Short answer: TurboTax had the clearest celebrity-led commercial of Super Bowl LX, using Adrien Brody to make its tax-preparation message easier to understand. Uber Eats, Michelob ULTRA, Dunkin’ and Instacart were the strongest entertainment-focused celebrity spots. Coinbase was the clearest failure of celebrity over substance, while Pringles, Poppi and Hellmann’s were among the most divisive. For the broader field, Budweiser’s emotional Clydesdale commercial was the reported audience favorite.
Super Bowl LX was played on February 8, 2026, at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, where the Seattle Seahawks defeated the New England Patriots 29–13. The advertising verdict below is retrospective and deliberately separates three things that are often confused: expert marketing effectiveness, audience recall and likeability, and editorial entertainment value.
The 2026 Super Bowl commercial verdict at a glance
| Category | Standout | Why it stands out |
|---|---|---|
| Best celebrity-led execution | TurboTax with Adrien Brody | The celebrity is part of the joke, but the tax-preparation benefit remains unmistakable. |
| Most entertaining celebrity pairing | Uber Eats with Matthew McConaughey and Bradley Cooper | A simple “Foodball” premise gives the stars a repeatable comic idea. |
| Best sports-ad format | Michelob ULTRA with Kurt Russell and other sports talent | The training-montage story uses the cast without losing sight of the product. |
| Best nostalgia play | Dunkin’s Good Will Dunkin’ | Recognizable 1990s references translated into strong attention and search performance. |
| Best overall audience response | Budweiser’s American Icons | NBC reported that it led MarketCast’s recall and likeability measures and was the reported USA Today Ad Meter winner. |
| Weakest product communication | Coinbase with the Backstreet Boys | The karaoke hook was easier to remember than what Coinbase actually does. |
| Most divisive AI commercial | Anthropic’s Claude | The Kellogg review praised its clear no-ads differentiation, while Sporting News disliked the creative execution. |
These are not universal rankings. A commercial can be highly memorable and still fail to explain a product; it can also be clear and strategically effective while dividing viewers on taste.
What made Super Bowl LX advertising different?
The 2026 commercial field was crowded with celebrities, nostalgia, artificial-intelligence messaging, health and wellness themes, and lifestyle branding. NBC reported that two-thirds of celebrity ads featured multiple celebrities, a 60% year-over-year increase. At the same time, humor appeared in 57% of brands’ ads, which NBC described as down 70% from the previous year’s level. The figures come from NBC’s analysis and should be read as reported industry measurements rather than a universal audit of every commercial shown.
#1 Best Overall
AI was the leading advertising category by share of search in NBC and EDO’s analysis. That made clarity especially important: viewers were being asked to distinguish between services that could otherwise look interchangeable. The strongest ads made the product’s purpose obvious. The weakest often left the audience remembering the celebrity, song or visual trick instead.
The best celebrity commercials of Super Bowl LX
1. TurboTax — Adrien Brody in The Expert
Adrien Brody plays an overly intense would-be tax preparer, bringing the seriousness of a prestige film performance to a task that should not require that much drama. A calmer TurboTax expert then punctures the performance and delivers the central idea: TurboTax removes the pain and theatrics from tax preparation.
This was the most complete use of a celebrity in the 2026 field. Brody is not simply standing beside the logo or delivering a generic punchline. His familiar screen persona creates the contrast that makes the product promise work. CBS’s report on the Kellogg School Super Bowl Advertising Review placed TurboTax among the strongest ads, and the cited Adweek assessment likewise emphasized that the humor did not obscure the brand message.
Why it worked: the joke, the celebrity and the product benefit all point in the same direction. After the commercial ends, viewers can explain both who was in it and what TurboTax is promising.
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2. Uber Eats — Matthew McConaughey and Bradley Cooper’s Foodball
Matthew McConaughey and Bradley Cooper turn football into “Foodball,” riffing on the idea that the sport may be an elaborate way to sell food. McConaughey’s sports-name-dropping and the contrast between the two performers give the spot its momentum.
Sporting News included Uber Eats among its best commercials. The ad’s strength is not merely that it has two famous actors; it gives them a clear premise they can play from beginning to end. The football-to-food connection is immediate, and Uber Eats remains connected to the joke rather than appearing as a sponsor pasted onto a celebrity sketch.
This is best understood as an editorial entertainment favorite, not a claim that it definitively topped every formal effectiveness measure.
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The Michelob ULTRA spot follows Greg, a struggling skier who receives training from Kurt Russell before returning to the mountain. Lewis Pullman, hockey player TJ Oshie and snowboarder Chloe Kim also appear.
The commercial uses a familiar sports-ad structure: a flawed competitor, an authoritative coach, a training montage and a return to the challenge. Kurt Russell’s established screen persona makes him a natural comic authority, while the product stays visible inside the story instead of being overwhelmed by the cast.
Sporting News praised the montage, the Los Angeles Times identified Russell and Pullman in its coverage, and CBS reported that the Kellogg panel gave Michelob ULTRA an A rating. It is one of the better examples of a large cast supporting a product idea rather than becoming the entire idea.
4. Dunkin’ — Good Will Dunkin’
Dunkin’s campaign built its commercial around recognizable 1990s-era personalities, callbacks and pop-culture references. Its appeal depends heavily on how many of those references a viewer recognizes, so it should not be described as universally beloved. For the audience that understood the reunion-style joke, however, the nostalgia was easy to share and discuss.
NBC reported that the ad ranked in the top five on USA Today’s Ad Meter and also performed strongly in search. That makes Dunkin’ a useful case study in the 30-year nostalgia cycle: memories from the 1990s have become a ready-made creative language for a large Super Bowl audience.
Why it worked: the references created a dense field of recognition, but the campaign still connected the reunion concept to Dunkin’ rather than treating the brand as an afterthought.
5. Instacart — Ben Stiller and Benson Boone’s banana joke
Instacart built a banana-centered joke around Ben Stiller and singer Benson Boone. The pairing is unexpected, which gives the commercial a useful visual hook, but the spot also communicates the basic function of grocery delivery.
Sporting News included Instacart among the best commercials. Its advantage over many celebrity-heavy spots is practical: the famous people help make the scene funny, while the grocery-delivery service remains understandable. The banana is not just a random prop; it gives the audience a concrete way to remember the service.
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Other standout commercials beyond the celebrity rankings
Budweiser’s American Icons: the strongest overall audience performer
Budweiser’s commercial featured a young Clydesdale and an abandoned chick, using an emotional animal story rather than a celebrity cameo. NBC’s Super Bowl LX recap reported that the ad was the USA Today Ad Meter winner and separately said that it led MarketCast’s top-recall and likeability analysis.
The Ad Meter result should be described as a reported winner because the directly accessible USA Today result was not independently available in the research record. The MarketCast findings are also attributed measurements, not a guarantee that every viewer preferred the commercial. Still, Budweiser belongs in any best-overall discussion because it shows that a clear emotional narrative can compete with a field built around famous faces.
Pepsi’s The Choice: a celebrity-free character can still carry a spot
Pepsi used the Coca-Cola polar bear as a recognizable cultural reference in a blind-taste-test joke that ends with the bear choosing Pepsi. Sporting News listed the commercial among its best, and NBC cited Pepsi as evidence that humor could still perform even as the overall share of humorous ads declined.
The spot is a useful counterexample to the idea that a Super Bowl commercial needs a current celebrity. The polar bear already has cultural recognition, the brand conflict is immediately legible, and the joke depends on a simple choice rather than a complicated explanation.
Rank #3
Novartis — Relax Your Tight End
Novartis used football wordplay to present a blood-based prostate-cancer screening message. Sporting News praised the pun-driven approach, while NBC reported a 13% likeability advantage over the category average for the humor-first execution.
This is one of the year’s strongest unexpected inclusions because it makes a health message approachable without pretending that a commercial is medical advice. The ad can make screening memorable, but viewers should discuss personal screening questions with a qualified healthcare professional rather than treating the slogan as an individual recommendation.
Xfinity — Jurassic Park nostalgia with Jeff Goldblum
Xfinity used digitally recreated or age-adjusted Jurassic Park imagery alongside Jeff Goldblum in a story about technology keeping the park functioning. The familiarity of the characters makes the premise instantly accessible, but Sporting News also noted discomfort with the CGI and de-aging effects.
The commercial captures both the upside and risk of nostalgia. Familiar intellectual property can explain a joke in seconds, but artificial recreation can become the thing viewers discuss instead of the service being advertised.
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“Worst” needs a standard. The ads below were criticized by named reviewers or marketing judges for weak product communication, strange execution or an imbalance between attention and persuasion. That does not mean every viewer disliked them.
1. Coinbase — Backstreet Boys karaoke
Coinbase used the Backstreet Boys and a karaoke-style version of Everybody. The music cue and reunion appeal were obvious, but both CBS’s report on the Kellogg review and Sporting News’ editorial ranking identified the same basic problem: the commercial did not clearly explain what Coinbase does or why a viewer should use the exchange.
This is the clearest example of celebrity overreach in the 2026 lineup. The criticism is not that the Backstreet Boys were inherently ineffective. The problem is that the celebrity hook became the message. A viewer could remember the song, the group and the karaoke setup without retaining the product’s purpose.
2. Pringles — Sabrina Carpenter creates a partner from chips
Sabrina Carpenter tries to create a man out of Pringles after complaining that she cannot find a partner. The premise is easy to summarize and visually memorable, but Sporting News found the execution strange and weaker than the idea behind it.
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3. Poppi — Charli xcx and Rachel Sennott in Make it poppi
Poppi’s commercial featured Charli xcx and Rachel Sennott. PepsiCo’s official materials positioned the campaign around Poppi as a lifestyle and mood brand, while Sporting News criticized the commercial as chaotic and insufficiently focused on the drink’s benefits.
That tension is the point. A lifestyle brand may deliberately want to sell an attitude rather than list product features, but the ad still needs to answer a basic question: why this beverage? The commercial is culturally current and energetic, yet some viewers may leave remembering the talent and atmosphere more clearly than the reason to buy Poppi.
4. Hellmann’s — Andy Samberg’s mayonnaise parody
Hellmann’s used Andy Samberg in a parody of Neil Diamond’s Sweet Caroline, with mayonnaise applied to strangers’ sandwiches. Sporting News placed the commercial among the weaker spots and called the execution strange.
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The ad commits completely to its celebrity bit, but that commitment creates a familiar Super Bowl problem: the product becomes a prop inside the performance. Mayonnaise is visible throughout, yet the comic premise and Samberg’s presence can dominate what viewers remember. The spot is not hard to identify, but being identifiable is a lower bar than making a convincing product case.
Two AI commercials that prove attention and clarity are different
ai.com: highly engaging, but difficult to understand
CBS reported that the Kellogg review panel failed ai.com because viewers were left unsure what the service could do and why they should use it. NBC’s recap, however, reported that ai.com ranked first on EDO’s engagement index during the game.
Those findings are not necessarily contradictory. A confusing commercial can generate searches, conversation and curiosity. The audience may want to know what it was, even if the ad failed to explain what the service offers. Calling ai.com simply a bad ad would lose the more useful lesson: it captured attention without converting that attention into clear understanding.
Anthropic’s Claude: a genuine critical split
Anthropic’s Claude commercial used an unusual dating-related conversation to communicate that the AI service has no ads. Sporting News placed it among its worst commercials and disliked the creative approach. CBS’s account of the Kellogg ratings reached the opposite conclusion, placing Anthropic among the A-rated ads and praising the clarity of its differentiation.
This is the year’s clearest disagreement between editorial taste and strategic evaluation. The commercial may feel awkward or offbeat while still answering an important competitive question: how is Claude different? It belongs in a “most divisive” category, not an uncontested worst-of list.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What the audience data says
NBC’s postgame analysis reported that Super Bowl LX was the most streamed Super Bowl. It also said Peacock-exclusive ads produced a 205% greater likelihood of search than ads shown during the 2025–26 NFL regular season. NBC further reported that Telemundo’s telecast delivered higher brand memorability than the comparison Super Bowl telecasts cited in its report.
These are NBC, EDO and MarketCast findings, so they should be attributed rather than treated as universal truths about advertising. They do, however, reinforce the central 2026 lesson: the commercial is no longer judged only by what happens during the broadcast. Search behavior, streaming distribution, language-market performance and postgame conversation all affect how a campaign is evaluated.
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Best Value
NBC also reported that Lady Gaga led celebrity advertising recall at 43%, ahead of Jennifer Aniston and Tom Brady at 39% each. That figure concerns recall of celebrity advertising, not the quality of a particular commercial and not the success of the halftime performance. Lady Gaga’s reported halftime appearance is a separate subject from her advertising recall.
How to watch the 2026 Super Bowl commercials
The safest way to replay these spots is through an advertiser’s verified YouTube channel or another official upload identified by the brand. CBS’s Super Bowl coverage identified official upload destinations for TurboTax and Coinbase, and Adweek published a broad Super Bowl LX commercial watch list. Commercial pages and videos can move, become region-restricted or disappear after the event, so availability should be checked at the time of reading.
- Search TurboTax’s official channel for The Expert.
- Search Uber Eats for the Matthew McConaughey and Bradley Cooper Foodball commercial.
- Search Michelob ULTRA for the Kurt Russell skiing and training-montage spot.
- Search Dunkin’ for Good Will Dunkin’.
- Search Coinbase for the Backstreet Boys karaoke commercial if you want to compare the celebrity hook with the product criticism.
- Search the official brand channels for Budweiser’s American Icons, Pepsi’s The Choice, Novartis’ Relax Your Tight End and Xfinity’s Jurassic Park spot.
Avoid unofficial compilations when an official upload is available. Do not assume that an upload is authorized merely because it appears in a search result, and do not confuse a halftime-show clip, teaser or event activation with the full game commercial.
Further reading on Super Bowl advertising
Readers who want context beyond the 2026 campaign can look for a book about Super Bowl commercials, The Super Bowl of Advertising: How the Commercials Won the Game. It is better treated as a historical companion than as a 2026-specific guide, and the current edition, stock status and retailer availability should be verified before publication or purchase.
Disclosure: If a retailer link is added to the further-reading or watch-party suggestions, DocumentaryTube may earn a commission from a qualifying purchase. That commercial arrangement does not determine the editorial rankings.
The method behind the best-and-worst list
The positive selections combine the supplied editorial and measurement evidence without pretending that the sources used the same standard. CBS’s coverage of the Kellogg School review is most useful for strategic clarity and brand communication. Sporting News supplies an entertainment-oriented best-and-worst perspective. NBC’s recap adds EDO, MarketCast, search, recall, likeability and streaming context. Official PepsiCo materials help establish the featured talent and campaign positioning for Pepsi and Poppi.
That is why TurboTax leads the celebrity list, Budweiser leads the broader audience conversation, Coinbase is the clearest communication miss, and Anthropic remains a split decision rather than a settled failure.
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Was TurboTax officially the best Super Bowl LX commercial?
No single ad can be called objectively best. CBS reported that the Kellogg School review placed TurboTax among the strongest commercials, while other rankings emphasized different qualities. TurboTax is the clearest editorial choice for best celebrity-led execution because Adrien Brody’s performance directly supports the product message.
What was the most recalled 2026 Super Bowl commercial?
NBC reported that Budweiser’s American Icons led MarketCast’s recall and likeability analysis and was the reported USA Today Ad Meter winner. That is a broader audience-performance result, not a celebrity-ad ranking.
Why is Anthropic’s Claude commercial listed as divisive rather than worst?
Sporting News criticized its dating-related creative execution, but CBS’s account of the Kellogg ratings placed Anthropic among the A-rated commercials and praised its clear no-ads differentiation. The conflicting evaluations make “divisive” more accurate than “worst.”
Is Lady Gaga’s 43% recall score a ranking of her Super Bowl performance?
No. NBC’s 43% figure refers to celebrity advertising recall. It should not be confused with the quality of a specific commercial or with Lady Gaga’s halftime-show appearance.
Where can I watch the commercials?
Use verified advertiser or agency YouTube channels and official uploads identified by reputable coverage such as CBS’s commercial reporting. Availability can change by region and over time, so unofficial compilations should not be treated as permanent or authorized sources.
The Bottom Line
TurboTax won the celebrity-commercial contest because Adrien Brody’s performance made the product promise clearer rather than merely louder. Uber Eats, Michelob ULTRA, Dunkin’ and Instacart also used famous faces with understandable premises. Coinbase showed the danger of letting a music reunion replace product explanation, while Anthropic and ai.com demonstrated that attention, clarity and likeability can point in different directions. For the overall Super Bowl LX audience response, Budweiser’s emotional Clydesdale story remains the reported benchmark.
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