A Review of Super Bowl LV’s Commercials

I have to say, this year’s Superbowl commercials were….unique. Yes, that’s the right word. Parodies of popular country songs, hoodies with B-list celebrities’ faces creepily plastered on them, and civilian space-missions plagued national screen time in between good old-fashioned football. Here is a closer look at some of these advertisements.

Squarespace’s 5 to 9

This rendition of Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5” was quite a surprise to me and, I’m sure, to many other Super Bowl viewers. For one, Dolly Parton is actually singing this side hustle-based remix. The substance of the song is of course centered around the utility of Squarespace, a company designed to help you build websites. Personally, I think this job is beneath Ms. Parton. A lot of people care about and are inspired by her; almost no one cares about Squarespace. But, hey! If she got adequately compensated for this commercial, then good for her.

Tide’s Jason Alexander Hoodie

This was nothing more than a very uncomfortable advertisement that did not remotely encourage me to buy the product: Tide Pods. If anything, the biggest question in my mind was, “Why the hell would a teenager ever wear a hoodie of this nature?” It’s horrifying. There was also basically no reason for Jason Alexander to be the lucky celebrity represented on a dirty hoodie. C’mon, Tide. Where’s the nuance?

Inspiration4’s Join Us

Some much-needed context: Elon Musk has a very questionable plan to send four civilians into space. After receiving astronautical training, the civilians would be sent into orbit around the Earth. The reason SpaceX has unleashed this commercial onto the public is that there are still two spots open on the mission. Now, though the commercial itself was not comedic in any way, I couldn’t help but laugh to myself—and also be terrified about the concept.