Super Bowl 2025 Brand Tactics: Patriotism, Unity & Protest
Published 13 February 2025
Playing to a record 126 million viewers, the most notable Super Bowl (February 9) commercials were primarily a play-safe salve for divisive times – an approach that resonated with viewers. Themes included uncomplicated rural Americana, gently spoofed hypermasculinity, humanised artificial intelligence (AI) and a Made in USA resurgence. More pointed social critiques saw brands taking a stand for women’s sports (and rights).
Uncomplicated Americana Wins with Audiences
Made in USA Push Plays to Tariff Era
Standing Up for Women’s Sports & Societal Equality
Hypermasculinity: Parodies & Subversions
AI’s Approachability Pursuit
Where rapper Kendrick Lamar’s half-time show bitingly satirised Americana with Samuel L Jackson’s Uncle Sam, a crop of brands won with audiences (see Key Stats for all rankings) by eschewing edge and offering traditional visions of rural and small-town America and patriotic clips of military personnel.
Where rapper Kendrick Lamar’s half-time show bitingly satirised Americana with Samuel L Jackson’s Uncle Sam, a crop of brands won with audiences (see Key Stats for all rankings) by eschewing edge and offering traditional visions of rural and small-town America and patriotic clips of military personnel.
Several brands promoted made-in-America credentials – an age-old but timely claim amidst new tariffs on imports and a wider drive to play up patriotism – Budweiser and Bud Light producer Anheuser-Busch will now describe its US-made beers as ‘American’ rather than ‘domestic’.
Several brands including Dove and the NFL itself tapped into the swelling energy around professional women’s sports (see Women’s Sports Boom). Nike went further with a mantra-like charge tapping into societal shifts.
Amidst manosphere culture, some brands are bidding to portray masculinity in ways that resonate. Several landed on a gentle upending of masculine stereotypes – most notably Ram Trucks (US) and beer brand Bud Light, which scored second and third, respectively, in Adweek’s metrics-based ranking.
Artificial intelligence was a new presence this year. Some brands (including domain registry site GoDaddy and Meta) used humour to diffuse its perceived threat, while OpenAI positioned its ChatGPT tool as one in a series of historic technological advancements (without mentioning AI at all) and Google’s sentimental film tucked an AI-era scenario into a traditional trope.
Super Bowl 2025 Brand Tactics: Patriotism, Unity & Protest
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