Once upon a time, the name of the game for Super Bowl commercials (and the ad agencies that create them) was creativity, with brands competing to see who could come up with the funniest, most heartwarming or downright strangest ads.
It's not that the art has gone completely out of ads, but in 2023, the name of the game is celebrity cameos—a lot of them.
Whether it was Ben Affleck in his native Dunkin' habitat, a (meta) commercial about Bradley Cooper and his mom recording a T-Mobile commercial, Jennifer Coolidge applying e.l.f. primer, Alicia Silverstone reprising her iconic role as Cher Horowitz in Clueless for a Rakuten ad, Maya Rudolph settling into her role as the new M&M's spokesperson, Sarah McLachlan spoofing her song "Angel" for a Busch commercial, a somewhat puzzling team-up between non-Canadian Dave Grohl and Crown Royal or Serena Williams starring in two different commercials for Remy Martin and Michelob Ultra, respectively, starpower was the main theme of this year's commercials.