Past winners
USA TODAY’s Ad Meter is one of the most closely watched gauges of success when it comes to Super Bowl advertising. Since 1989, viewers have rated commercials from the game, and ad agencies and companies closely watch the results.
2017: Kia.
Actress Melissa McCarthy takes on political causes — such as saving whales, ice caps and trees — in her Kia Niro crossover.
2016: Hyundai.
Kevin Hart keeps tabs on his daughter’s first date.
2015: Budweiser.
A cute puppy finds his way home and gets some help from his powerful friends, the Clydesdales.
2014: Budweiser.
A spunky puppy is adopted but keeps coming back home to the Clydesdale horse it loves.
2013: Budweiser.
A man raises a Clydesdale horse, only to watch it leave for the big time. Three years later, at a big-city parade, man and horse reunite in an emotional embrace.
2012: Doritos.
A dog uses Doritos to bribe a man to keep quiet after the man gets suspicious about the dog’s cat-killing ways. 2011 (tie): Doritos and Bud Light.
A mean-spirited man uses Doritos to entice a dog to run into a glass-plate door, but the dog gets the last laugh when the door falls on top of his tormentor. The Bud Light commercial features a dog sitter who gets the canines to cater his party.
2010: Snickers.
Two young men playing football are portrayed as actors Betty White and Abe Vigoda. It turns out those guys just need a Snickers for energy to play like the young men they truly are.
2009: Doritos.
Two unemployed brothers from Batesville, Ind., created the ad. An office worker uses a snow globe “crystal ball” to make predictions. He says everyone will get free Doritos and then throws the ball into the glass of a vending machine to break it open for everyone.
2008: Budweiser.
A takeoff on the “Rocky” films and their famous prefight sequences, a Clydesdale is inspired by a canine personal trainer to become a member of the Budweiser wagon team.
2007: Budweiser.
A group of computer-animated crabs worships a cooler full of beer. The ice chest has two Bud bottles sticking out, making it look like a giant crab with protruding antennae in the setting sun.
2006: Bud Light.
To keep guests from drinking his beer, a man installs a refrigerator on a turntable so it can easily be rotated out of view. But once that fridge rotates, it ends up in the apartment next door, much to the glee of the residents.
2005: Bud Light.
A skydiver tries to entice his frightened fellow skydiver into jumping out of a plane by throwing a pack of Bud Light out first. But it’s the pilot — not the scared skydiver — who jumps for the brew.
2004: Budweiser.
Two men compare the skill levels of their dogs in terms of fetching beer. One guy’s mutt gets the beer by biting the other man’s crotch.
2003: Bud Light.
A parody of the NFL’s video review policy, with a real zebra checking the instant replay while a group of footballplaying Clydesdales wait. One man in the ad says, “That referee’s a jackass.” His companion replies: “No, I believe that’s a zebra.”
2002: Bud Light.
A wife lures her husband to the bedroom with the promise of a cold Bud Light. But romance and the husband go out the window when he dives for the beer and slides away on their satin sheets.
2001: Budweiser.
Comedian Cedric the Entertainer’s hot date is ruined when he accidentally shakes beer bottles that then explode all over his lady friend.
2000: Budweiser.
A canine actor needs to draw inspiration to cry in one scene. So he thinks about chasing a Budweiser truck and then accidentally jumping headfirst onto a minivan. That image makes him howl and makes the film director happy.
1999: Budweiser.
Two Dalmatian puppies are separated at birth. One becomes the mascot of a firehouse while the other gets a more enviable duty: mascot of a Budweiser wagon.
1998: Pepsi.
A sky surfing man does extreme aerial tricks with an equally agile goose, and they share a Pepsi in the sky afterward.
1997: Pepsi.
Computer-animated grizzly bears head into a small town to do their annual rite: a Pepsi-inspired version of the YMCA dance.
1996: Pepsi.
A fictional CocaCola driver is caught on a security camera trying to grab a Pepsi. The cooler shelves tumble down, dumping Pepsi cans into the aisle.
1995: Pepsi.
A boy on the beach trying to get the last drop of his Pepsi sucks himself right into the bottle. “Mom, he did it again!” his sister yells.
1994: Pepsi.
Two chimps are given either Coke or Pepsi to drink in a lab experiment. The one that consumes Pepsi busts free and enjoys the good life, heading for the beach.
1993: McDonald’s.
Larry Bird and Michael Jordan stage an outlandish game of H-O-R-S-E, in which each player tries to make an increasingly more difficult shot than the other’s to decide who could dine on a McDonald’s Big Mac.
1992: Nike.
Bugs Bunny and Michael Jordan join forces to battle basketball bullies. The commercial became the basis for the movie “Space Jam.”
1991: Diet Pepsi.
People around the world, from African tribesmen to British butlers, sing the Diet Pepsi jingle, “You’ve got the right one, baby.”
1990: Nike.
Well-known sports announcers report on the actions of stars such as Bo Jackson and Michael Jordan while on-screen messages from sponsor Nike says “Buy Nike Shoes.”
1989: American Express.
Comedians Dana Carvey and Jon Lovitz head to Miami for the Super Bowl, where they learn that AmEx is the only credit card that will let them buy any big-ticket items.