It’s Super Bowl Sunday: are you not entertained?

They’re aiming to capture the attention of the 100 million viewers expected to tune in on Sunday. Many marketers released their ads online in the days before the game but there were still a few surprises from Google, Bud Light and others.

“Advertisers are not being heavy-handed,” said Kelly O’Keefe, a professor at Virginia Commonwealth University’s Brandcenter. “Everyone’s focused on entertaining us tonight and that’s probably just right for this year.”

O’Keefe said advertisers were mostly avoiding social and cultural topics.

“They want to sit those things out,” he said. “They’re a little too toxic for the world right now.”

That didn’t mean that the ads were devoid of cultural markers. Women’s empowerment has among the themes that took centre stage.

Hulu kicked it off with a first quarter ad for its next season of the feminist show “The Handmaid’s Tale.” Next, Serena Williams appeared as spokeswoman for Bumble, which bills itself as a feminist dating app where women make the first move. The tennis icon urges women not to wait to be given power, saying, “we already have it.”

Later in the evening, supermodel Karlie Kloss will play up her identity as a businesswoman in an ad for Wix.com. She wears an understated green T-shirt to show how she used the platform to create her professional website.

Toyota highlighted the perseverance of Antoinette “Toni” Harris, a female football player at a California community college.

Mae Anderson And Alexandra Olson, The Associated Press

by Canadian Press

It’s Super Bowl Sunday: are you not entertained?

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