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The Super Bowl is the most popular sporting event in the United States. Last year, over 127 million people watched the Big Game, even though it was a complete blowout. Every year, the numbers continue to rise, and there’s no reason to believe that shouldn’t be the case this year.

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But not everybody tunes in for the football. In fact, a large majority of the people watching aren’t even football fans. They’re just looking for an excuse to party and watch funny commercials, which is one of the best parts of the Super Bowl every year (especially if it’s a snoozer like last year).

I’ll be honest, Super Bowl ads don’t quite hit as hard as they did when I was a kid. Companies are spending so much money on the slot that they can’t afford to spend it on the ad itself. Luckily, we had 50+ years of great commercials before this recent slump.

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Today, we’re going to reminisce on the good ol’ days and take a look back at 15 of the best Super Bowl commercials of all time.

NFL 100th Year

The NFL’s 100-year Super Bowl ad is one that immediately comes to mind. It’s a two-minute ad that starts with NFL Commissioner Rodger Goodell making a toast to some of the league’s greatest players. But shortly into the add, Marshawn Lynch knocks a football off the cake, and all hell breaks loose as everyone tries to jump on the “fumble.”

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Some of the all-time greats, such as Peyton ManningJoe MontanaDeion SandersMichael Irvin and so many more, make an appearance in my personal favorite ad of all time.

Unfortunately, the NFL has blocked other sites from embedding the video, but here’s a link to it on YouTube.

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Breaking Good

If you’re a fan of the show Breaking Bad, you probably loved this PopCorners commercial. The cast of one of the greatest shows of all-time got back together to film a minute-long Super Bowl ad. It starts with Walter White and Jesse Pinkman in their famous RV, but instead of cooking methamphetamine, they’re making PopCorners. Afterwards, they bring it to Tuco, who demands they make even more flavors for him to sell. PopCorners absolutely nailed it on this one.

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1989 Bud Bowl

Budweiser came up with one of the most unique ad campaigns in Super Bowl history. They had two beers from their company, Budweiser and Bud Light, duking it out in the “Bud Bowl.” The best part was that it wasn’t just one ad. They bought multiple ad slots throughout the game, so as the Super Bowl progressed, so did the Bud Bowl. In total, the ad campaign ran for three minutes over the course of the evening, and everyone was on the edge of their seat waiting to find out who won.

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Like a Good Neighbaaa

State Farm is iconic for their like a good neighbor jingle, so a couple years back, they decided to have a little fun with it. State Farm brought in Arnold Schwarzenegger as their new agent for the commercial, but he can never quite seem to pronounce neighbor right (even if it was the sheep’s fault).

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Hey Kid, Catch

This ad aired over 20 years before I was born, but it’s still engraved in my brain because of how popular it is. Coca-Cola took Mean Joe Greene and turned him into a nice guy for their 1979 commercial. Greene is limping off the field when a kid comes up and offers him a Coke to make him feel better. After downing the whole bottle, he tosses this kid his game-worn jersey. For a man named Mean, he sure seems nice.

The Force

There’s something beautiful about an ad that can get its message across without any words. In this Volkswagen ad, a little boy is dressed up as Darth Vader and tries to use the force on multiple objects around the house to no avail. At last, when his dad arrives home in his Volkswagen, the boy tries to use the force on his car, and when the kid’s not looking, he uses his key to remote start his car, making the kid believe he finally used the force.

Castaway

Coming off the success of the 2000 movie Castaway, FedEx took advantage by making their own mini Castaway movie for the Super Bowl. After years stranded on an island with a stranger’s FedEx package, the delivery man finally delivered it to the customer’s doorstep. He never opened the package, and after years of curiosity, he asked what was inside. Everything he needed to survive and escape the island – a fishing rod, satellite phone, etc. – was in his hands the entire time.

The Choice

This ad hasn’t even aired in the Super Bowl yet, but it’s bound to be the best commercial from Super Bowl LX. The Coca-Cola bear does a taste test between Pepsi Zero Sugar and Coke Zero, and ultimately chooses Pepsi, which results in him going to therapy and questioning his life. He even ends up on the big screen at a Coldplay concert cheating on Coke…

Terry Tate, Office LB

Reebok’s early 2000s ad is one of the funniest in Super Bowl history. Terry Tate is a fictional linebacker that Reebok sent out to businesses to discipline their employees. And let’s just say he has a little too much fun…

This ad may not do the best job of displaying Reebok, but man, it was hilarious.

Everything is Food

When you can get Matthew McConaughey and Bradley Cooper to star next to each other in a commercial, people are going to watch. Uber Eats delivers one of the best Super Bowl ads of the last decade with their everything is food ad. McConaughey describes how everything in football relates to food, and sometimes it’s a bit of a stretch, but it’s quite interesting how many football terms can actually be related back to food.

Puppy Monkey Baby

A candidate for the weirdest and most memorable Super Bowl commercial of all time is Mountain Dew’s Puppy Monkey Baby ad from 2016. I distinctively remember watching the Broncos and Panthers Super Bowl and seeing this add and questioning if what I was seeing was real. Who came up with this? And what’s wrong with that person?

It’s a Tide Ad

Another classic from the 2010s is Tide’s 2018 “It’s a Tide Ad” commercial. Riding the success of Stranger Things, David Harbour pokes fun at all the basic Super Bowl ads you see every year and makes a case for them all being a Tide ad. Pretty clever way to keep everyone thinking of Tide in the rest of the ads.

Doritos Pug

Doritos has delivered a lot of great Super Bowl ads over the years, but one of my personal favorites was their pug ad. It was very simple. The owner’s boyfriend was teasing her dog with a bag of Doritos, trying to get him to run into a glass door. Instead, the pug breaks the door down and takes the boyfriend out with it to get to his chips.

Puppy Love

Everything else in this article has been funny, but let’s throw in a heartwarming one, why don’t we. Budweiser’s horse ads are always a staple of the Super Bowl, but they throw another wrench at your heart by adding a puppy in their Puppy Love ad. A young puppy grows attached to a horse, but the owners do everything they can to keep him away. And when they finally leave the farm, the horse breaks out of his paddock to chase him down before he leaves forever.

QR Code

Rounding out our list is Coinbase’s QR code ad. Is it as funny as some of the others? No. Is it absolutely genius? Yep. All these other companies spending millions and millions on their Super Bowl ads while Coinbase probably spent $10 for some programer to have a QR code bounce around the screen and change colors. And everyone loved it.

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