Super Bowl LIX brought a triumphant win for the Philadelphia Eagles, but it also brought viewers some entertaining commercials to accompany it. While most of the commercials that aired were solely targeted to market certain products or brands in a fun way, a few companies decided to use their screen time for a better cause.
For example, Nike put out a commercial titled “So Win.” The ad featured many notable women athletes such as WNBA star Caitlyn Clark, Olympic gold medalist Jordan Chiles, and two-time gold medal winner and sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson. The commercial set out to explore the double standards set in women’s sports. It began by displaying statements that criticise female athletes, such as, “you can’t put yourself first” but then combats these statements by saying “so put yourself first.” This encouraged female athletes to push boundaries and to do what “can’t” be done. It was refreshing to see an ad like this that gives women, especially younger girls, the confidence to keep playing despite this criticism. In other words, Dover High School junior Sarah Ramos claimed that she thought this commercial was pretty powerful and held a strong message. From a male perspective, Dover High School Junior Michael Hughes said that this commercial is very inspirational, even to himself as a man. He also claims that it made him realize how unfairly women athletes can be treated.
Another notable Super Bowl Sunday commercial was again targeted towards women athletes. It was intended as a push by the NFL to make girls’ varsity flag football a sport in all 50 states. The commercial was filmed like an 80’s high school movie, with the main girl protagonist sweeping the floor with the football boys who never thought she would beat them. It then cuts to the message “Leave the past behind”, which shows that a woman could do anything a man can do, sometimes even better. In my opinion, this promotion could do great things for the sport and the young girls who aspire to be a part of it. In other words, upon watching this ad, DHS students Cadence Mitchell and Kale Oswald stated that it even made them want to play flag football.
This next commercial shifted gears in subject matter, but it was just as important. It is titled “By The Time,” and was made by Science Moms. This organization advertises itself as “a group of climate scientists and mothers who care deeply about the planet that our children will inherit.” The commercial itself shows a mother narrating these exact concerns. She stated that by the time her baby takes her first breath, “9 billion more tons of carbon pollution will be in the air.” She also stated that wildfires will have burned acres of land before she even takes her first steps. The ad also warned us that “Our window to act on climate change is like watching them grow up, we blink and we miss it.” That is a brutally honest statement to make in a Super Bowl commercial, but I am so glad that it was made. I thought it put the climate crisis we are facing into a more realistic perspective. It showed just how much time we may have left. Sarah Ramos also had an opinion on this commercial, saying, “It really helped make this issue more realistic.”
To conclude, it is important for these commercials to be featured in the Super Bowl in order to raise awareness of causes people may be ignorant of and to empower women and children.
