On Sunday, the Kansas City Chiefs clinched their second consecutive Super Bowl victory against the San Francisco 49ers in Las Vegas. And peppered in between plays was, of course, the highly anticipated slew of TV ads. Whether they included booze or not, this year’s spots were dominated by celebrity cameos, car insurance, and AI-generated photos of people cleaning each other’s feet. We saw State Farm poke fun at Arnold Schwarzenegger’s accent and a Paramount+ ad that managed to squeeze in appearances from Patrick Stewart, Drew Barrymore, Creed, Arnold, and “Sonic the Hedgehog”’s Knuckles in just 30 seconds. One thing that was in short supply, though: actual alcohol.
While it’s usually a time when big beer and alcohol companies put their marketing dollars to work in an attempt to strike a chord with the masses, this year, we only got four beer ads this year— two before Usher’s halftime performance, and two after. That’s less than half of the number of booze ads we got during last year’s Big Game. Plus, there wasn’t a single liquor or wine ad. (We did see some solid booze-free drink ads, but more on that in a bit.)
