Close mobile menu

Top 10 Super Bowl Commercials of All-Time
At this time last year, the National Retail Federation held a poll asking people why they were going to watch Super Bowl XLIX between the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks. Fewer than half (46.8%) said it was for the football. Nearly half (41.3%) wanted to watch the commercials with their friends and family. The remaining 11.9% wanted to watch Katy Perry. Don’t worry, Katy: Your halftime show generated 118.5 million viewers, four million more viewers than the game itself.

What can I say, people love Super Bowl ads. They’re usually quite entertaining – and they’d better be, considering 30 seconds of airtime costs nearly $5 million. So with that in mind, here are my 10 favorite Super Bowl ads of all-time. Most of these will be from the 1990s or later, just because that’s when they really started cranking them out.

  1. Apple, “1984”

    This has to be the No. 1 ad of all time. For decades afterward, Apple was the “cool” brand. Now they’re Big Brother. It’s a funny old world.

  2. Budweiser, “Which Game?”

    Anytime people of a certain age meet, the sound of “WASSSSSSUUUUUUUUUUP” can be heard echoing across the landscape.

  3. Coca-Cola, “Hey Kid, Catch!”

    An iconic pop culture moment like no other. Mean Joe Greene became more famous than the Pittsburgh Steelers themselves.

  4. McDonald’s, “Showdown”
    https://youtu.be/AL1ehypd3Qk
    Nothing like watching Michael Jordan and Larry Bird playing an extreme game of HORSE. Nothing but net.
  5. Wendy’s, “Where’s the Beef?”

    Clara Peller made a novelty single based on this catchphrase. They even made a board game out of it.

  6. Xerox, “Monks”

    Monks, makin’ copies. This was 1977, so it was still something of a miracle to be able to print off 500 copies of anything.

  7. Honda, “Matthew Broderick’s Day Off”

    I wouldn’t say the Honda CR-V is particularly choice. It’s certainly not a Ferrari 250GT California, but still.

  8. Pepsi, “Bob Dole”

    Bob Dole doesn’t need any blue pills. Also, Bob Dole does backflips all the time when you’re not looking.

  9. E*Trade, “Wasted 2 Million”

    One of 17 “dot-com” ads to show during Super Bowl XXXIV in 2000. At least this company didn’t go busto.

  10. Miller High Life, “1-Second Ad”

    High Life!