Key events
Benjamin Lee
An understandably disappointed Marlee Matlin here, highlighting the frustration of introducing but then not showing the ASL accompanying the pre-game anthems:
I am absolutely SHOCKED at @CBS for introducing the Deaf performers at today’s pregame #SuperBowl and then not showing even one second (or more) of their performance… as has been tradition for the last 30 years. WHY!?
— Marlee Matlin (@MarleeMatlin) February 11, 2024
Benjamin Lee
Multiple ads tonight for online store Temu, a company I had never heard of until tonight, has led to some concerns over Temu’s finances:
Temu used y’all’s credit card info to buy two Super Bowl ads
— Tay *redacted* (@tayredacted) February 12, 2024
Benjamin Lee
Toyota Terror
A strange tactic here for Toyota’s big Super Bowl ad, playing up how terrifying it can be to ride in one of their vehicles …
Benjamin Lee
She’s at the game though!
Benjamin Lee
So Beyoncé’s tease of new music has actually broken Twitter:
Benjamin Lee
Bud Light Genie
Bud Light, a beer brand still desperately hoping you don’t remember how it threw the LGBTQ+ community under the bus with the mishandling of the Dylan Mulvaney situation, is pinning hopes on Peyton Manning, a genie, Post Malone and a T-rex. Best of luck!
Benjamin Lee
No T in Skechers
One of those dull-but-glad-you-got-that-cheque ads here with Mr T (no stranger to the world of ad money having done Snickers, Tide and Old Navy spots in the past) getting annoyed about there being no T in Skechers. Could have been made for Super Bowl 2004.
Benjamin Lee
Can Beyoncé break the internet? Again?
So there had been a lot of speculation over what Beyoncé would be doing with Verizon after ads had teased her presence all week. The resulting commercial has her trying to break the company’s unbreakable internet with a montage of scenes that likely will break the internet, including her dressed up as Barbie (Barbey) and, at the end, saying she is going to drop some new music. Is it a joke? Is she actually? Was that cowboy hat at the Grammys a clue to the genre? More soon.
Adrian Horton
Pluto TV’s couch potatoes
I am not sure Pluto TV selling itself on the promise of turning its customers into farm-raised couch potatoes is a good marketing strategy, but it’s at least somewhat memorable.
Adrian Horton
Uber Eats, for Friends
In what has to be one of the most expensive spots of the night, Uber Eats get Jennifer Aniston to reunite with Friends co-star David Schwimmer, as well as the Beckhams and Usher, to act out a scenario in which, as Aniston puts it, “in order to remember something, you’ve got to forget something else. Make a little room.” For the Ross and Rachel fans, the two still have a flicker of their old comedic timing here.
Benjamin Lee
So while that performance was good news for the most of us, there was some bad news for the Beliebers:
Usher brings out Lil Jon and Ludacris for Yeah!
Benjamin Lee
One of the major highlights from the half-time show (more video to come)
Benjamin Lee
Usher!
Andrew Lawrence
Well, we got nipples at the half-time show again. Usher didn’t just stay true to his word and shed his shirt. He packed an impressive number of hits into his setlist. By my informal and admittedly distracted count, he jammed 14 bangers into 12 minutes while leaving enough time for his featured guests to have the moment in the spotlight. Ludacris damn near got his entire verse on Yeah!, on which Lil John also featured prominently. But the highlight for my money was HER shredding electric guitar riff on U Got It Bad. The late Billy Odum (who played the original studio session) would be very proud indeed.
Benjamin Lee
Patrick Stewart throwing a child at a mountain
The ongoing Paramount+ mountain campaign finds something rather odd yet rather funny to do with the streamer’s many personalities, assembling Drew Barrymore, Patrick Stewart, Creed (?), Peppa Pig and others for an ad about how to scale heights. Their solution is to have Stewart throw Arnold, of Hey Arnold, as an anchor. Of course.
Benjamin Lee
Well that was solid! A pretty brisk run through most of his biggest hits (no Good Kisser, sad) that brought some energy to the night, a lot more than last year’s more low-key offering from Rihanna. Usher certainly knows how to put on a show, singing and dancing with equal skill, a tiring thing to watch, let alone perform.
More pics to come.
Benjamin Lee
Guests keep coming! Her just came on stage then some rollerskaters and now we have Lil Jon doing a Turn Down for What bit (this is a generous performance!) leading into the Yeah! we were all waiting for. Usher has his clothes back on, a sparkling skeleton suit of sorts and now it’s Lucadris surrounded by pole dancers. In front of them all, people are spelling out the word Usher with their bodies. It’s a heart-racing event as promised.
Benjamin Lee
Usher has now gone way back to U Got It Bad and the shirt is now fully off, as promised, He’d been talking about a sugar and alcohol free diet leading up to tonight and with his new Skims ads also out, we can see the results.
