Commentary

Super Bowl Advertising In the Age of Fear, Nostalgia, And Very Expensive Feelings

• by Matthew Cook , February 13, 2026

This year’s Super Bowl made one thing painfully clear. Advertising is having an identity crisis, and it is playing out in real time on the most expensive stage in the world.

On one end of the spectrum, brands are terrified. They are afraid of saying the wrong thing, offending the wrong group, or being dragged into a conversation they did not intend to have. On the other end, a few brave brands are remembering that advertising is supposed to mean something, not just avoid scrutiny.

Rocket’s decision to hire Lady Gaga to sing the "Mister Rogers" theme over a story about community and belonging felt almost radical. “Be a good neighbor” should not be a brave message. In 2026, it is. In a country that can barely agree on what those words mean anymore, Rocket chose to say them anyway. Brands that are not afraid to have a perspective will always gain more fans than they lose. Playing it safe is the fastest way to be forgotten.

At the same time, this Super Bowl was drenched in nostalgia. Millennials are officially running the world, and they are spending eight million dollars at a time to recreate their childhoods. Green Day. Backstreet Boys. Mister Rogers. Dunkin’ ads that feel like they wandered in from a ‘90s sitcom. Somewhere, a CMO is pitching Topanga with a Skip-It for next year.

Nostalgia works because it is comfortable. It reminds us of a time before everything felt so complicated. But when every brand is pulling from the same cultural scrapbook, the work starts to blur together. Familiarity alone is not a strategy. It is a shortcut, and shortcuts rarely lead to anything memorable.

Nowhere was this tension more obvious than in the AI category. Subscription-only platforms spent Super Bowl money to mock the idea of ads, even though most consumers still do not understand what separates one AI platform from another. Perception mattered more than nuance. When OpenAI floated the possibility of ads, Anthropic seized the opportunity to position itself in contrast. Meta continues to run AI ads for its smart glasses. This is a land grab. While understanding is still low, these companies are racing to claim attention and trust before consumers fully know what they are choosing.

Then there were the brands that actually understood how culture moves now. Fanatics did not treat the Super Bowl as the moment. They treated it as the finale. Instead of another yelling ex-athlete shouting odds, they let Kendall Jenner roast her exes for 90 seconds. The spot was already driving massive app downloads before the game even aired because it launched on social first and went viral organically. The Super Bowl buy was the exclamation point, not the starting line.

That is the lesson most brands still refuse to learn: The Super Bowl is not a strategy, it is a stage.

In a country that feels like a dumpster fire most days, advertising still has the power to make people feel something. Sometimes that something is laughter, like Ben Stiller crashing through a drum set. Sometimes it is something stranger and deeper, like a horse, an eagle, and "Free Bird" reminding us we are still in here somewhere, or a collection of backsides in Levi's doing effortlessly cool in a way only they can do it. That is not escapism. That is connection.

And connection, when done honestly, is still undefeated.