Politics

Super Bowl ads offer laughs, celebs, surprises to win over viewers

Published

15 hours ago

February 9, 2025

Eugene Levy’s trademark eyebrows fly off for Little Caesars. A tongue dances to Shania Twain to promote Nestle’s Coffee Mate Cold Foam. And Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal reunite at Katz’s Deli in an ad for Hellmann’s.

A frenzied mix of silliness and celebrities is hitting the airwaves and the internet, and that means one thing: it is Super Bowl ad time again.

Veteran advertisers are using tried-and-true tactics like celebrity cameos, humor and cute animals to win over watchers. Meanwhile, first-time and newer advertisers are courting outrageousness and using stunts to try to stand out in the battle to capture the attention of the more than 120 million viewers expected to tune into Sunday’s game between the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs on Fox.

Super Bowl viewers are a unique audience because they’re as primed to watch the ads as they are the game.

“This is a societal moment where we come together as a country,” said Kimberly Whitler, marketing professor at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business. “We may be on different sides, you know, of the gridiron or the field. But we come together.”

With 80-plus ad spots divvied up among the 50-something advertisers during the game, it’s tough to make sure viewers remember your brand message. And with a few ad spots going for a record $8 million for 30 seconds this year, the stakes have never been higher.

But the price tag is worth it, advertisers say. Rachel Jaiven, head of Häagen-Dazs marketing, said the brand decided to make its first-ever appearance in the game due to the size of the viewership and its association with snacking.

“We know at the Super Bowl these days that everyone watches, it’s a wide audience,” Jaiven said. The brand’s ad shows stars from the “Fast & Furious” franchise enjoying an ice cream bar. “We thought it was time for us to tell our story, remind people what they love about Häagen-Dazs and of course, have them stock up on Häagen-Dazs in their freezer.”

In order to garner more publicity, many advertisers release their ads ahead of the game. Of the ads that have already been released, here’s a sampling of the approaches advertisers are taking during the big game this year.

CELEBRITY-PALOOZA

Hellmann’s

Hellmann’s ad made a splash ahead of the game by reuniting Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal’s “When Harry Met Sally” characters at Katz’s Deli enjoying a sandwich with Hellmann’s. Sydney Sweeney joins to utter the famous line “I’ll have what she’s having.”

Meta

Chris Pratt and Chris Hemsworth wear Ray-Ban Meta AI-powered glasses while looking at art. Hemsworth accidently eats a banana in an art piece worth $6.2 million, and Kris Jenner appears to scold them.

Michelob Ultra

Actors Catherine O’Hara and Willem Dafoe star as pickleball players hustling younger players to win Michelob Ultras.

Stella Artois

Soccer star David Beckham learns he has a twin named Dave Beckham who turns out to be Matt Damon. They don’t have much in common but both drink Stella Artois.

Uber Eats

Matthew McConaughey explains a conspiracy theory that football was invented to sell food, with cameos by Martha Stewart, Greta Gerwig, Charli XC.

SILLY HUMOR

Coors Light

Adorable sloths undergo mishaps because they’re slow, like a kitchen fire and running into a glass door; they have a “Case of the Mondays,” like many people sluggish at work the day after the Super Bowl.

Little Caesars

Actor Eugene Levy’s eyebrows fly off and fly around after he tries the pizza chain’s Crazy Puffs in what is strangely not the only ad with flying facial hair in it (see Pringles).

Nestle Coffee Mate

The first-time advertiser goes for silly humor in an ad that shows a man’s tongue dancing, and even doing a flip, to a song sung by Shania Twain to represent how good Nestle Coffee Mate Cold Foam tastes.

Pringles

Actor Nick Offerman, Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid and L.A. Clippers’ James Harden watch their famous mustaches fly away to help deliver Pringles.

SERIOUS MESSAGES

Dove

Dove highlights the problem of low body confidence in young girls and depicts a young girl running down the sidewalk to H.E.R.’s version of “Born to Run.”

Foundation to Combat Antisemitism

Patriot owner Robert Kraft has an ad in the game for the second year in a row. Snoop Dogg and Tom Brady voice reasons why people hate each other in an effort to combat hate speech.

Hims and Hers

First-time advertiser Telehealth company Hims & Hers highlights the obesity epidemic and says weight loss drugs should be more affordable.

Novartis

First-time advertiser Novartis is focusing on breast cancer awareness in its ad featuring Wanda Sykes and Hailee Steinfeld.

FIRST-TIME ADVERTISERS

Häagen-Dazs

The ice-cream brand reunites “Fast & Furious” stars Michelle Rodriguez, Vin Diesel and Ludacris, except this time, they’re going slow. They cruise down the Pacific Coast Highway in a Chevrolet Chevelle slowly so they can enjoy eating an ice cream bar.

Instacart

First-timer Instacart joins DoorDash and Uber Eats and a battle between food delivery services during the game. Instacart loads up its ad with tons of brand characters it hopes viewers recognize: from Mountain Dew’s “PuppyMonkeyBaby” character from a 2016 Super Bowl ad to the Jolly Green Giant and the Pillsbury Doughboy. The characters represent all the things you can get delivered from the food delivery service.

Totinos Pizza Rolls

In one of several ads featuring aliens, comedian Tim Robinson and actor Sam Richardson say goodbye to an alien who was living in their neighborhood. Cookware brand Hexclad and Doritos ads also feature aliens.

SURPRISES

Not all advertisers release their ads early, so there are always plenty of surprises on game day. Only two auto brands, Stellantis’ Jeep and Ram, have announced Super Bowl ad plans, but they haven’t given any details on the ads.

Dunkin’ has secured the first ad spot after kickoff but is staying mum on details other than teasing that it will star Ben and Casey Affleck and Jeremy Strong. Canned water company Liquid Death will advertise for the first time with an ad created in-house. Duracell has teased that its ad will feature a “Duracell Scientist” but hasn’t given any other details.

Ad experts think it is unlikely that an A.I.-generated ad will debut during advertising’s biggest night after Coca-Cola’s holiday ad created with the help of A.I. technology drew some backlash. But if one did debut, it would be sure to make a splash.

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Republished with permission of The Associated Press.

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Politics

Florida gas prices up a dime per gallon since last week

Published

21 minutes ago

February 10, 2025

May Greene

As usual, drivers in the Crestview-Fort Walton Beach, Panama City and Pensacola areas are enjoying the best pump prices.

Gas prices in Florida keep on fluctuating.

The average price per gallon is now a dime more than it was this time last week, according to AAA — The Auto Club Group.

Prices rose 17 cents last week, then declined 5 cents through the weekend. On Sunday, Florida gas averaged $3.17 per gallon — 10 cents higher than a week ago, 6 cents more than last month and 2 cents pricier than this time last year.

“Florida gas prices continue to follow the same pattern of rising and falling within about the same range every week or two,” AAA spokesperson Mark Jenkins said in a statement.

“Oil prices showed some weakness this past week, but not to a degree that would signal any significant relief at the pump.”

Crude oil prices fell 9% over the past three weeks. On Friday, the U.S. price of oil settled at $71 per barrel, down from $72.53 the week before and below the 2025 high of $78.71 in mid-January.

Once again, the most expensive metropolitan market for Sunshine State motorists is the West Palm Beach-Boca Raton area, where gas costs $3.32 per gallon, followed by Naples ($3.28) and Ocala ($3.24).

The cheapest pump prices are in the Crestview-Fort Walton Beach area ($2.83), Panama City ($2.84) and Pensacola ($2.86).

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Politics

Mike Waltz says many Canadians want to be Americans

Published

56 minutes ago

February 10, 2025

May Greene

Waltz says he has Canadian neighbors who confirm his read.

President Donald Trump’s National Security Adviser says the administration is not bluffing when it comes to potentially annexing the United States’ neighbor to the north.

While there is no chance that the U.S. makes moves to “invade Canada,” U.S. Rep. Mike Waltz said a lot of people from the country would like to be American citizens.

“I think that the Canadian people, many of them, would love to join the United States with no tariffs, with lower taxes. And I have all kinds of neighbors down in Florida that are Canadians that are escaping many of the liberal policies and have moved in,” Waltz said on “Meet the Press.”

“There is a lot of people that like what we have in the United States and do not like the last 10 years of liberal progressive governance in (Justin) Trudeau.”

Waltz framed the proposed annexation as part of a “reassertion of American leadership in the Western Hemisphere from the Arctic all the way down to the Panama Canal.”

“America has avoided our own hemisphere where we have the energy, the food and the critical minerals for way too long, and you’re seeing a reassertion of President Trump’s leadership,” he continued.

During an interview that aired ahead of the Super Bowl, Trump said the desire to annex Canada was serious when asked about Trudeau’s comments that the proposal was a “real thing.”

“I think Canada would be much better off being the 51st state because we lose $200 billion a year with Canada. And I’m not going to let that happen. It’s too much,” he said. “Why are we paying $200 billion a year, essentially a subsidy, to Canada? Now if they’re a 51st state, I don’t mind doing it.”

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Politics

Donald Trump says he will announce 25% steel and aluminum tariffs

Published

2 hours ago

February 10, 2025

May Greene

President Donald Trump said he will announce on Monday that the United States will impose 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports, including from Canada and Mexico, as well as other import duties later in the week.

“Any steel coming into the United States is going to have a 25% tariff,” he told reporters Sunday on Air Force One as he flew from Florida to New Orleans to attend the Super Bowl. When asked about aluminum, he responded, “aluminum, too” will be subject to the trade penalties.

Trump also reaffirmed that he would announce “reciprocal tariffs” — “probably Tuesday or Wednesday” — meaning that the U.S. would impose import duties on products in cases where another country has levied duties on U.S. goods.

“If they are charging us 130% and we’re charging them nothing, it’s not going to stay that way,” he told reporters.

Trump’s comments are the latest example of his willingness to threaten and in some cases to impose, import taxes. Tariffs are coming much earlier in his presidency than during his previous four years in the White House, when he prioritized tax cuts and deregulation. Trump has alternately said he sees import taxes as tools to force concessions on issues such as immigration, but also as a source of revenue to help close the government’s budget deficit.

Financial markets fell on Friday after Trump first said he would impose the reciprocal tariffs. Stock prices also dropped after a measure of consumer sentiment declined on Friday, largely because many respondents cited tariffs as a growing worry. The survey also found that Americans are expecting inflation to tick up in the coming months because of the duties.

Trump on Sunday did not offer any details about the steel and aluminum duties, or the reciprocal tariffs. Trump previously threatened 25% import taxes on all goods from Canada and Mexico, though he paused them for 30 days barely a week ago. At the same time, he proceeded to add 10% duties on imports from China.

Yet on Friday, he said he would also delay the tariffs on the millions of small packages — often from fast-fashion firms such as Temu and Shein — until customs officials can figure out ways to impose them. The small packages have previously been exempt from tariffs.

Trump’s latest remarks stirred immediate worry from some global trading partners.

South Korea’s acting President, Choi Sang-mok, called a meeting with the country’s top foreign policy and trade officials on Monday to examine how Trump’s proposed tariffs on steel and aluminum would affect its industries.

The office of Choi, who also serves as the country’s finance minister, said officials discussed the potential impact and Seoul’s possible responses, but specific details of the meeting were not disclosed. The stock prices of major South Korean steelmakers, including POSCO and Hyundai Steel, dropped as the market opened on Monday. South Korea shipped about $4.8 billion worth of steel to the United States from January to November last year, which accounted for 14% of its global exports of the products during the period.

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Republished with permission of The Associated Press.

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