Super Bowl 2026: The ads that defined this year’s big game

Every year, the Super Bowl in the U.S. is as much about advertising as it is about football. Brands use the event to debut their most expensive and high-profile commercials.

For Indian audiences, these ads offer a snapshot of what’s shaping American pop culture-big celebrities, new technology, and emerging trends such as AI, all packed into 30- to 60-second films.

Super Bowl 2026 continued that tradition with a mix of familiar global brands and newer players trying to make a mark.

For those unversed, Super Bowl is the annual championship game of the National Football League (NFL) and is played each February between the winners of the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC).

Levi’s- Behind every original (2nd quarter)

Set to James Brown’s “Get Up Offa That Thing,” the ad shows a series of people moving through everyday and performance spaces, all wearing Levi’s. The camera focuses almost entirely on denim in motion before revealing Doechii onstage. The spot relies on music, movement, and familiarity rather than dialogue or plot.

Pepsi Zero Sugar- The choice (2nd quarter)

For Super Bowl LX, Pepsi is reviving the Pepsi Challenge in a 30-second spot that takes a playful dig at its century-old rival, using one of Coca-cola’s most recognisable symbols as the punchline.

The ad opens with a cola-loving polar bear facing an identity crisis. In a blind taste test, the bear picks Pepsi Zero Sugar over Coke Zero. Instead of outrage, the moment leads to therapy, with the bear seen on a psychiatrist’s (Taika Waititi) couch questioning his identity, before slipping into a parallel world where Pepsi Zero Sugar drinkers are the norm.

Also Read: Pepsi just sent Coke's polar bear to therapy in new Super Bowl ad

Meta x Oakley- Athletic Intelligence is here (1st quarter & halftime)

Shot in first-person perspective through Oakley Meta AI glasses, the ads follow athletes and creators using voice commands during physical activities. Marshawn Lynch cues music before skydiving, Sky Brown skateboards, Kate Courtney rides mountain trails, and Spike Lee records slow-motion footage courtside. The two-part rollout focuses on real-time AI assistance in sports and content creation.

Pringles- Pringleleo (3rd quarter)

Sabrina Carpenter complains about dating before building a life-sized companion out of Pringles chips. The two are shown on dates until paparazzi cause the chip figure to collapse. The ad ends with Carpenter eating the broken pieces.

Anthropic Claude- Betrayal & Can I get a six pack quickly? (pre-game & 1st quarter)

Anthropic, the San Francisco-based AI startup behind the chatbot Claude, is using Super Bowl LX to take a very public swing at OpenAI and its flagship product, ChatGPT.

In a series of ads released alongside the big game, Anthropic skewered the idea of advertising intruding into intimate, problem-solving conversations with AI. The timing was not subtle.

OpenAI is in the middle of introducing advertisements into ChatGPT, including for some paying users, a move that has unsettled parts of its vast user base and raised questions about how conversational AI will ultimately pay for itself.

Both ads show ordinary conversations that turn into unexpected product pitches. In one, a man seeking advice from an AI therapist is interrupted by a dating-site promotion. In the other, a fitness question leads to an ad for height-increasing insoles. Each ends with the message that ads may appear in other AI tools, but not in Claude.

Also Read: Anthropic takes aim at ChatGPT in Super Bowl ad, Sam Altman reacts

Squarespace- Unavailable (1st quarter)

Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, the ad places Emma Stone in a gothic setting as she attempts to claim emmastone.com. When she learns the domain is unavailable, her frustration escalates into destruction, with laptops smashed and burned. The spot ends with Stone standing among the wreckage, reinforcing the simple warning to secure domains before they’re gone.

Cadillac Formula 1- The mission begins (4th quarter)

Cadillac used Super Bowl to formally launch its Formula 1 team and unveil its 2026 race livery. The spot features archival audio from John F. Kennedy’s 1962 Rice University speech about the moon landing.

Visually, a Cadillac F1 car is shown breaking apart and reassembling in a desert landscape before revealing an asymmetrical black-and-white design. As the car comes to life and speeds into the horizon, the ad closes with the message: “THE MISSION BEGINS.”

OpenAI Codex- You can just build things (1st quarter)

The spot moves from childhood curiosity- marbles, spiderwebs, classrooms—into scenes of problem-solving, chess, robotics, and coding. The final reveal shows OpenAI’s Codex interface on a laptop, framing coding as a natural extension of learning and experimentation.

AI.com- AGI is coming (4th quarter)

AI.com debuted with a minimalist 30-second spot featuring glowing orbs colliding to form the AI.com logo. The ad included the message “AGI is coming” and directed viewers to the website to claim personalised handles.

It closed by displaying usernames such as AI.com/Sam, Mark, and Elon, a pointed reference to prominent figures in the AI industry. The commercial aired during the fourth quarter and quickly drove a surge of traffic to the site.

Dove- This game is ours (2nd quarter)

A young athlete prepares for competition while the ad references statistics about girls leaving sports due to body criticism. Dove says that "one in two girls quit sports due to criticism about their body type."

The spot cuts between girls at different sporting events chanting together. Dove ties the message to its Body Confidence Sport program.

Toyota- Where the dream began (1st quarter)

Athletes Bubba Wallace, Puka Nacua, and Oksana Masters appear alongside younger versions of themselves. The scenes focus on early moments of ambition and encouragement, connecting childhood dreams to present-day careers, with Toyota vehicles appearing throughout the journey.

Manscaped- Hair ballad (pre-game)

Anthropomorphised clumps of body hair sing a breakup-style ballad as they’re shaved and rinsed away. The ad shows hair from different parts of the body, emphasising Manscaped’s expanded grooming focus.