Toronto, Ontario — With an extra week to prepare for this year’s big game, global automakers have gone all-out on their Super Bowl ads this year as a number of manufacturers have already dropped teasers and more ahead of Sunday’s game.
Set to follow a highly anticipated halftime performance from Eminem, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Mary J. Blige and Kendrick Lamar, are the always entertaining and often celebrity-filled commercials where many of the world’s largest automakers tend to make a grand showing.
This year, Nissan pretended like the Super Bowl wasn’t even delayed and dropped their full commercial on Feb. 3, packed to the brim with celebrities like Eugene Levy, Catherine O’Hara, Brie Larson, Dave Bautista and Danai Gurira, who all teamed up to show off the action movie qualities of the OEM’s new Z and Ariya EVs
Following suit with Nissan, Kia also released their offering to the Super Bowl gods last Thursday, but took on a different tone, telling the story of a robot dog who is desperate to be reunited with what is ostensibly it’s mother, the new EV6 electric crossover. It’s definitely something.
BMW’s Super Bowl ad checks several boxes; it has star power in Arnold Schwarzenegger and Salma Hayek; it has a clear three-act plot structure; and it perfectly acts out a long-form version of the dad-joke, “what kind of car does Zeus drive?” It also happens to show off the German automaker’s flashy new iX electric crossover.
In perhaps the biggest boomer power move of them all, Mike Myers is back as Dr. Evil in General Motors’ 90-second ad where the very much still relevant supervillain is revealed to be only the second greatest threat to the world, behind climate change of course.
It’s worth noting, a certain beloved sidekick was barely even given a nod in the ad. Rest in peace Verne Troyer.
Toyota brought two ads to the table this year—one of which features no cars at all. Instead, the ad tells the story of Canadian Paralympian cross-country skiers Brian and Robin McKeever and their respective roads to the Paralympics.
The second ad, “The Joneses”, features just that. The Japanese automaker managed to get celebrity “Joneses”, Tommy, Leslie and Rashida Jones, all into one spot for an offroad demonstration of the 2022 Toyota Tundra (hint: the secret fourth Jones can be heard, but not seen).
Finally, Jason Bateman takes the viewer on a walk through history as he explains how Hyundai is basically responsible for human evolution—and the Ioniq 5, of course.
To Hyundai’s credit, this is really the only car commercial that actually conveys any real information about EVs, which is always a bonus.
