Super Bowl LX: The Dullest Ad Game in Recent History
The Super Bowl has always been the ultimate creative stage. It is a moment for brands to arrive with their boldest thinking, sharpest strategy and most culturally resonant work. At up to $10 million for a 30-second spot, showing up with anything less is not brave. It is reckless.
Year after year, Super Bowl ads outperform the average US TV commercial. That should not be surprising. With that level of investment, attention and cultural gravity, excellence should be the baseline.
And yet, something curious is happening.
The gap between everyday advertising and Super Bowl advertising is narrowing. That is encouraging news for brands competing in the daily noise. But it is a more uncomfortable reality for those investing millions for a single moment in the spotlight. If the difference feels marginal, the premium becomes harder to justify.
Why is this happening?
Neutrality. The absence of emotion.
Not a lack of craft. Not a shortage of budget. But an overcorrection toward product, proof points and functional messaging. In a bid to demonstrate value, too many brands defaulted to explanation over emotion. Features over feeling. Utility over humanity.
The result is work that is clear, competent and commercially rational. But it is also emotionally flat.
Emotion is what makes audiences buy, remember and care. It is what turns a 30-second spot into a cultural moment. And in 2026, that emotional voltage felt lower than it should have. Super Bowl LX was not devoid of strong advertising, but it was marked by an unusual restraint. In a year when brands had the world’s attention, many chose to tell us what their product does instead of showing us who they are.
The brands that stood out did something different. They resisted the pull of pure functionality. They prioritized story, character and feeling. And in doing so, they reminded us what the Super Bowl stage is actually for.
Who Defeated Dull at Super Bowl LX?
Defeating Dull differs from System1’s Star Rating, as outlined in The Extraordinary Cost of Dull. Star Rating rewards specific positive emotions, particularly Happiness and Surprise, because these are the feelings most strongly linked to long-term brand growth.
Dull works differently. It has only one true enemy: Neutrality.
An ad does not need to be cheerful to avoid being dull. It simply needs to make people feel something. Both positive and negative emotions reduce dullness. While emotions such as Happiness and Surprise build long-term memory structures, negative emotions can play a powerful role in driving short-term sales, reflected in System1’s Spike Rating.
In other words, an ad escapes dullness the moment it stops being neutral.
The less dull an ad is, the more likely it is to deliver commercial impact, whether through sustained brand growth or immediate sales activation.
The least Dull ads of Super Bowl LX did exactly this. They made people feel something, whether through narrative, character, humor or cultural relevance. Based on performance benchmarks against this year’s Dull average of 38%, here are the top 10 least Dull ads of 2026.
10. The Keg – Bud Light | Anomaly
Neutrality: 25%
9. Lil Bro – Universal Orlando Resort
Neutrality: 24%
8. Good Will Dunkin’ – Dunkin’ | Artists Equity
Neutrality: 24%
7. Last Harvest – Lays | Highdive
Neutrality: 24%
6. Bananas – Instacart | Local Produce, McCann New York, BBDO New York
Neutrality: 24%
5. Sticky Note – Blue Square Alliance Against Hate | VML
Neutrality: 22%
4. Ultra Instructor – Michelob ULTRA | Wieden+Kennedy
Neutrality: 21%
3. Champion – NFL | 72&Sunny
Neutrality: 19%
2. You Are Special – NFL | 72&Sunny
Neutrality: 17%
1. American Icons – Budweiser | BBDO New York
Neutrality: 16%
Create with Confidence®
Are you ready to defeat Dull at the Super Bowl and beyond?
System1’s Test Your Ad platform pinpoints, scene by scene, the emotions your advertising elicits across social, outdoor and TV. Spontaneous verbatims and key brand associations are directly linked to specific emotional responses, giving you clear direction on where your ad can be optimized for maximum commercial impact.
Contact the team today or register for our upcoming webinar on March 31, where we explore Dull by category, type of happiness and the key creative features that drive or defeat Dull, building on the work of Orlando Wood.