It wasn’t advertising’s best year at the Super Bowl.

What the commercials lacked in originality, they made up for in banality and irrelevance. While celebrity spots can be fun, they are no guarantor of success for a commercial – a fact evidenced all too clearly by the lineup of ads from this year. Will Ferrell and Awkwafina starred in a lackluster spot from GM that bizarrely pretended to take aim at Norway since they produce the greatest number of electric cars, and GM wants to beat them at that. So hilarious, amirite? The cleverness is just overwhelming.

State Farm gave us a commercial that showed each of their main “agents” alongside their stand-ins – and agent Jake’s stand-in was Drake. So clever, ha ha. Like, these guys are really working overtime on the witticism here.

But that’s not all. Dan Levy, Post Malone, Joe Montana, Tony Romo, Dolly Parton, Lil Nas X, Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis, John Cena, Michael B. Jordan, Nick Jonas, all showed up in a succession of mind-numbingly bland commercials.

The celeb segments weren’t all bad though. Cadillac’s “Edgar Scissorhands” found an amusing way to show the usefulness of a driverless car. (Full disclosure: Timothée Chalamet as a Tim Burton character may or may not have influenced our disposition towards this commercial.)

Good and bad, weird and wonderful, bizarre and beautiful – we have watched them all and summed up the highlights right here on the OPUSfidelis blog. Without further ado, we present: the 2021 Super Bowl roundup!

2021 Super Bowl ads: the best

In an epic troll of Budweiser’s signature Clydesdales, beer company Sam Adams also should win the subcategory: best use of horses. It’s just so wholesome.

2021 Super Bowl ads: the worst

What exactly was the Robinhood marketing team doing the week before the Super Bowl? Napping? Even after receiving flak from investors and politicians across the ideological spectrum for literally blocking purchases of certain stocks following the GameStop hype, Robinhood had the audacity (or perhaps more accurately, the stupidity) to air this charming little segment reminding viewers that “we are all investors.” Except, you know, when we’re not. Like when RobinHood blocks us from buying since it is hurting their brokers and buddies at Citadel too much.

You might also notice that comments are turned off for the video and that the like-dislike ratio is hidden.

Best underdog

Speaking of Robinhood, Reddit purchased a 5-second spot which aired in a few select counties across the nation. #stonks4lyfe

Top Spiderman impostor moment

Remember those girls in middle school who would freak out if they came to class wearing the same thing as someone else? Well picture that, but at the Superbowl. And you’re an ad. Awkward. Eagle-eyed watchers noticed these two commercials for the Superbowl used the same stock footage. Granted, it didn’t appear for that long, but was still not a good look.

In this segment, entitled “The Rising,” you can find the footage at 0:28.

The next, called “Believe You Will” from Guaranteed Rate, starts at 0:52.

Who was it that was saying something about how these commercials were simply dripping in banality?

The weirdest

“You’re not a dish, you’re a man.” Wait, what?

The one that most accurately summed up 2020

‘Nuff said.