Sunday’s Super Bowl game between the Los Angeles Rams and the Cincinnati Bengals drew seven commercials from legacy automakers showing off their electric vehicles even as market leader Tesla Inc TSLA remained inconspicuous, sans any participation.
What Happened: Celebrity-loaded EV commercials from the likes of General Motors Co GM, Nissan Motor Co Ltd NSANY, BMW BMWYY, and buzzy spots from South Korea’s Kia Corp and Swedish Polestar shone through the sporting event.
The celebrities in GM’s 90-second ad included “Dr Evil” from the Austin Powers — played by Mike Myers — with Rob Lowe. featuring as his No. 2.
Nissan’s 60-second Super Bowl ad featured actors Eugene Levy while Hollywood actor and former governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger along with actor Salma Hayek featured in an ad for BMW’s electric vehicle.
Polestar’s “No compromises” commercial, sans celebrities, took a dig at Tesla and legacy German automaker Volkswagen Group VWAGY.
Brands reportedly paid up to $7 million for a 30-second spot this year to air their commercials, higher than previous years.
The Super-Charged Reactions: The automaker gigs drew the attention of social media users who pointed out the steep prices and Tesla’s comfortable absence from the race.
Actor and comedian Alan Alda who has over 271,900 followers on the microblogging site Twitter, threw in some historical super bowl statistics and called out the pressure. He compared the 1983, 30-second Super Bowl ad cost of $450,000 with the current $7 million air time price for an ad.
In 1983 a 30 second Super Bowl ad cost $450,000 for airtime. The Hawkeye/Houlihan kiss in the finale lasted a bit longer than 30 seconds. So it was called the $450,000 kiss. It now costs $7 million for an ad. I don’t know if I’m up for this. The pressure. The pressure.
— Alan Alda (@alanalda) February 14, 2022
“I don’t know if I’m up for this. The pressure. The pressure,” Alda wrote in a post.
A Twitter user with over 111,600 followers pointed out that almost every commercial during the Super Bowl was an electric vehicle commercial, indicating the world may slowly be switching to the greener option.
This is how you know the world may be slowly changing:
— Megan Ranney MD MPH 🗽 (@meganranney) February 14, 2022
Every ad during the #SuperBowl has been for an electric 🔌 vehicle
Another Twitter user pointed out that while legacy players spend money to promote their electric vehicles, the best part was knowing Elon Musk’s Tesla did not pay a single penny for a commercial and would still remain the top EV maker.
The best part of the Super Bowl is knowing @elonmusk did not need to pay for a commercial and will still be the number 1 EV company
— aventurine.eth (@Alex_E_Benton) February 14, 2022
Its great to see... but they should have been doing this years ago. They waited for consumer demand, rather than leading.
— Jeff Berardelli (@WeatherProf) February 14, 2022
Tesla fan Sawyer Merritt noted how a majority of Super Bowl ads by automakers centered around electric vehicles, except for one. Merritt also noted Volvo-owned Polestar's dig at Elon Musk.
This prediction was going well until Toyota decided to advertise their new Tundra ICE truck just now lol. https://t.co/In5S3LcHK9
— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) February 14, 2022
Volvo just aired their EV ad, which they paid $7 million to have played during the Super Bowl. Bold strategy to take digs at Elon Musk, VW and the rest of legacy auto lol. pic.twitter.com/aUr8BIOo15
— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) February 14, 2022
Read Next: Elon Musk Reacts To EV Startup Polestar Mocking The Tesla CEO In First Super Bowl Ad
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