Key events
Benjamin Lee
Humanity’s day off
The onslaught of grim AI ads continues with Matthew Broderick here selling part of his soul to the machines. Enough. Please.
Adrian Horton
Oh wow, what a statement, what a moment – Benito ends as he should, as he does: among the people, shouting out the many, many Spanish-speaking nations whose people have immigrated to the US, as well as the US itself, in front of a poignant banner: “The only thing stronger than hate is love.”
Owen Myers
Slop comes to the Super Bowl
The vodka brand Svedka say that the dancing robots of their new AI-generated ad celebrate “more human connection.” You have to wonder if the VFX artists who are being put out of a job because of crap like this feel the same.
Adrian Horton
If you thought Bad Bunny wasn’t going to shout out Puerto Rico … after playing a clip of his own Grammys speech from last week, in which he shouted out his home, he symbolically gifted his Grammy to a young boy and cut to Puerto Rican icon RICKY MARTIN (!) and, not to be outdone, climbed some sparking power poles for El Apagón, his protest anthem about local displacement, corruption and rolling blackouts in Puerto Rico.
Adrian Horton
This is the swiftest party of all time – Bad Bunny saves us from that Die With a Smile lull (no offense to Gaga), with two of his best uppers, BAILE INoLVIDABLE and New York anthem Nuevayol, for the best dance party of the set so far.
Adrian Horton
Surprise! The big guest appears to be not Cardi B but Lady Gaga, the 2017 half-time show performer and noted Bad Bunny fan, for a Latin-ized version of her Bruno Mars duet Die With a Smile. Not nearly my favorite song, but she sounds great.
Adrian Horton
Oh hell yeah, we’re really cooking now – in quick succession, Bad Bunny crashes through the house of the casita, nods to Puerto Rican reggaeton history with the opening chords of Daddy Yankee’s Gasolina, shifts seamlessly into DTMF track EoO and introduces himself to the crowd – in Spanish, of course.
Adrian Horton
Yo Perreo Sola!!!!! Accompanied by an army of female dancers and a casita full of partiers (is it just me, or did I spy Pedro Pascal?), Bad Bunny is now on the roof, presiding over a massive fiesta.
Bad Bunny, baby
Adrian Horton
Finally, it’s Benito Bowl time!!! Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio presenta the Super Bowl Half-time show – Bad Bunny has taken the stage, in all-white gladiatorial football armor no less, with 2022 hit Tití Me Preguntó and a very Puerto Rico set which resembles the village and local pride from his DTMF world tour (which skipped the continental US, owing to the threat of ICE outside his concerts) and landmark San Juan residency.
Owen Myers
It looks like Bad Bunny will be bringing the salsa to halftime: the 88-year-old Costa Rican dancer Raúl Zúñiga is in the building.
Owen Myers
Just dudes being dudes
After a controversy-rocked few years, Bud Light has been reverting to the mean with their ads, an attitude that reaches its nadir in this new one that invites you to laugh when people fall over. (Dramatically, rolling down a hill in slo-mo, while a Whitney Houston ballad plays.)
Benjamin Lee
Kendall Jenner wants you to gamble
Now for the inevitable appearance of a Jenner in a Super Bowl ad break (last year had Kris pimping out Ray-Ban’s Meta glasses), and it’s inevitably to promote something just as toxic as their family brand. It’s the turn of Kendall here, showing off acting skills even worse than her half-sister, urging us to gamble more. Perfect!
Benjamin Lee
Put your seatbelt on while crying
A dull, by-the-book attempt here from Toyota to get a tear or at least an awww out of us. When it comes to shameless string-pulling, I’m waiting for Google to pull out the big guns.
Andrew Lawrence
The Benito Bowl is officially incoming, with island and bodega vibes apparently in the offing …
Alaina Demopoulos
Oikos gives Kathryn Hahn the power
Kathryn Hahn and Derrick Henry ride a San Francisco cable car together; when it stalls, a greek yogurt-powered Hahn uses her new muscles to save the day. My favorite part: the lower-third text reminding us that this is a “Dramatization. Do Not Attempt.”
Adrian Horton
We’re fast approaching the real reason we’re all here – the Benito Bowl – so let’s get into some parlor games. Speculation has run rampant all week: who will Bad Bunny bring out as a surprise guest? What will he sing? Will he say anything directly political? (I’d be surprised.) Betting is Not My Culture, but the markets have odds on Ricky Martin or Lady Gaga as the most likely surprise guest, followed by Cardi B, who featured Benito on her 2018 hit I Like It (and is at the game, as her boyfriend Stefon Diggs plays for the Patriots). Very high odds, as well, on his 2022 hit Tití Me Preguntó opening the show.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/culture/live/2026/feb/08/super-bowl-bad-bunny-ads-everything-but-football
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