The Best Super Bowl Commercials of 2024

Tina Fey, Willie Nelson, Jennifer Aniston and more win trophies as AARP critiques the ads

Chris Nashawaty,

AARP

Comments

Published February 11, 2024

a collage of ads from the 2024 super bowl

Photo Collage: AARP; (Source: Left to Right: Uber Eats; Dunkin’ Donuts; Popeyes; BMW; Frito-Lay; State Farm; Coors Light; Booking; Bic)

Now that the big game is over, we can discuss the evening’s real winners: the star-studded ads from the Super Bowl that made the biggest splash. Was it a memorable crop of commercials this year? Well, it better have been. After all, each company forked over a pretty penny — $7 million for a mere 30 seconds of air time — the most precious real estate in TV every year. So which of these spots made the most indelible impressions? Read on for our verdict:

Funniest reunion: Jennifer Aniston and David Schwimmer for Uber Eats

This was one of the clear standouts of the night. With a clever premise — in order to remember everything that Uber’s food delivery service offers, you need to wipe something else from your memory to make room for it — this spot featured famous faces being forgetful about the obvious: David and Victoria Beckham about the name of the Spice Girls; Nashville musician Jelly Roll being surprised by his face tattoos in the mirror. But the best cameos by far were from our old Friends, Ross and Rachel. After receiving a delivery on a Hollywood back lot, Jennifer Aniston, 55, draws a blank when her former onscreen husband David Schwimmer, 57, bumps into her. “Have we met?” Aniston even gets visibly (and hilariously) creeped out when he goes in for a hug. An instant Madison Avenue classic.

Second-sweetest reunion: ‘30 Rock’ stars rock the bowl for Booking.com

One of the unexpected joys of the evening was seeing Tina Fey, 53, reuniting onscreen with her former 30 Rock costars Jane Krakowski, 55, and Jack McBrayer, 50 — even if it was just for only 30 seconds. The online travel company’s spot leaned into the concept that when you’re booking a trip online, you can be whoever you want. Cut to a handful of Fey body doubles on various exotic vacations (hey, it’s Glenn Close, 76, riding a horse!). I’m not sure how well the message gets across — the same idea applies just as easily to any other travel site. But it was sure entertaining, and here’s hoping at next year’s game, we’ll see these sorely missed 30 Rock stars reteam, this time with the show’s fictional boss, Vice President of East Coast Television and Microwave Oven Programming Jack Donaughy (Alec Baldwin, 65).

Sparkiest Commercial: Willie Nelson, Martha Stewart and Snoop Dogg for Bic EZ Reach

If there was ever a product that didn’t require brand awareness, it’s Bic — the default, inexpensive, 7-Eleven impulse-buy lighter of choice for decades now (and kudos to this cheeky spot for nodding to the fact that the constantly disappearing disposables are the world’s “most borrowed lighter”). But to keep Bic’s fire burning in people’s minds, the brand trotted out an unlikely trio of Bic-flicking celebs: Willie Nelson, 90, Martha Stewart, 82, and Snoop Dogg, 52. Of course, we can all imagine Stewart using a Bic to light scented holiday candles around her country manor between gingerbread cookie jags — although she seems like more of a long wooden matchstick person — but props to Bic for winking at what Willie and Snoop might be more used to sparking up.

Most chill moment: LL Cool J for Coors Light

It looks like the suds company broke the bank on this ad’s f/x and music licensing budgets. The setup: A young woman brings her new boyfriend (a Chargers fan) to meet her parents (Commanders fans) at a Super Bowl watch party. Awkward! Time to call in LL Cool J, 56, the Grammy-winning rapper, NCIS: Los Angeles star and merry conductor of the 900-miles-per-hour Coors Light Chill Train — last seen in a Coors ad 19 years ago, yet defiantly unretired — which erupts from the Rockies to race around the globe dispensing ice-cold refreshment to the familiar soul sounds of the O’Jays’ 1972 number 1 hit “Love Train.” In the 30-second version on TV during the game, the train freezes a guy’s underwear on the line and sprays snow on a couple in Adirondack chairs on a beach enjoying some other, ostensibly less cool beer (a spoof of Corona’s “Find Your Beach” ads) and also on Lainey Wilson, whose 2024 Country’s Cool Again tour Coors sponsors. But wait, there’s more! There’s a 90-second extended version of the ad on YouTube, plus a slow-motion version featuring Thursday Night Football analyst Kirk Herbstreit, the Coors Light Beer Wolf (seen in 1983 ads) and 100 fans who got paid $500 each to appear inside the train. How popular are Super Bowl ads, even the ones on YouTube? Over 20,000 fans applied for “seats” on the train, which sold out in a matter of seconds.

Even chillier-than-LL Cool J character: Ken Jeong for Popeyes

The fast-food chain tapped doctor turned wild-card comic actor Ken Jeong, 54 (The Hangover, The Masked Singer), for this back-to-the-future spot. Restlessly awaiting the invention of the greatest chicken wing ever made, Jeong decides to cryogenically freeze himself until the miraculous day arrives. When he’s thawed out after 52 years on ice, he’s introduced to a dazzling array of modern inventions that blow his analog mind: the Roomba, fanny packs, self-driving cars, vibrating massage chairs, the Labradoodle. Of course, none of these futuristic marvels comes even close to the progress involved in making Popeyes’ “juicy, crispy” new wings.

Best granny action movie: Patricia Mauceri and Olivia Negron for Doritos Dinamita

Though Jane the Virgin’s Jenna Ortega is the most famous face in this ad for Doritos Dinamita, its true stars are Dina and Mita, the hungry, angry Latin grandmas played by Patricia Mauceri, 73 (One Life to Live, Law & Order), and Olivia Negron, 70 (NCIS, Grey’s Anatomy). Ortega heads to the grocery store to stock up on snacks with her two seemingly mild-mannered grandmas, Dina and Mita. But don’t let their floral prints and sensible shoes fool you. Because when it comes to snagging the last bag of Dinamita chips, these grannies mean business. So when a young hunk (Top Gun: Maverick star Danny Ramirez) grabs it, the abuelas zip after his car on their Rascal scooters, bust out some impressive John Wick action moves, and pursue the guy via zip line. Those must be some chips! Mauceri and Negron also appear at events around Las Vegas during the Super Bowl, and they plan to take over TikTok after the game. A new action hero duo debuts!

Greatest vocal impressions: Everyone imitating Christopher Walken for BMW

Christopher Walken, 80, thinks he got his famously unusual speaking pattern from his upbringing by German and Scottish immigrant parents with thick accents, and growing up in Queens hearing people speaking Greek, Italian, Polish and Yiddish. “It’s a rhythm thing — people who speak English where they have to hesitate and think of the right word. And I think it rubbed off,” he told CBS News. Anyway, it’s inimitable — except by the people who imitate him in this commercial. I’m not really sure what a bunch of random folks imitating his voice has to do with BMW’s line of electric cars. Even Walken himself seems to be bemused in the commercial. But I laughed. I laughed hard. And sometimes that’s all that a great ad needs to do — make you chuckle and get embedded into your memory. Best bit: the guy who hands the actor his drive-through coffee with the spot-on delivery of the line: “Be careful, it’s … hot!”

Best career makeover: Ben Affleck for Dunkin’ Donuts

Beantown Ben, 51, has been the face of Dunkin’ for a while now, busting out his thickest Southie accent to hawk crullers and iced coffee. But the brand’s supersized Super Bowl campaign takes the relationship to another level — creating a whole bored and lonely alter ego for a guy dismissed as “Jennifer Lopez’s husband,” prompting the sad star to try to become a pop music celebrity. The commercials — featuring Affleck’s best pal Matt Damon, 53, and Lopez, 54 — are better at making Affleck self-deprecating and likable than making your mouth water for munchkins. But they’re memorable. Affleck reportedly pocketed $10 million for the ad. That’s a wicked lotta bear claws.

Best miniature action movie not starring Dina and Mita: Arnold Schwarzenegger for State Farm

Move over, Jake from State Farm! The insurance company has found a new A-list action star spokesman for the big game — that’s right, the Austrian Oak himself, Ahnuld, aka Agent State Farm. The ad has puppies rescued from fireball explosions and helicopter chases. The only thing it doesn’t have is a leading man who can pronounce the company’s famous “like a good neighbor” slogan, as Schwarzenegger, 76, obliviously mangles “neighbahhh” over and over again for a very patient director enduring take after take. It’s nice to see the Terminator back in action — and even better to see him join the Super Bowl’s parade of celebs poking fun at themselves (including Danny DeVito, 79, who shamelessly upstages Agent State Farm).

%{postComment}%

Chris Nashawaty, former film critic for Entertainment Weekly, is the author of Caddyshack: The Making of a Hollywood Cinderella Story and a contributor to Esquire, Vanity Fair, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.

Unlock Access to AARP Members Edition

Join AARP to Continue

Already a Member? Login

Recommended for You

Benefits Recommended For You

See All