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This Year’s Super Bowl Ads Felt Genuinely Dystopian · The imuRgency Room

• 0:00
  Did anyone else notice that this year's Super Bowl commercials
• 0:02
  were just kind of troubling? Yeah, and maybe troubling is a
• 0:08
  strong word. I should say generally weird
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  because, yeah, they were in low key.
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  I think it's kind of indicative of like where we are as a
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  society right now because at least for me, there were like 3
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  main standouts of like the type of commercials that were being
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  played at the Super Bowl. And that was either something
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  about GOP ones, ads made completely from or to promote AI
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  and or crypto gambling and just betting.
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  And As for that last one, we do have a video coming out a little
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  bit later talking specifically about the sports betting,
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  gambling of it all that we're seeing go on in culture right
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  now. So I'll leave that to a future
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  roomie to break that down. But for the sake of this video,
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  let's talk about the 1st 2:00 because we just can't move on
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  because I think what's going on here is so strange and just
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  needs to be talked about. Hey, guys, Subs emergency and
• 0:53
  welcome. Welcome back to my channel
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  today. We're here just for the apps and
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  what we're yapping about today are Super Bowl commercials,
• 0:59
  specifically the Super commercials this past year.
• 1:02
  Because honestly, I think this year is unlike any other year
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  for the sheer amount of just like dystopia core that I feel
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  like was all over the Super Bowl commercials.
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  Because Super Bowl commercials have historically been outside
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  of the halftime show and I guess the actual game, one of the main
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  pop culture mainstays. Like people look forward to
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  watching the Super Bowl commercials, which we could have
• 1:21
  a whole conversation over how that is super duper capitalist
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  and how we all got tricked into celebrating and anticipating
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  being sold to. But again, today we're just
• 1:31
  yapping. But I think in comparison to
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  prior years, this year definitely dropped the ball.
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  Like the people yearn for a time where they're just being sold
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  Doritos and I don't know, beer. But now with the commercials and
• 1:42
  ads that we are currently getting, it all sort of feels a
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  little, I don't know, predatory and just generally strange
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  because for one, the stakes this year have just gotten so high.
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  Like please, someone tell me why there is a full rollout campaign
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  just for a 30 second commercial? Like truly, why are we having
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  announcement trailers for Super Bowl ads weeks before the Super
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  Bowl? Like that concept blows my mind
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  because why were we getting Sabrina Carpenter Pringles ad
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  trailers? Like having a ad trailer for the
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  ad to come is absolutely nuts to me.
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  And like, this is no shade to the artist because I know
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  Sabrina got paid and in fact, being in two trailers, I'm sure
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  she got double paid. I love that for her.
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  But like, as a company advertising to the audience, why
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  is that a thing and why are we eating it up?
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  And I think social media is part to blame for this because, you
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  know, content is king and these brands are actively spending
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  money on these ad spots and aren't really getting anything
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  immediately in return, at least in terms of upfront.
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  Like, again, they are spending money to advertise.
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  I think the cheapest Super Bowl ad spot is like $8 million for
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  her 32nd spot, all for the sake of visibility and things like
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  soft power and all of that. But when it comes to things like
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  ad trailers, I feel like they can monetize off that more like
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  that is then money coming into them because they're posting
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  that on social media. They're getting all the organic
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  buzz from it and also able to monetize off of the clicks, the
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  views, the re shares and all of that like any other creator
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  does. So again, I do think social
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  media is to blame for this. I do also think that corporate
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  greed is at the forefront, as it so normally is, because again,
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  they are making some money. But we are then also being
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  advertised to twice. And this whole make up of the
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  traditional ad campaign, at least in relation to the Super
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  Bowl, goes even further because not only are we having trailers
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  leading up to the ads, we are also having bold press runs for
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  advertisements. Like what?
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  Again, I have to say, what are we talking about?
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  Like, I absolutely love them, but Cat's Eye, if you're not
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  familiar, Cat's Eye has gotten quite the buzz recently.
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  They've been everywhere and just performed at the Grammys, got a
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  lot of backlash at the Grammys, but generally are doing fine.
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  But over the past week, they did a press stop over at the Jimmy
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  Fallon show where they talked about a lot of things.
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  They talked about their formation as a group.
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  They talked about them performing at the Grammys.
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  They also like hinted towards their upcoming single or album
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  that they have coming up this year.
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  But a large portion of that interview, and honestly, one of
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  the more viral parts of that interview came from them
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  essentially doing the press to promote their State Farm ad that
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  they had running at the Super Bowl.
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  And again, I'm not downplaying that like that is a huge
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  accomplishment. Like I am so happy for them and
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  I love that they're getting their bag and they're getting
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  those mainstream cosigns to make them the IC girls that they all
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  are. But I think it's so wild to see
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  the corporate mishmash here because again, people tend to
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  only go on talk shows when they have something to promote.
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  It's usually a part of someone's press run.
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  They're either directly promoting an album or they're
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  directly promoting a book or some campaign that they're on.
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  So for them to spend a large chunk of their interview talking
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  about the State Farm ad that they're doing is wild.
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  Like they even had Jake from State Farm, their present
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  interacting with him in the audience, making Tik Toks and
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  Instagram rules with him to then go and preview the dance that
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  they did in the State Farm ad for the Super Bowl, which is
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  wild to me. Like, how did we get here?
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  Like the whole marketing campaign behind the Super Bowl
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  ads has gotten so out of hand. And on the surface level, like,
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  who cares? Like it's all in good fun.
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  They did a fun dance. It was a viral moment.
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  My thing again is not so much from the people in the ads, it's
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  in the concept of these ads leaking into so many other
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  aspects of our media outside of just the commercial and what it
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  means for these brands and these commercials to be doing so.
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  Because again, they had Catside doing all this to bring all this
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  buzz and to get people excited to watch their ad only for them
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  to show up in literally 2 seconds of the advertisement.
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  Which at least to me as a fan, I feel kind of cheated.
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  I don't know. I know that they did post an
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  extended cut on their YouTube, but even the concept of that,
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  like if you want to see them fully perform, you got to watch
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  the full ad on YouTube. You know, the same ad just a
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  little bit longer and one that State Farm can directly monetize
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  off of. It's just so odd.
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  And outside of those two, if you saw any of these Super Bowl
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  commercials this year, you'd know like the whole vibe this
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  year was just strange. Like so many of the commercials
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  were just blatant AI slop And like no one on their team seemed
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  to care. Like, I don't get that part.
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  I don't know if they thought that, like if everyone just made
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  an AI slop ad that like, we just get used to it and they'd be
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  fine and we'd normalize it. And the concept of normalizing
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  AI slop in mass media insane because you can tell the quality
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  is different. Like everyone knows it's AI.
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  Like you're not even using the like, no shame.
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  Like if everyone can tell that you're using AI, like if even
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  the Facebook moms can clock your teeth, you know, the same
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  Facebook moms that we send on their kids, those videos of like
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  a cat doing backflips can tell that your ad is AI and fake.
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  Like, were we even trying? And again, I'm not saying that
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  to say that the goal is to do people, but like, girl, if
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  you're gonna do it and spend $8 million on an advertisement, at
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  least pay for the ChatGPT premium.
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  And you really just got to think like, what was the idea behind
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  that? Because like the whole Pepsi ad
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  of it all, at least if my memory serves, was in response to a lot
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  of backlash that Coca-Cola got for like the Mariah Carey ad
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  being AI and very bad saw that that didn't do well.
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  Why would every other brand then go and do the same thing?
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  Maybe they thought the outrage marketing from it would work and
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  maybe they were right because I'm here talking about it.
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  But it's just like, damn, what are we doing?
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  Like in the AI usage of it all was just so weird because a lot
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  of it was used for the sake of nostalgia.
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  Like the Dunkin' Donuts ad using AI to have like younger versions
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  of movie and TV characters in their ad was a choice.
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  And I don't think that any of these commercials really landed
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  in the way that I think they were hoping, or at least in any
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  of the ways that us as viewers were expecting.
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  Because again, the Super Bowl commercials are something that
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  people look forward to historically because of the
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  creativity and the art that goes into them.
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  Like if we're detaching the advertisement portion of it all,
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  a big appeal to these commercials is that the budgets
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  for these commercials are much higher, meaning that the art
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  form of storytelling and marketing can really be at the
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  forefront. Like stand out commercials are
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  telling stories that haven't been told before or are getting
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  really creative with the way that they are retelling a story,
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  if that makes sense. Like I remember the Doritos ads
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  being super big back in the day because they would just be so
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  high budget and so funny and just so creative in the way that
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  they're expressed. And a commercial that will
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  forever be cemented in my mind as like Super Bowl commercial
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  gold. Is that one commercial Tiana
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  Taylor dancing? And I think it's a music video.
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  I forget who the artist is that she's dancing to, but I just
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  remember how good she looked and how tea her body was.
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  And I think that was my first introduction to Tiana Taylor.
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  I was like a little kid and I just saw her on that gym floor
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  hitting that. And I was like, she's taking it,
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  she's taking it. That's all I ever want to be.
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  But now Fast forward to today and we have commercials of Mike
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  Tyson being a spokesperson for RFK Junior, talking about how he
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  used to be fat and nasty. I have to pause one second just
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  to really emphasize the fact that the phrase fat and nasty
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  got greenlit to go on national TV.
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  Like it's terrible. But no, they really had them on
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  their trauma dumping all in the name of like eliminating
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  processed foods, which period we should all be limiting our
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  processed foods. But to then have the ad be
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  endorsed by the administration is a choice and is very
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  interesting. Then Fast forward to the ice ad
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  that was played directly after Bad Bunny's halftime
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  performance. Like y'all are sick.
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  Like y'all are truly sick because I know you get to pay
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  for your placement and where you get to put your ad.
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  The fact that ice commercial ran at all sickening with the
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  placement of it all made it even more sinister in my opinion.
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  But in the spirit of Bad Bunny, we will talk about love over
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  hate. And what I did really love was
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  that halftime performance. Like Bad Bunny slid like.
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  I loved his performance so much because it provided so much
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  cultural nuance. Also had so many of his hits and
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  the general production quality of the whole performance was
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  just Cheskiss like, I think his performance was such a powerful
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  moment, especially right now and seeing how he was able to
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  provide that representation to the country and to the world,
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  representing Latin and Latin American culture Just so
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  outwardly. I love it.
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  Although I will say that the Gaga appearance was random as
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  hell and you can let me know in the comments if I'm missing
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  something. But it kind of just seemed to me
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  like if he was going to have a big moment, he wanted to bring
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  one of his top Divas out to party with him.
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  And Real like Ricky Martin, I completely understand why he was
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  there. Gaga specifically singing Die
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  with a Smile. I don't know.
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  I think there is some symbolism in that song given the whole
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  context of like what's been going on in the world, but also,
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  again, random. But enough about Benito for one
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  minute. I needed the fan out.
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  We need to talk about the amount of Ozempic ads that were ran
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  this year. And when I say this, I want to
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  clarify that I am by no means an Ozempic hater or a GLP one
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  hater. I think you should do whatever
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  you want from the bedroom of your health and for your own
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  body. But I do also think that the
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  prevalence of these Ozempic ads are so striking.
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  Like it was very striking because you don't see this much
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  advertisement for any other kind of substance or any other kind
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  of drug. And it just really feels so nuts
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  to be in this timeline right now because it feels like when you
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  zoom out and look at all the things that they're trying to
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  sell us, that we are closer and closer to the Wally timeline
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  than ever before. Because think about it, the
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  messaging for most of these ads are essentially just selling you
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  drugs to get skinny, getting on apps and websites to gamble and
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  spend your money and to normalize AI and other LLMS to
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  essentially do your work for you.
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  Oh, and don't forget about the cutesy reminders that we
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  actively live in a surveillance state.
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  But like package it up really cute with like a story around a
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  lost dog, right, I'm looking at you ring.
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  And then, sorry, can we talk about that one commercial that
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  was like a spin on like Ferris Bueller's Day Off, essentially
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  incentivizing you to use AI to do your job so that you can have
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  a day off. Like again, on the surface
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  level, really cute, really tongue in cheek, really funny.
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  Like, Oh my God, yes, AI is advancing.
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  So like now you can have like more time to yourself.
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  But like taking off the Rose colored glasses and looking at
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  reality. This is actually just like the
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  first step in normalizing us not working.
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  And again, us not working is not inherently a bad thing, but when
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  there is no replacement for the work that we are no longer doing
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  and we are no longer getting compensated for the work that we
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  are or or not doing, where does that leave us?
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  Like there are already mask Pinnock and mask beer around
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  like AI replacement in jobs. So to have a commercial
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  essentially being like, yeah, like this happening, what are we
• 12:00
  thinking? What are we thinking?
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  Like, is this not ringing alarm bells for anybody else?
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  Like in like grand scheme, is anyone going to be harmed by
• 12:07
  like a year of bad or strange Super Bowl commercials?
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  No, not necessarily. But I do think that commercials
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  or at least like advertisement, media and marketing are
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  indicative of where we are as a culture and where we're going as
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  a society. So I think it's just generally
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  important to analyze the media that we're consuming and the
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  messaging that is being laid out before us because, yeah, times
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  are changing. We are living in a time where
• 12:31
  things are very uncertain, money is generally tight for everyone,
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  and there are multiple things on many different fronts for us to
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  worry about on a day-to-day basis.
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  So given all that context, seeing these commercials and
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  advertisements have these massive grandiose rollouts way
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  ahead of the actual Super Bowl to then seeing these brands
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  spending upwards of $8 million for a simple advertisement.
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  Again just to tell us to get skinny, use AI and gamble like
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  in my opinion is just a tell of the times and not a great one.
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  And personally, I don't care for what they're selling because I'm
• 13:02
  not buying it.