Superbowl ads seek to score by treading carefully

NEW YORK — Super Bowl ads each year offer a snapshot of the American psyche. And this year, it will be a bit different.

After a year of pandemic fear and isolation, a tumultuous election capped by a riot at the Capitol, and periodic uncertainty as to whether there would even BE a Super Bowl, marketers have to tread carefully for the CBS broadcast of Super Bowl LV.

So Will Ferrell is teaming with General Motors — and Awkwafina and Kenan Thompson — on a madcap cross country dash to promote electric vehicles. Amazon toys with sexual innuendo when a woman is distracted by her new Alexa assistant that looks like actor Michael B. Jordan. And Anheuser-Busch offers a hopeful look toward a time when we can say “let’s get a beer” to friends and coworkers again.

“Comfort is key,” said Villanova University marketing professor Charles Taylor. “Being edgy is going to get attention, but it risks getting out of the comfort zone at a time people have been cooped up in their homes and economic times are tough for many.”

With big names such as Coke, Hyundai and Kia sitting it out this year, newcomers are rushing in. This year’s Super Bowl will showcase more than 20 first-time advertisers — more than double the 8 from last year (excluding campaign ads), according to a tally by research firm iSpot.

It’s a bellwether when a brand can afford the estimated $5.5 million cost-of-entry for a 30-second spot during the Super Bowl. This year’s class includes delivery services DoorDash and Uber Eats, the job site Indeed, the car site Vroom, the recently headline-grabbing investing app Robinhood, and the computer accessories company Logitech.

Most are taking tried-andtrue ad approaches. DoorDash enlists Sesame Street characters for a dose of nostalgia. Logitech goes the celebrity route with an endorsement from hip hop artist Little Nas X intended to underscore that its products like keyboards and mice help artists and makers “defy logic.”

And in what is surely a first in Super Bowl history, an ad for Inspiration4, a SpaceX supported all-civilian space launch, touts a chance for viewers to join the mission. Courtesy of payment processor Shift4 Payments, whose chief executive officer, Jared Isaacman, will command that mission.

Some marketers took aim at the changing habits and ways we live during the pandemic. Tide’s ad depicts a boy not wanting to wash a clean-looking sweatshirt with the face of “Seinfeld” star Jason Alexander on it. But as the sweatshirt collects garbage and dog drool, Alexander’s face starts scowling, and only perks up when Tide saves the day.

By suggesting that people may be wearing the same clothes more, and washing them less, the ad encourages more detergent use, said Kim Whitler, a marketing professor at the University of Virginia. “They wouldn’t have run this ad if covid hadn’t happened,” she said.

Amazon, meanwhile, knows people stuck at home all year might be fantasizing about something new. So a woman’s new Amazon Alexa takes on the voice — and body — of actor Michael B. Jordan.

Meanwhile, a Cheetos ad shows real life married couple Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher wrangling over a bag of Cheetos Crunch Pop Mix.

In contrast to last year’s Super Bowl, which featured campaign ads from both Donald Trump and Michael Bloomberg, politics is out of sight this year.

Also missing are any ads referring to the Black Lives Matter movement, which spurred vast protests across the country last summer.