Super Bowl advertisers upstage politicians with gags, celebrities

Advertisers turned to laughs and big-name celebrities for the biggest TV advertising event of the year, Sunday’s Super Bowl LIV football championship, upstaging two billionaires who aired nationwide presidential campaign commercials.

Advertising on the National Football League’s annual event often generates as much buzz as the game itself, which this year brought a come-from-behind victory for the Kansas City Chiefs over the San Francisco 49ers.

Another highly anticipated battle of the evening was competing ads by President Donald Trump and Democrat Michael Bloomberg, who is seeking his party’s nomination, whose commercials are estimated to have cost up to $11 million (£8.4 million).

Advertisers spent as much as a record $5.6 million for a 30-second spot, according to Fox Corp, which broadcast the game.

But the chatter on social media and among branding experts skewed towards gags like Planters’ mascot Mr. Peanut, who died and was reborn, and football star Tom Brady’s appearance in an ad for streaming service Hulu.

This year advertisers were more restrained in promoting social causes, which dominated last year’s game, said Benjamin Hordell, a partner at creative ad agency DXagency.

“It’s almost going back to Super Bowl ads of old with high production value,” he said. “The world is political and everything is polarized. People are trying to have a little fun on this national holiday.”