This Year's Super Bowl Ads Were An Emotional Rollercoaster

The Super Bowl is known for having the most surreal and infamous commercials of any American televised event, as companies look to make a lasting impression at the most-watched broadcast of the year. After a year as miserable and surreal as 2020, it seems ad agencies had two paths to choose from at this year's Super Bowl LV: either whip up a humorous ad to distract viewers from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic or deeply lean into it and create the ultimate "In These Trying Times…" coronavirus commercial.

The result was wild emotional whiplash, as one moment, viewers were served a cringeworthy parody of Shaggy's "It Wasn't Me" starring Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher in service of Cheetos, and the next, viewers were shown Bruce Springsteen monologuing very seriously about Americans coming together in service of Jeep.

While it was a very bizarre night in advertising, many of the ads from last night's game clearly resonated with viewers online, as arguably the second-most talked-about aspect surrounding the game (apart from The Weeknd's Halftime Show) was the numerous surreal, awful, and over-the-top sincere commercials that gave viewers headaches. Here are some of the most notable.

Oatly

The undoubted front-runner for the most bewildering Super Bowl ad this year comes from Oatly, an oat milk brand who spent its 30 seconds of airtime showing CEO Toni Petersson singing in a field about how his company's product isn't dairy. It's deeply weird and stark compared to some of the other over-the-top ads, but that's what ended up making it memorable, for better or worse.

Viewers were clearly split on what to make of Oatly's ad. While everyone agreed it was weird, what they thought of that weirdness varied wildly. Some absolutely hated it:

That commercial was so bad that I’ll never buy Oatly milk ever.

— Joseph P. Huber (@JosephPHuber) February 8, 2021

either they forced the ceo of oatly to do that or he wanted to and neither will make me happy

— 𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗲𝗯 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗼𝗻 (@calebsaysthings) February 8, 2021

oatly what happens is when everyone laughs at the ceo's jokes too much

— Aisha Hakim (ae-sha hay-kim) (@AishaAnnHakim) February 8, 2021

Others thought it was actually genius:

Loved seeing oatly representing. Will be singing “wow no cow” for the next few minutes for sure. 🎶 #Super Bowl https://t.co/9nyMAk71Xm

— Susie Gidseg (thesusieg) February 8, 2021

Oatly commercial is the only one that accurately illustrates our collective mental state

— Cherie Hu (@cheriehu42) February 8, 2021

I loved the @oatly commercial. Apparently I’m in the minority 🤷🏻‍♀️ thought it was hilarious! After the initial what in the world. . . I laughed and am still singing it #SuperBowlLV

— Jennifer Dawn (@jenniferdawn73) February 8, 2021

Oatly clearly knew what they were doing in making such a divisive commercial, and already had t-shirts ready to double down on their weird ad.

Oatly was giving out t-shirts earlier today – before announcing they would air a #SuperBowl commercial – with the phrase “I totally hated that Oatly commercial” https://t.co/zmLqvkaSK3

— Ad Age (@adage) February 8, 2021

Regardless of what you thought of the ad, it was certainly a gutsy troll.

Fiverr At Four Seasons Total Landscaping

On the more well-liked end of the spectrum, Fiverr put out an ad recalling last November's epic Four Seasons Total Landscaping Press Conference, where it appeared to the world that Rudy Giuliani had attempted to book the Four Seasons hotel for a bombshell press conference about the election but instead booked a landscaping company of the same name in Philadelphia that was positioned between a crematorium and a sex shop.

The commercial riffs on making the most out of an opportunity, as the small landscaping company had to do when it became the center of a nationally-enjoyed gaffe. Social media was definitely more enthused about the ad than they were towards others of the night, as users gave Fiverr props for a well-played callback.

I have never even heard of fiverr but that #SuperBowl commercial was fantastic

— Jenny Hansson (jennyhKOIN) February 8, 2021

One of the best #SuperBowl commercials so far goes to @fiverr for the “Four Seasons Total Landscaping” bit. It had me laughing the whole time.

— Ben Macioce (@BenMace) February 8, 2021

The beautiful, poetic, just ELEGANT snark of @fiverr was absolute genius! 💀 #plannerbowl

— Emily Wagner Hulse (@lightlyemily) February 8, 2021

Jeep Tries To Get America To Meet In The Middle

Were there an award for Most Off-target Serious Ad of the night, that would certainly go to Jeep, who attempted to heal America's divide by getting Bruce Springsteen to monologue about "meeting in the middle."

With tensions still running high in America after the January 6th Capitol Riot (not to mention myriad other issues), Jeep's kumbaya attempt didn't land as well as they'd hoped, as both sides of America's political spectrum didn't feel there was any middle to meet at.

What’s the middle between “let’s storm the Capitol to try to kill politicians so the Democrats don’t drink the blood of babies” and “let’s give everyone covid relief and wear masks”? Jeep please help me figure this one out.

— Brett Meiselas (@BMeiselas) February 8, 2021

The problem with Jeep's commercial is that one side wants to meet in the middle at that chapel and pray to God for our country. The other side wants to burn it down like they did our cities all summer. Tough to meet in the middle with people like that. https://t.co/LTZRTPguJ4

— Gab.com (@getongab) February 8, 2021

Others felt Jeep's ad wasn't as pro-unity as it appeared; rather, it was very much aimed at middle-American Republicans.

As a person who spent much of their career in advertising, I’ll let you in on a secret:That Bruce Springsteen-Jeep spot wasn’t targeted at all Americans. It was targeted at people who might buy a Jeep.Look at Jeep owner demographics and you’ll know who the ad was for…

— The Hoarse Whisperer (@TheRealHoarse) February 8, 2021

thank you for reaching out with your jeep ad, bruce. nothing says the center welcomes me more than images like this. pic.twitter.com/6gVDghjT4Z

— Ben Schwartz (@benschwartz_) February 8, 2021

Love this part of the Jeep #ReunitedStates Super Bowl commercial where they show this picture and say “We need the middle.” pic.twitter.com/eFkMK9K8ka

— kristibledsoe (@kristibledsoe1) February 8, 2021

Overall, the Jeep ad was widely considered a failure by viewers, stoking division even further and underscoring the surreality of watching a Super Bowl in the middle of a global pandemic.