"The tech was everywhere in the surrounding discourse, just not in the emotional sense of the work. In fact, the term "AI" was mentioned 6,939 times in conversations tied to Super Bowl ads, according to social analytics firm Sprout Social data between Jan. 27 and Feb. 9, with viewers openly debating which spots felt machine-made and what that meant for creativity."
"The reactions to specific AI brands underscored the point. Anthropic's ad drew 41% positive sentiment and about 33,000 engagements on its Instagram post, with ChatGPT appearing 3,829 times as a related keyword. Similarly, OpenAI's ad saw 44% positive sentiment and roughly 1,600 Instagram engagements, with Anthropic mentioned 3,738 times alongside it. Turns out, much of the conversation framed the ads through the rivalry triggered by Anthropic's decision to mock OpenAI's decision to introduce ads to ChatGPT. Viewers were analyzing, not simply reacting to it."
AI is being used as a production shortcut that makes cultural likeness fast and cheap, while the Super Bowl demonstrates that genuine shared experiences still require humor, sentiment, and authentic personality. Ads that elicited strong audience reactions prioritized laughter, emotion, or broad American resonance rather than AI aesthetics or references. Social conversation featured heavy AI mention counts and debates over which spots felt machine-made. Performance metrics showed mixed sentiment for AI-driven ads (Anthropic, OpenAI) while creator-led, personality-driven efforts (Oakley with Meta, iShowSpeed) earned notably higher positive response when technology receded.
Read at Digiday
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