The commercials running during the Super Bowl aimed to counter a difficult national mood with messages about looking out for others, taking care of yourself and leaning on humor. The Associated Press described this year’s approach as a mix of caregiving themes, comic sketches and familiar cultural touchpoints, set against a start to 2026 that many Americans are experiencing as unsettled.
A marketing professor at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business, Kimberly Whitler, said a “key thread running through this year’s Super Bowl ads was a desire for peace, harmony, community, and neighborliness,” adding, “There is a general theme centered on people coming together to support one another.” Another expert, Vann Graves, executive director of the Brandcenter at Virginia Commonwealth University, said there is “a collective trauma” and that “Everybody is stressed out. It doesn’t matter who you are, it’s something that’s impacting everyone.” Graves said Super Bowl ads can provide “a much-needed respite” and a rare shared moment, telling the AP it’s “been a bit of time that we can just be human and be silly and enjoy ourselves.”
The AP reported that the upbeat tone was reinforced with a wide run of comedic and feel-good premises. Ring showed how neighbors can use doorbell cameras to find lost pets, while a Budweiser Clydesdale protected a bald eagle chick from rain. Novartis promoted a blood test for prostate cancer, and Toyota reminded viewers to wear seatbelts. Other mainstream spots pulled in known entertainment references: Mister Rogers was invoked twice, including Lady Gaga singing his “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” in a Rocket Companies tearjerker, and the NFL using “You Are Special” to promote youth sports organizations.
The AP also said the “AI Bowl” was visible across the airwaves, with multiple brands using artificial intelligence as both subject and production tool. Oakley Meta ran two spots touting AI-enabled glasses in action sequences featuring Spike Lee and Marshawn Lynch, while Wix debuted an ad for “Wix Harmony” that uses AI tools for website design. Svedka Vodka enlisted an AI studio, Silverside AI, to help create its ad, which included a dancing robot mascot. The story also noted that the AI marketing trend is drawing controversy: Anthropic aired commercials pointing out that Claude does not have ads, and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said in a social media post that the move was problematic. OpenAI said last month it will start testing ads as a way to keep ChatGPT free, and Amazon’s ad starring Chris Hemsworth, poking fun at people’s fears of AI, ran shortly after Amazon laid off 16,000 corporate workers. Tim Calkins, a clinical professor of marketing at Northwestern University, said, “I suspect this is meant to be funny, but it might reinforce some people’s very real concerns about AI.”
Health messaging extended beyond humor and into medical and weight-loss advertising. The AP reported that Octavia Spencer and Sofia Vergara urged viewers to test for kidney disease in an ad for Boehringer Ingelheim, and it said Mike Tyson appeared in an ad about his sister’s death from obesity that urged people to eat unprocessed food. It also reported GLP-1 weight-loss drug promotion during the game: Novo Nordisk trumpeted its Wegovy pills in a commercial featuring Kenan Thompson, DJ Khaled, Danielle Brooks, Ana Gasteyer, John C. Reilly and Danny Trejo, while telehealth company Ro ran an ad starring Serena Williams. The AP said Hims & Hers, which recently scrapped plans to offer its own GLP-1 pill, emphasized “personalized health care” and described it as accessible to everyone. Calkins said there was “a remarkable number of health ads” and that Novartis’s prostate-cancer message and Ro’s Serena Williams spot were particularly effective. He also said Wegovy’s ad promoting its new pill form was clear but that “the long list of side-effects limited its impact.”
Nostalgia remained another comfort tactic. The AP said State Farm opened the game with an ad featuring Bon Jovi’s 1986 “Livin’ on a Prayer,” and it reported that much of the rest of the night leaned heavily on 1990s pop culture. Dunkin’ ran an ad spoofing 1997’s “Good Will Hunting,” Pokemon marked its 30th anniversary, and T-Mobile featured the Backstreet Boys singing “I Want It That Way.” The AP said Volkswagen reached back to 1992, and Xfinity reunited Sam Neill, Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum in a tongue-in-cheek reimagining of 1993’s “Jurassic Park.” Whitler said nostalgia—using older celebrities, music or imagery—has become more common in Super Bowl advertising, saying her research showed 28% of ads in 2015 had an element of nostalgia, rising to 54% in 2025.
The AP also tied the advertising push to the Super Bowl’s scale and pricing. It said that in 2025, a record 127.7 million U.S. viewers watched the game across television and streaming platforms. Jura Liaukonyte, a professor of marketing at Cornell University’s SC Johnson College of Business, said companies typically have to separate ad dollars across broadcast and streaming platforms, but pay a premium to buy spots that reach a unified audience. Peter Lazarus, who leads advertising and partnerships for NBC Sports, said this year’s Super Bowl ads cost an average of $8 million per 30-second unit, with some spots selling for $10 million-plus—a record. Lazarus described February, with the Super Bowl, Olympics and NBA All-Star Game, as “legendary February.”