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Pepsi
Pepsi with Cindy Crawford, Super Bowl XXVI, 1992
For most of its runtime this plays as a straight glamour spot, every shot fixed on Cindy Crawford and her soda. Then the two kids watching her get the last word, and it turns out their attention was somewhere else entirely. The whole joke is the bait-and-switch, and it lands because the setup is played with a completely straight face. Plenty of later Super Bowl ads spend most of a minute pretending to be something else before the punchline; this is the one to watch first.
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McDonald's
McDonald's "The Showdown" with Michael Jordan and Larry Bird, Super Bowl XXVII, 1993
Two of the biggest names in basketball play a shooting game for a Big Mac, and every shot gets more absurd than the last. The humor comes from escalation and from watching two fierce competitors try to top each other over a burger as if a championship rode on it. It holds up because the sports are secondary: you do not need to know a thing about either player's career to enjoy the one-upmanship.
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Budweiser Frogs
Budweiser, Super Bowl XXIX, 1995
Three frogs in a swamp croak one syllable each until the brand name comes together. It is a joke built entirely on timing and patience, and it shows how far a dumb, simple idea can travel when it is executed precisely. The frogs proved so popular that they kept turning up in Budweiser ads for several years, which makes this the ancestor of every Super Bowl mascot that outgrew its first spot.
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Cat Herders
EDS, Super Bowl XXXIV, 2000
Weathered cowboys talk about their life's work with total sincerity, except the herd is thousands of house cats. The spot takes the office cliché about impossible tasks and stages it as a full Western epic, and the craft is what sells it: a cowboy running a lint roller over his jacket, a river crossing full of cats. The company behind it, Electronic Data Systems, was bought by HP in 2008 and lost its name a year later, but "herding cats" now has a picture attached to it, and this is the purest example of a joke outliving the product.
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Terry Tate: Office Linebacker
7.9/10on IMDb
Reebok, Super Bowl XXXVII, 2003
An office hires a full-size linebacker to enforce workplace etiquette, and he tackles anyone who leaves the coffee pot empty or slacks off at their desk. The violence is cartoonish and the speeches between hits are even better. Terry Tate debuted in this game and became a viral hit, with longer episodes passed around online at a time when that was still a novelty. Plenty of fans remember the character far better than the sneaker brand that paid for him.
More about Terry Tate: Office Linebacker6
FedEx
FedEx "Cast Away" parody, Super Bowl XXXVII, 2003
A FedEx employee, stranded on a desert island, finally delivers the one package he kept safe the whole time, and the customer's answer about what was inside is the punchline. It works best if you have seen the Tom Hanks film it spoofs, but the gag is clear enough without it: years of suffering, undone by one casual reply at the front door. A tidy example of a brand making fun of its own product placement.
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E-Trade
E*Trade talking baby, Super Bowl XLII, 2008
A baby sits at a computer, makes a stock trade with a single click and talks it through with the deadpan confidence of a seasoned broker. The voice coming out of a toddler is the entire gag, and it should wear thin after one viewing, yet it kept working. The spot was popular enough to launch a run of sequels with even more talking babies, making it one of the few Super Bowl novelties that turned into a long-running campaign rather than a one-night stunt.
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Tide (brand)
Tide to Go "Talking Stain," Super Bowl XLII, 2008
A job candidate tries to make his case while the stain on his shirt drowns him out with loud gibberish, and the interviewer cannot hear anything else. It is the most literal possible way to show a stain stealing attention, and the silliness of the stain's voice carries the joke. It was one of the best-liked ads of its game and still works as a quick lesson in turning a product benefit into a sight gag.
More about Tide (brand)9
Doritos
Doritos "Free Doritos," Super Bowl XLIII, 2009
An office worker insists his crystal ball predicts free Doritos, then hurls it at the vending machine to make the prophecy come true. The ball is really a snow globe, and the follow-up joke at the end is just as blunt. This was a fan-made entry from Doritos' Crash the Super Bowl contest: two brothers from Indiana made it for just under $2,000, and it finished first in the USA Today Ad Meter, winning them $1 million. Proof that a cheap, well-timed gag can beat agency budgets.
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Snickers
Snickers "Game" with Betty White and Abe Vigoda, Super Bowl XLIV, 2010
A hungry guy in a backyard football game is playing like Betty White, so he is literally Betty White, getting flattened in the mud and trading insults with his teammates. One bite of Snickers and he is himself again. The spot ran in the game's first commercial break, topped the USA Today Ad Meter, and introduced "You're not you when you're hungry," a line that has carried Snickers advertising for years since. Few Super Bowl jokes have turned into a campaign this durable.
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The Force (advertisement)
Volkswagen, Super Bowl XLV, 2011
A small kid in a full Darth Vader costume tries to use the Force on everything in the house, from the dog to the washing machine, and nothing happens. Then his dad gets home in a new Passat. The humor is gentle and physical, all in the child's determined little gestures, and the payoff is sweet without being sappy. Volkswagen posted it online a few days before kickoff, but its TV debut was the game itself, and it remains one of the most widely shared Super Bowl ads ever.
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Tide (brand)
Tide "It's a Tide Ad" with David Harbour, Super Bowl LII, 2018
David Harbour keeps interrupting what look like ordinary car and beer commercials to point out that everyone's clothes are spotless, so this must be a Tide ad. The spots were spread across the broadcast, which meant the joke kept coming back and made viewers suspicious of every clean shirt for the rest of the night. Critics called it the clear winner of that year's ad battle. It is the smartest commercial here about commercials themselves.
More about Tide (brand)13
Amazon Alexa
Amazon "Alexa Loses Her Voice," Super Bowl LII, 2018
Alexa comes down with a sore throat, so Amazon brings in substitutes: Gordon Ramsay, Cardi B, Rebel Wilson and Anthony Hopkins, each answering ordinary requests in the worst possible way for the person asking. The structure is a sketch-show revue, and it works because every cameo plays to the star's public image. It topped the USA Today Ad Meter that year. Smart speakers have moved on, but the Ramsay segment alone still earns a rewatch.
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Jeep
Jeep "Groundhog Day" with Bill Murray, Super Bowl LIV, 2020
Bill Murray returns as Phil Connors, waking up to the same day again, except this time he has a Jeep Gladiator and a groundhog riding shotgun. It was his first national TV commercial, and Stephen Tobolowsky and Brian Doyle-Murray came back too. The game itself fell on Groundhog Day, only the second time that had happened in Super Bowl history, which made the timing a joke of its own. It won the USA Today Ad Meter, and it is the gold standard for how to revive a movie in a minute.
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Hyundai Sonata
Hyundai "Smaht Pahk," Super Bowl LIV, 2020
Chris Evans, John Krasinski and Rachel Dratch lay their Massachusetts accents on as thick as they will go to show off a Sonata that parks itself, and David Ortiz turns up to finish the job. The feature being sold is remote parking, but the real product is three performers clearly having a great time saying "car" the local way. It finished second in the Ad Meter that year, and it set the tone for the Boston-accent Super Bowl comedy that followed.
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PopCorners
PopCorners "Breaking Good," Super Bowl LVII, 2023
Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul step back into Walter White and Jesse Pinkman, back in the RV in the desert, but this time cooking up snack chips. Iconic scenes from the show are reimagined with a bag of popcorn chips swapped in for the original product, and fans will catch how faithfully the look and the line readings are recreated. It is the rare TV reunion ad that works as a gift to fans of the show, not just a cameo. Newcomers will get less from it than anyone who watched the series.
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State Farm
State Farm "Like a Good Neighbaaa" with Arnold Schwarzenegger, Super Bowl LVIII, 2024
Arnold Schwarzenegger plays an action-movie State Farm agent who can never quite get his mouth around the word "neighbor," and the whole production ends up bending around that one word. The joke is a famous accent colliding with a famous jingle, and the ending reunites him with his "Twins" co-star Danny DeVito. It won the USA Today Ad Meter that year. Silly, short and built around one sound, it is easy to rewatch without fatigue.
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Dunkin' Donuts
Dunkin' "The DunKings" with Ben Affleck, Matt Damon and Tom Brady, Super Bowl LVIII, 2024
Ben Affleck crashes Jennifer Lopez's recording session with a boy band of famous friends in matching Dunkin' tracksuits, ready to unveil a song called "Don't Dunk Away at My Heart." Lopez and Fat Joe watch in horror, and her stern "We talked about this" is the best line in the spot. Affleck's willingness to look ridiculous is what makes it work. It finished second in the Ad Meter that year, just behind State Farm, and the tracksuits went on sale for real.
More about Dunkin' Donuts19
Stella Artois
Stella Artois "David + Dave" with David Beckham and Matt Damon, Super Bowl LIX, 2025
David Beckham discovers he has a long-lost twin brother, Dave, played by Matt Damon, who could not look less like him. The comedy is in how seriously everyone treats the reunion, and Damon plays the ordinary American brother with complete sincerity. It finished fourth in the USA Today Ad Meter that year, and it is the most purely silly premise among the recent entries here.
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The Ultra Hustle
Michelob Ultra "The Ultra Hustle" with Willem Dafoe and Catherine O'Hara, Super Bowl LIX, 2025
Willem Dafoe and Catherine O'Hara play a harmless-looking older couple who turn out to be pickleball hustlers, wagering free rounds of beer against younger players who have no idea what is coming. The joke is the gap between the sweet first impression and the ruthless play, and both actors commit to it completely. Randy Moss, Sabrina Ionescu and Ryan Crouser turn up along the way. It finished third in the USA Today Ad Meter that year, one spot ahead of Stella Artois, and it is the best sports gag among the recent entries here.
More about The Ultra Hustle21
Dunkin' Donuts
Dunkin' "Good Will Dunkin'" with Ben Affleck, Super Bowl LX, 2026
"Good Will Hunting" reimagined as a lost 1990s sitcom, with Affleck in the lead and a supporting cast of real sitcom stars: Jennifer Aniston, Matt LeBlanc, Jason Alexander, Ted Danson, Jaleel White, Jasmine Guy and Alfonso Ribeiro. Affleck hams up every cheesy catchphrase on purpose, including a Boston-accented "How you doin'?", and Tom Brady closes it out in a truly terrible wig. It finished fourth in the Ad Meter. Best for anyone who grew up on 1990s TV.
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