Held in sunny Santa Clara, California, the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots went head-to-head for Super Bowl LX. Watched by 124.9 million people across the globe, this year’s Super Bowl saw the Seahawks emerge victorious, closing out the 2025-2026 NFL season. But, considering the less-than-thrilling game, many televisions weren’t tuned in just to watch football. Instead, many eyes were focused on the iconic commercials and the much-anticipated half-time show performance.
With commercials costing nearly $8 million per 30 seconds, companies always brought out their best and boldest to make an impact in their limited time slot.
One of the commercials that stood out most was from Budweiser. At a time of unrest in our country, Budweiser made a commercial that featured their mascot, a horse, and the American bald eagle to celebrate their 150th anniversary and remind everyone of collective resilience through patriotic symbolism.
Another one that stood out was made by the NFL themselves. It featured a youth football league and a little boy reciting a motivational speech that he heard from his football coach.
“I believe in myself even when others doubt me.”
Ending in a chant of “I am a champion,” the commercial paid homage to coaches everywhere, and reminded us that “belief is a superpower.” It carried a message of resilience and pushing forward even when times are tough.
As for the more lighthearted commercials, one of my favorites was from Dunkin’ Donuts. Taking a fun spin on classic films and TV shows of the 20th century, the ad digitized iconic characters like Joey and Rachel from “Friends,” George from “Seinfeld” and Will Hunting from “Good Will Hunting.”
The satirical commercial depicted “Good Will Hunting” as if it was written as a sitcom. Unlike Budweiser or NFL, this commercial had no real message to it. Instead, it played into the nostalgia that many love by seeing characters they haven’t seen in a long time, but in a new way.
But not all viewers were keen about the commercials.
There has been some controversy about both the number of ads promoting artificial intelligence and those that used AI in their commercials. Of the 54 advertisements played during the Super Bowl, 13 of them featured or promoted AI. These ads included Ring doorbells finding missing pets using AI and a plethora of workplace AI tools.
But the real show-stopper of Super Bowl LX was the half-time performance.
Winning a Grammy for “Album of the Year” the week prior, Puerto Rico native Bad Bunny put on a 13 minute half-time performance full of culture and symbolism. He made history as the first person to perform at the half-time show in a non-English language. Opening with images of sugar cane plants and workers wearing white, Bad Bunny immediately set an intention to honor his culture.
With over 10 songs in his setlist, Bad Bunny showed all variations of Latin American culture through his display of color, dance, costume and, of course, music. He had live musicians playing alongside his backtrack, orienting the show around the unity of the performers, each one complementing the other and displaying their unique stories.
Bad Bunny took the opportunity of being on the biggest stage in the country to show pride for his heritage while also advocating for all people to be unified and uplifted.
Bad Bunny also featured other Latinx icons during his performance — Pedro Pascal, Jessica Alba, Cardi B and Karol G were all spotted dancing along with the music.
During the jam-packed show, a couple got married, four different groups danced and Lady Gaga and Ricky Martin made guest musical appearances.
To wrap up his display of rich culture, a parade of people and flags ran through the field as Bad Bunny began listing off every country in North and South America, expressing a message of unity during a time of political divide and friction.
Though many people tune in to watch America’s favorite sport, the culture seeps through and bleeds into every aspect of the event. It’s a mix of culture, traditions, people and experiences — it’s a display of what it means to be American.
