Super Bowl 2019: Watch All the Star-Studded Ads

Washington Post

The Washington Post aired its first-ever Super Bowl commercial on Sunday night, highlighting both the importance and dangers of journalism. 

Tom Hanks narrates the 60-second spot, which shows scenes from major news events in history. "When we go off to war. When we exercise our rights. When we soar to our greatest heights. When we mourn and pray. When our neighbors are at risk. When our nation is threatened," Hanks says. "There’s someone to gather the facts. To bring you the story. No matter the cost."

The ad then pays tribute to journalists who have gone missing or died as a result of their work, including Jamal Khashoggi, who was killed in Istanbul in 2018. 

"Because knowing empowers us," Hanks says. "Knowing helps us decide. Knowing keeps us free."

The spot ends with the Post's logo and the slogan, "Democracy Dies in Darkness."

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDjfg8YlKHc]

Bud Light

Bud Light and Game of Thrones come together in this commercial that aired during the Super Bowl's second quarter. David Nutter ("The Rains of Castamere," the infamous Red Wedding episode) directed the clip, which sees the Mountain (played by bodybuilder Hafthór Júlíus Björnsson) jousting against the Bud Light knight. The Mountain easily defeats his opponent, and the beer commercial ends with a burst of fire courtesy of Drogon, Daenerys' (Emilia Clarke) favorite dragon.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fhOItB0zUM]

Wix

For the fifth year in a row, Wix ran a 30-second spot advertising the website-building platform. 

This year's ad featured supermodel and entrepreneur Karlie Kloss showing off her own website, along with Wix's various features like its SEO Wiz optimization tool. 

"It looks amazing," Kloss says after scrolling through the site.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=baqefxUw234]

Olay

In the first-ever Olay commercial for the Super Bowl, Buffy the Vampire Slayer's Sarah Michelle Gellar returns to her horror roots. Evoking major I Know What You Did Last Summer vibes, the commercial features Gellar performing her skincare routine with Olay products while a masked figure haunts her from afar. 

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KuQ4i_VSso&w=560&h=315]

Avocados From Mexico

Donning a sparkly dress, Kristin Chenoweth is commentating on what seems like the famous Westminster Dog Show, but instead, it's the "Human Canine Competition." The dogs are the ones training their owners to act like them, all in the name of winning Avocados From Mexico. Humans compete in sitting, staying, shaking and more.

"We've got a runner!" Chenoweth says when one of the contestants heads for the avocado table, only to be put in a cone to avoid eating the coveted food.

She dubs the winner "top of class," and he's awarded with guacamole.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGyQy84Bmn8]

Mercedes-Benz

In the Mercedes-Benz ad for Super Bowl LIII, the world obeys a man's every command. 

With this newfound power, he influences the outcome of a golf game, finds and returns a lost cat, and more.

When sitting in on an opera the man says, "Change the music," which then transforms the lead into Ludacris, who begins rapping. 

Another icon featured in the short clip is Lassie the dog, who brings along a fire rescue team to save the man from being stuck in an elevator. In another scene, Wile E. Coyote breaks out of the TV as the man tells him to "use the rocket" to catch the Road Runner.

The last industry giant is quite a whale considering it's Free Willy emerging from water and jumping over the commercial's protagonist. The 2019 ad ends with a preview of the new Mercedes-Benz that includes a high-tech voice command feature. 

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R84j8pmH-d0]

bubly

Bublé and bubly go head to head in the company's Super Bowl ad, which also features comedian Aparna Nancherla.

Singer Michael Bublé goes back and forth with Nancherla, a store employee and a fan, over the pronunciation of his name. They're, of course, convinced it's pronounced like the drink. 

Bublé even goes so far as to alter the name of the sparking beverage to match his own with a squeaky permanent marker. He is surrounded by cans he's already marked when he gets caught red-handed.

"Michael … don't do that," says one of the store's employees.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRfsJi_0HHA]

Febreze

Starring former NFL player Terrell Owens, Febreze’s Super Bowl LIII commercial is a making-of for a commercial on game day party preparation. The somewhat meta, the nearly-minute-long ad focuses on what happens when the smell of those classic party dishes turns sour. Owens and his fellow commercial actors become desperate for their own Febreze as the showcase of unappetizing dishes unfurls and the crew struggles to make it through the buffet of aromas.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNdNu7Q0UL0]

Pringles

For its second Super Bowl appearance ever, Pringles is following the approach of several other companies by incorporating technology into its oddball Sunday night commercial. Playing on Pringles' tagline as a stackable snack, the commercial sees two men sitting in a room full of open Pringles cans creating their own towers of flavor. But when one of the guys absentmindedly asks just how many stack combinations there are, Alexa gets involved as things take a rather darkly emotional turn. 

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDakI68u2xE]

Budweiser

Last year marked the first time in nearly two decades that an Anheuser-Busch Super Bowl commercial didn't feature the iconic Clydesdale horses. This year the company has brought back the former brand stars for a minutelong spot that highlights the company's wind-power brewing initiative. The commercial follows the Clydesdales and their Dalmatian coach as they travel through golden, windy fields to the tune of Bob Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind."

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6VciSoR1iQ]

Hyundai

Actor Jason Bateman stars in this Hyundai spot as an elevator operator navigating a tower of uncomfortable scenarios. With a car full of passengers, he descends lower and lower, delivering people to floors with a vegan dinner party, a root canal and jury duty, as part of a multilevel everyday horrors sequence. But when a couple arrives on the floor to go car shopping and are faced with a traditional lot experience, they reveal they’ve made other plans, courtesy of Hyundai Shopper Assurance. 

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5FzKB5TW0Y]

Bumble

The woman-first dating app is airing ifirst-everver Super Bowl ad this year as part of its "The Ball Is in Her Court" campaign with Serena Williams, celebrating women making the first move — in love, life and business. A 30-second version of the minutelong commercial that Bumble debuted online on Thursday will air during the first quarter of the Super Bowl.

In the spot, soundtracked by Rita Ora's "Soul Survivor," the tennis star shows viewers how making the first move has taken her to where she is now. Over images of Williams on court now and as a young child, interspersed with scenes of her success in the sport, she says "Don’t wait to be told your place. Take it. Don’t wait for people to find you. Find them. In work, in love, in life. And most of all, don’t wait to be given power.  Because here is what they won’t tell you … we already have it.”

“At such a pivotal time for women across the globe, this commercial seeks to inspire all of us to seize opportunity wherever it presents itself,” Williams, who served as co-creative director of the ad, said in a statement. “I want women to feel empowered to find their voice and use the power within to create change, to lift each other up, and to never let the world tell us we can’t — because we can, and we will.”

Bumble founder and CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd added, “If you seek to create impactful change, you must often make an impactful first move. By sharing our message with a global audience of hundreds of millions, we are aiming to leverage this cultural moment widely considered to be male-dominated and flip the narrative to show that no matter the playing field, we are here, and we have the power to be heard.”