Super Bowl Commercials Lean Into Nostalgia After Tough Year
- Many ads draw on songs, characters from 1980s and 1990s
- Reddit and Robinhood appear in wake of GameStop trading saga
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This year’s Super Bowl ads went heavy on nostalgia, largely avoiding the thorny issues of today in favor of movies, songs and characters from decades ago.
Shaggy’s 20-year-old reggae hit “It Wasn’t Me” was used to hawk Cheetos. The characters from past Bud Light ads helped get a toppled beer truck back on the road. In another callback, rapper Drake appeared as “Drake from State Farm,” a riff on the insurance company’s longstanding “Jake from State Farm” pitchman.