All Eyes on AI for the Game
Artificial Intelligence will once again be part of the Super Bowl advertising game in 2026. A number of companies, including OpenAI, Wix, Ring, and Meta will be advertising AI solutions or AI-enabled features and products. And AI will be used as a tool to de-age or otherwise alter actors.
But this is the first year that a fully AI-crafted spot will appear in the game. Sazerac’s Svedka brand is bringing back its “Fembot” mascot and pairing her with a male “Brobot.”
Reaction has been mixed. Website Mashed.com headline its article “Svedka's Super Bowl Ad Debut Descends Into An AI Hellscape.” And The Hollywood Reporter’s subhead asked if we should be “getting ready for the Slopper Bowl.”
Asked about the potential for criticism, Sazerac CMO Sara Saunders told The Hollywood Reporter. “We expect it and we welcome it. … We think that [the question of humans vs. technology] is a dialogue we should be having no matter which side you’re on.”
While critics and industry experts haven sharpened their knives over AI-crafted spots, consumers aren’t always as quick to outrage — or even notice.
An AdAge/Harris Poll of 1,000 people run in January found that “17% of those surveyed most wanted to see AI-generated ads, with millennials being the most open to them (28%), followed by Gen Z (21%). Respondents were also split on how comfortable they would be watching an ad with AI-generated celebrities, characters, or spokespersons, with 51% feeling ‘very’ or ‘somewhat comfortable’ and 49% ‘not at all’ or ‘not very.’”
Looking back to last year, most AI-related ads fared poorly in the big audience panels, including the USA Today Ad Meter and the iSpot Likeability ranking. Even celebrity-driven spots that were touting more accessible products — like Meta’s ad starring Chris Pratt and Chris Hemsworth, and GoDaddy’s ad featuring Walton Goggins — were in the bottom half of the charts.
This year might be a little different, though, as AI companies try to draw sharper distinctions between their offerings. Claude has launched an ad campaign — including a Super Bowl spot — going directly after the competition for allowing ads in their products.