As Super Bowl LVIII approaches on February 11, we are sure that fans in Kansas City and San Francisco are brimming with anticipation — and Taylor Swift fans, of course. For the rest of us, while we may be hoping for a good game, better food, and plenty of drinks, the game itself might be a little less exciting. But there are always the commercials if nothing else.
The crop of commercials in recent years has been a little underwhelming but there have been some gems. The commercial in 2023 for The Farmer’s Dog definitely pulled at the heartstrings of all dog lovers. And the Workday commercial featuring aging rockers like Ozzy Osbourne, Joan Jett, Billy Idol, Paul Stanley, and more was good for some laughs … and nostalgia for Gen Xers.
We’re not sure what to hope for this year, but if the Paramount+ commercial released on Thursday is any indication, maybe Madison Avenue is ready to make Super Bowl commercials great again.
The new ad for the streaming service features Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, alongside many of the service’s other stars, like Drew Barrymore, Halo’s Master Chief, and Hey Arnold’s Arnold Shortman himself in a perhaps reluctant starring role.
Let’s watch:
Even Creed makes an appearance to play their song “Higher” as Patrick Stewart, removing his Jean-Luc Picard coat to unveil a classic football uniform, attempts to launch Arnold and his football-shaped head to the top of Paramount Mountain.
While the ending is somewhat predictable (poor Peppa Pig), it’s all about the journey, right? And this journey absolutely made us laugh, several times.
Super Bowl Ad Gets Rave Reviews On Social Media
If early reviews on X are any measure, this commercial is bound to be one of the hits of the Super Bowl.
Good commercials may be back, but we’ll reserve judgment until there is a larger sample size.
Of course, some were wondering about the making of the commercial itself.
Hey, if it works, it works. We’re not here to judge. (But we’re not sure Creed would have agreed to appear if there were a lot of “performance enhancers” lying around the set.)
Paramount+ Counting On Boost To Streaming Service
All the kidding and fun (and there is a lot of that here) aside, it’s clear that other than Netflix, many streaming services are struggling to turn a profit, so Paramount+ has a pretty big need for a boost to its subscribers. The renewal of Viacom-CBS’s contract with the NFL in 2021, along with Paramount+’s addition of NFL games to its platform this year definitely helped with that boost.
In addition to the entertainment value of the spot, Paramount+ clearly hopes the commercial will help attract more subscribers to its other programming.
We’re not sure if the ad will succeed in that endeavor, but it made us chuckle a lot. And, in the end, that’s why WE care about the Super Bowl commercials. Hopefully, other companies will deliver with their ads as well as Paramount+ has with this one.
But we’re still not sure why they didn’t just have Knuckles scale the mountain all by himself.
