I think it was fantasy author Terry Pratchett (that's Sir Terry to you, by the way) who once said that the important thing about football is that it's not just about football, and no football game exudes not-just-footballness more than the Super Bowl. While this year's contest between the Los Angeles Rams and the New England Patriots will draw in millions of viewers from across the country, millions more viewers will be drawn in by everything but the game. And you know what that means: show-stopping commercials.
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In time-honored tradition, car commercials will play a part in the interludes. Super Bowl 52 didn't feature a ton in the way of automotive advertising — the flashiest campaign among them was for the newly introduced Kia Stinger — but the 53rd matchup Feb. 3 promises spending from Audi, Hyundai, Kia, Lexus, Mercedes-Benz and Toyota.
Only watching for the wheels? We hear you. Check out our ongoing roundup of each car brand's commercials as they come to us below.
Kia for the People
In a preview of what's to come during the Super Bowl proper, Kia took 30 seconds during the NFC championship game Jan. 20 to honor the proletariat with an ad that eschews … well, exactly what the automaker did with Steven Tyler in 2018. Instead of a Big Name for the Big Game, the South Korean automaker is instead going in on its commitment to the rest of us by introducing The Great Unknowns Scholarship, a noble endeavor Kia says is intended "to help young people in need get a foothold in higher education." Laying down a reported $5 million-plus on 30 seconds to promote that the wealth is being distributed feels pretty Pyrrhic to me, but I guess the revolution has to start somewhere.
2019 Lexus UX 200: Safety First
Lexus, meanwhile, is taking a lighter-hearted approach with an absurdly detailed four-minute dissection of ersatz quarterback-protecting technology that ought to give devotees of the rugged, old-fashioned, skull-smashing style of play fits. Lexus confronts the debate of how to keep quarterbacks safe by way of Quarterback Safety System Plus, which includes such innovations as a "360 pocket protection camera" and "blindside monitor" intended to mimic features on a 2019 UX 200 equipped with Lexus Safety System Plus (in this case, a 360-degree camera system and blind spot monitor). I'm still parsing out the subtle subplot of the presenting researcher's quivering dedication to this topic, but even more distracting is the thought of what these researchers could do if they were assigned to something more productive for Lexus — like, say, finding an alternative to the UX's touchpad.
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