Best Super Bowl Commercials of All Time

Directed by Ridley Scott and aired only once during Super Bowl XVIII, this landmark ad introduced the Macintosh computer. It depicted a lone runner hurling a sledgehammer at a Big Brother screen, symbolizing rebellion against conformity. Considered the greatest commercial ever made, it transformed how brands think about the Super Bowl as a storytelling platform.

Pittsburgh Steelers defensive tackle "Mean" Joe Greene limps toward the locker room when a young fan offers him his Coke. Greene drains the bottle and tosses the kid his jersey. The ad humanized one of football's most feared players and became one of the most emotionally resonant spots in advertising history.

Three animatronic frogs sitting on logs in a swamp croak "Bud," "Weis," "Er" in sequence. Simple, absurd, and unforgettable — the Budweiser Frogs became cultural icons overnight. The ad launched one of the longest-running brand mascot campaigns in Super Bowl history.

While not a traditional Super Bowl spot, the Bo Knows campaign featuring Bo Jackson became a defining sports ad of its era, airing across major broadcasts. It showcased Jackson's two-sport athleticism with celebrity cameos from legends across multiple sports, cementing Nike's dominance in athletic brand storytelling.

A small boy dressed as Darth Vader attempts to use the Force on household objects without success. When his father arrives home in a VW Passat and secretly starts the car with his remote, the boy believes he has finally succeeded. Pure, wordless storytelling that connected with everyone who ever wanted to believe in something magical.

Isaiah Mustafa delivers a rapid-fire monologue while seamlessly transitioning from bathroom to boat to horseback, all in a single shot. The ad reinvented Old Spice as a culturally relevant brand and spawned countless parodies. Its absurdist humor and production quality set a new benchmark for comedic advertising.

A two-minute cinematic tour of Detroit's grit and resilience culminates in Eminem driving a Chrysler 200 to the Fox Theatre. The tagline "Imported from Detroit" reframed American manufacturing pride at a time when the auto industry was recovering from bankruptcy. One of the most powerful brand-identity ads in Super Bowl history.

A farmer raises a Clydesdale foal, trains it, and releases it to the Budweiser team. Three years later, the horse breaks from a parade to reunite with the man who raised it. Set to Fleetwood Mac's "Landslide," this ad generated the highest social media engagement of any Super Bowl commercial at the time of its release.

Betty White plays a football player who is performing badly on the field because he's hungry. After eating a Snickers bar, he transforms back into his actual self. The ad revitalized Betty White's pop culture presence and launched one of the most successful ongoing tag-line campaigns in food advertising.

Children deliver deadpan statements about their future ambitions — "I want to be forced into early retirement," "I want to be a yes man" — in a scathing commentary on corporate disillusionment. The dot-com era ad was a defining moment for Monster.com and one of the most memorable Super Bowl debuts for a new brand.