Super Bowl: the ads, the music and everything but the football – live | Culture

Sam Wolfson’s five star review of tonight’s fantastic half-time show is now live for you to read here:

So while Eminem took the knee, this also happened:

But then so did this:

So nothing makes sense:

But of course far-right Twitter is raging

Modern Family’s Ty Burrell says, I’ll take it

Greenlight, a debit card and app to teach kids and teens how to manage money, recruits Modern Family’s Ty Burrell to demonstrate how not to make financial decisions. No discernment, all gas, Burrell says “I’ll take it” to everything from a “Tytanic” boat to a winged horse to all the sneakers on the rack.

A dog, a horse and some Budweiser

Budweiser traditionally spends big on a handful of different Super Bowl ads but last year, the company made the decision to bow out so that funds could be allocated to support Covid-19 vaccine efforts. Bud is back this year with an ad all about being back, a story of a dog mildly obsessed with an injured horse who finally makes it back on his feet. ‘Down never means out’ makes for a strange choice of slogan for a beer ad, mind …

Hellmann’s mayonnaise tackles Pete Davidson

Self-described “very hittable” person Pete Davidson gets laid out by former Patriots linebacker Jerod Mayo in the name of Hellmann’s mayonnaise, which is “tackling food waste” by encouraging viewers to turn their less desirable leftovers into mayo-adjacent dishes. There’s grilled cheese, potato salad, frittata – I’m not sure how frittata involves mayo, and I’m from the Midwest (go Bengals!) – but ok. Davidson’s mom, Amy, also makes an appearance and is thankfully not tackled.

Brie Larson turns Eugene Levy into a stunt driver for Nissan

When Brie Larson rolls up in a bright yellow Nissan and asks Eugene Levy if he wants to take a spin, the Canadian actor answers “coffee is enough excitement for me”. But a few seconds behind the wheel transforms him into the “Thrill Driver” – a cool and collected stuntman who breezes by Schitt’s Creek costar Catherine O’Hara on the highway, impresses Danai Gurira and rescues Dave Bautista mid-air, without spilling a drop of coffee.

The Super Bowl half-time show, the concert of the year, is a time to remember the bizarre and unfair damage done to Janet Jackson’s career in the aftermath of the 2004 show. As numerous TV shows and docuseries have re-examined major pop culture stories of the 90s and 2000s through a more feminist, considerate lens, the fallout of what became known as Nipplegate – Justin Timberlake ripping Jackson’s top at the end of their duet, exposing her breast – has come in for overdue reconsideration.

In late 2021, the New York Times, following the success of its films Framing Britney Spears and Controlling Britney Spears, released Malfunction: The Dressing Down of Janet Jackson, which forensically retraced the events: the exposure, which left Jackson in tears and a censorious commentariat that labeled Jackson a harlot, the wardrobe accident a deliberate act of filth.

And last month, Janet herself gave the final word on her long-gestating, four-part docuseries on Lifetime. “It was an accident that should not have happened, but everyone is looking for someone to blame and that’s got to stop,” she says in the final episode. “Justin and I are very good friends and we will always be very good friends. We spoke just a few days ago, and he and I have moved on, and it is time for everyone else to do the same.”

Irish Spring is a literal place

Soap manufacturer Irish Spring envisions the real place – lush and verdant, of course, full of white sweaters and nice-smelling people – with a touch of Midsommar-esque ominous politeness.

Idris Elba is not “flashy, sexy or lit”

Well, to be more specific, Idris Elba’s ad for Booking.com is none of those things, something he confidently states at the start. The very unsexy travel company has recruited 2018’s Sexiest Man Alive for an ad all about how boring but necessary their services are. It just helps to have Idris to look at.

Amazon’s Alexa reads ScarJo and Colin Jost’s minds

In a spot that drew attention from celebrity gossip sites prior to the game, SNL’s Colin Jost and Scarlett Johansson poke fun at their marriage for Amazon’s Alexa. Apparently, a Jost-Johansson mind-reading Alexa would know that he finds her morning breath lacking, that she pretends food bought from Whole Foods (also owned by Amazon) is an old recipe and that she is not being quite truthful about the experience of kissing hot costars.

Celebrities selling random things get a lot of ridicule every year, but people seem most personally and understandably, are offended by Larry David’s crypto ad: