first ever corporate commercial, taking a serious look at his community work and economic recovery efforts.

Bud Light Seltzer Lemonade

Speaking of Bud Light, the low-beer brand has given a humorous look at how awful 2020 was with a lemon-filled ad for its hard seltzer lemonade. Make an ad out of it if life gives you lemons.

Michelob Ultra

Michelob Ultra provided a thoughtful reflection on the nature of happiness set to the tune of Lou Reed’s Walk on the Wild Side. Sports stars, including Peyton Manning and Serena Williams, appear.

Stella Artois

Musician Lenny Kravitz performed for Stella Artois for an ad with an introspective message based on the idea that people get about 2.5 billion heartbeats in a lifetime.

Coors Light

Honorable mention: Coors Light will not be hosting a Super Bowl ad during the game, but rather taking a wild turn by launching its Big Game Commercial of Your Dreams campaign to encourage people to dream about its beer instead. It called in a psychologist to develop a video that would possibly cause visions of Coors Light during the night. The dream-inducing video will be available to try from February 3rd.