Dove bucks the Super Bowl trend with poignant ad
Pepsi, Levi’s and Claude AI stuck to a light-hearted tone for this year’s lucrative Super Bowl LX ad break, while Dove stood out for its bold messaging.
We covered Claude AI’s effort in a previous piece, and Levi’s and Pepsi followed up with a similar tone.
Levi’s, firstly, leaned into nostalgia, showcasing its long‑running Americana staples, albeit updated for a more fluid 2026. The ad is colourful and less self-consciously hip than some of its previous offerings.
Pepsi's polar bear taste test
Pepsi, meanwhile, also embraced its past, leaning into an age-old feud with its (in my humble opinion, superior) rival.
‘The Choice’, directed by Taika Waititi (who's popping up a lot lately), puts Coca‑Cola’s beloved polar bear through a blind taste test and has him pick Pepsi Zero Sugar over Coke Zero Sugar, triggering an existential crisis scored to Queen’s ‘I Want to Break Free’.
Waititi himself appears as the bear’s therapist, talking our polar pal through the trauma of accidentally defecting from his own brand – a neat blend of fandom, meme‑logic and old‑school Cola Wars swagger.
While I felt an uneasy sense of pathos for the bear, I have to admit that the behind-the-scenes ad teaser was amusing.
Still, you have to wonder whether gifting your rival some viewer head space is a wise move, given that Pepsi is losing market share to both Coke and Dr Pepper.
Dove pushes body confidence
Lastly, Dove took on a more serious message (assuming you’re not too invested in the Cola Wars), using a prominent moment to push a message that feels closer to a public‑health announcement.
Body image and confidence were the targets of its effort, sticking out in the middle of the most macho broadcast of the year. A montage of empowering clapping makes the ad hard to ignore, and its message is prominent from the outset.
Our take
Brand wars, empowerment and nostalgia are hardly new trends, but there’s enough originality in their presentations this year, and a distinctly upbeat tone, that made the Super Bowl ad a memorable one.
I still feel a little bad for that poor bear, mind.
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