The Cost of Dull at the Super Bowl
In 2023, Adam Morgan of eatbigfish and Jon Evans, CCO of System1 and host of Uncensored CMO, took the Cannes Lions stage with a simple, uncomfortable truth. Backed by IPA data from Peter Field and attention data from Karen Nelson Field, The Extraordinary Cost of Dull showed what the industry prefers to ignore.
Dull advertising is costing brands millions.
Dull was defined as the absence of emotion. Measured as “neutrality” in System1’s Test Your Ad platform, it isn’t harmless or safe. Neutrality erodes long-term brand growth, weakens short-term sales, and wipes out memorability. Unless propped up by vast media spend, dull work doesn’t just underperform. It quietly kills brands.
This isn’t a creative argument. It’s a commercial one.
Brands can choose dull, fully aware of the cost. Or they can choose to intervene. But on the world’s biggest advertising stage—the Super Bowl—is standing for nothing really a choice?
In the US, nearly 50% of audiences feel nothing towards advertising. No joy. No anger. No memory. No impact. With Super Bowl budgets at stake, that level of indifference is a serious risk.
So we looked at the most emotive Super Bowl ads from the past six years. The campaigns that refused to be dull, maximized the moment, and are most likely to deliver outsized commercial returns. Encouragingly, Super Bowl advertising performs better than the norm, with average neutrality falling to 36%. Brands do bring their boldest, most emotional work.
But in a world saturated with blandness, emotion isn’t a nice-to-have. It’s the only way out of the extraordinary cost of dull.
The brands that win the Big Game don’t aim to be acceptable. They fight neutrality. Here are the least dull Super Bowl ads of the past six years and what they teach us about choosing impact over indifference.
But first, the Dull Code
Emotion sits at the heart of two of System1’s core metrics.
Star Rating predicts long-term brand growth. Ads that generate positive emotion like happiness and surprise score higher and drive market share.
Spike Rating predicts short-term sales and action. Both positive and negative emotions matter here. What counts is intensity. How strongly something is felt.
Neutrality does neither. It actively undermines long-term growth and delivers little short-term impact, because you can’t feel strongly about nothing.
Alongside each of our anti-dull Super Bowl examples, we show a second-by-second emotional trace. This is where viewers pinpoint exactly what they felt as the ad unfolded. Neutrality appears in grey. Green is positive. Red is anger. Orange is fear. Blue is sadness.
Let’s dive in.
5. Doritos & Goodby, Silverstein & Partners – Cool Ranch (2020) | 15% Neutrality
Ah, the power of music. A core cultural force and a reliable fuel for happiness, especially when it’s hummable, melodic and instantly recognizable.
In 2020, Doritos leaned fully into that power, pairing Lil Nas X with Sam Elliott in a dance-off to Old Town Road. At the time of its release, it was arguably the song of the year. Massively familiar. Massively loved. And still an absolute tune.
The result is an ad overflowing with positive emotion. Joy, amusement, surprise. Very little room for neutrality.
For risk-averse brands worried about triggering negative reactions, this is a clear strategy. Use a soundtrack people already know and love. Familiar music comes pre-loaded with emotion, meaning you don’t have to earn the feeling from scratch. The response is instant, and dull never gets a look in.
4. Amazon Prime (in-house) – Saving Sawyer (2023) | 15% Neutrality
In 2023, Amazon used one of the most effective storytelling devices for defeating dull: tension and release.
The ad opens safely enough. A lovable dog. A close bond with its family. Then the tone shifts. Left alone, the dog descends into boredom and sadness, and chaos follows. We are led to believe the family is frustrated, even cruel. The crate appears. The judgement sets in.
Then comes the turn.
The crate isn’t punishment. It’s a gift. A new companion, there to keep the dog company while the family is at work or school.
That misdirection is deliberate. Amazon makes us feel something negative first. Discomfort. Sadness. Even anger. By tapping into our deep, shared love for animals, it raises emotional stakes fast. The resolution then lands harder, warmer, and more memorably.
It’s a beautiful piece of storytelling. Clever, controlled, and a textbook example of how intentional emotional tension can be used to defy dull.
3. NFL & 72andSunny – Flag 50 (2025) | 14% Neutrality
The NFL enters the podium at number three, and is the most recent Super Bowl contender in our anti-dull data dive.
Flag 50 is a fascinating case study in how satire defeats dull. It parodies high school teen movie stereotypes, triggering anger and contempt for some viewers, while delivering surprise, humor and intense positivity for others.
The ad flips sexism on its head. The female football team are the real popular jocks, confidently showing up the “Brads”. It’s sharp, self-aware, and genuinely funny.
Satire is a powerful anti-dull strategy precisely because it polarizes. Some people love it. Some are offended. Some think it goes too far. But almost no one feels nothing.
That lack of neutrality is the point. Whether positive or negative, emotional response is high, driving both short-term impact and long-term commercial strength.
2. Google (in-house) – Loretta (2020) | 13% Neutrality
It’s no surprise this ad made the list. On release, it was widely hailed as the most emotive Super Bowl ad of its year. And it remains one of the purest examples of anti-dull advertising. Emotional focus, applied with intent.
Google shows how its tool stores memories, recalls key moments, and acts as a quiet companion. But instead of over-explaining the tech, it anchors the story in a man who has lost his wife and is determined not to forget her. The product works because the human truth comes first.
This is relatability at its most powerful. Real loss. Real memory. Real emotion.
Viewers didn’t just understand this ad, they felt it. Sadness dominates the emotional mix by design, but positivity is there too. It’s heartbreaking, yet hopeful. A technology story told through humanity, not functionality.
1. NFL & 72andSunny/Arts & Letters Creative Co. – Next 100 (2020) | 9% Neutrality
Taking the top spot on our anti-dull podium is the NFL with its 2020 Next 100 campaign.
Built on humor, collaboration and the passing of the torch between generations, the ad is an emotional rollercoaster. It makes you laugh, catches you off guard, and lands on a powerful, optimistic peak as a young boy runs onto the field. Crucially, it leaves no room for neutrality.
That positive peak-end drives a strong long-term brand building score of 4.7 Stars, while the sheer emotional intensity fuels exceptional short-term sales impact.
Ads that embed themselves in the moment by featuring sporting icons or directly nodding to the NFL and the Super Bowl benefit from the anticipation and excitement already in the air. Next 100 does this flawlessly, blending human storytelling with unmistakable cultural relevance.
This is how brands defy dull. Emotion first. Relevance built in. Nothing left neutral.
Defeating Dull Beyond the Super Bowl
Defeating dull isn’t just for the Super Bowl. It has to be built into everyday strategy.
If you want to sense-check your ads with the only people who matter, the consumers, get in touch with our team. No guessing. No personal bias. Just real emotional response data showing where your work sparks feeling and where neutrality is quietly creeping in.
And if you want to see who truly defeated dull in this year’s Super Bowl, register for our annual post-game debrief. We’ll break down the brands that won the emotional battle and show you how to apply the lessons for next year.