written by Jess Gaylord, Social Strategy Director @ Mekanism
If I had to declare a winner of the Super Bowl LIX (beyond the Eagles, of course), it wouldn’t be any single brand or commercial.
From ads that felt like seeing double (flying facial hair, anyone?) to a revival of early aughts burger spots with an influencer twist (can we not, please?) to familiar yet impactful refrains of women’s empowerment (welcome back, Nike), the biggest night in advertising was largely unmemorable and fell mostly flat.
That’s pretty much the exact opposite of what companies would want after spending an eye-popping $8 million on average for a 30-second commercial, right? Let me explain why this year’s Super Bowl felt lackluster from an advertising standpoint but was an incredibly rich text from a cultural perspective.
When reviewing data from social analytics and monitoring company Brandwatch, the numbers don’t lie: it’s obvious that the polarizing and seemingly inescapable political climate in the United States was the dominant force driving online mentions and social conversation about the Super Bowl — not humorous star-studded advertisements or sexy creator-led campaigns.
To be clear, the Super Bowl has never been immune from politics, and it’s become a full-fledged entertainment event that just kind of happens to be centered around a football game.
So when advertisers read the room and decide to go for laughs or tap into nostalgia rather than potentially offending people with social commentary or bold proclamations (which seems to be the case this year), it’s almost inevitable that viewers would instead turn their attention to notable but controversial Super Bowl attendees, like Taylor Swift and President Trump, as well as the hotly anticipated halftime show featuring Kendrick Lamar.
Speaking of the halftime show — if we consider Kendrick Lamar a brand in his own right, then it’s undeniable that *he* won the Super Bowl. According to Brandwatch’s data, Kendrick Lamar’s performance even beat the Eagles’ win with 33,000 peak mentions in a single minute.
From start to finish, including Samuel L. Jackson decked head-to-toe in an Uncle Sam outfit, a surprise appearance by tennis superstar Serena Williams, and Lamar’s mischievous grin to camera as he blatantly called out fellow rapper Drake while performing his Grammy-winning diss track Not Like Us, the Internet was absolutely abuzz trying to interpret the halftime show’s decidedly political message.
A culturally tame Super Bowl devoid of little beyond laughs, celebrities, and sentimentality only made the halftime show that much more culturally significant. At a time when we as a nation are grappling with a great deal of uncertainty and a head-spinning amount of change, people crave meaning. And that’s exactly what Kendrick Lamar brought with his electrifying, layered, and deeply intentional performance.
Did brands capitalize on Lamar’s performance? You bet. Legal teams everywhere are shaking their heads in dismay, but that didn’t stop brands like United and American Eagle from taking advantage of the online hype around Kendrick Lamar absolutely eviscerating his opponent (in flared Celine jeans, no less). With Lamar making a point to call Drake a culture vulture during their intense beef in the summer of 2024, it’s not a huge stretch of the imagination to apply that same logic to brands scrambling for share of voice online.
But Super Bowl memes and quippy X posts from brands are, in truth, just a flash in the pan: an easy engagement-grab that can rack up millions of impressions, yet be quickly forgotten by consumers when news outlets assemble their round-ups and ratings of the night’s events and commercials.
This was a Super Bowl of historic firsts. Lamar is the first solo hip-hop artist to headline the biggest stage in U.S. sports, while Trump is the first ever sitting president to attend it. But there were no notable advertising firsts — not any that meaningfully captured online attention, in any case. Against the backdrop of culturally tame Super Bowl ads, Kendrick Lamar stepped up to the plate and delivered a production jam-packed with thought-provoking significance, irresistible controversy, and, of course, a healthy dose of pettiness.
Whether advertisers continue safely blending in or decide to risk making a more pronounced splash, it will be fascinating to see how they navigate the Big Game moving forward.
My advice? If advertisers actually want to have a lasting impact on culture like they claim to, then maybe they should sit down, be humble, and take notes from K. Dot.
