There was some mention of ads and TS sightings in the “Game Room” watch along thread, but I didn’t see any overall discussion of the “non-football” aspects of the broadcast. Anyone else interested?
My wife and I watched the 1st half and the halftime at my sister’s house. After the halftime, we decided we’d seen enough football, so we called it a night. I hear a football game developed a couple of hours later? 
The Superbowl is pretty much the only football we watch in a year, and we watch it mainly for a glimpse of current society/culture/marketing. Same way we watch some awards shows, SNL… And, as usual, the SB reinforced how out-of-touch we are, and how much we are NOT most companies’ target audience. 
This morning we were discussing the most memorable ads. Seemed to me like Tom Brady was in several ads. Is that his “thing” now? The Dunkin Donuts ad was the one I remembered the most clearly. Of course, that doesn’t mean I’m likely to break my decades-long streak of not entering a Dunkin shop!
Saw a post somewhere today that said, if you are spending $100 million on SB ads instead of building homes for the homeless, you read the wrong book. I thought that on-the-nose.
I always find those talking babies (for some investments or something?) kinda creepy.
Let’s see, I also remember Jeff Goldblum advertising online services for both apartments and - apparently - houses. And Lionel Messi shilling for Michelob - with a Ted Lasso cameo. And a bunch of ads for Temu “shopping like a billionaire” - which none of us really knew what it is.
When Common appeared on an ad (I forget for what), I realized I had thought HE was going to be the halftime star. The 4 of us watching had no idea who any of Usher’s “guests” were. Looking after, I suppose I shoulda guessed Alicia Keys. And I believe I had read the names of others like H.E.R. At one point, my sister said she recognized one of his songs. There seemed to be more “going on” with the spectacle than I remembered from past halftimes. All the dancers, gymnasts, rollerskaters, marching band. I felt like when I was a kid at a 3-ring circus. I always felt those somewhat stressful, as I did not know what I was supposed to be focussing on.
How would you characterize Usher’s music? In my ignorance, I had expected rap, but instead it seemed - what? Pop? R&B? The music was fine - not my cup of tea, but fine. But the overall vibe struck me as - um - somewhat low key. Not knowing any of the music, it seemed like a lot of slow or mid-tempo songs one after another. Was it “exciting” to folk who knew/enjoyed the music?
Oh - final thought. Man, that guy with the face tats who sang America the Beautiful. Quite a look. And I always think it a tad odd when they introduce the sign language interpreters for the songs (nice gauges on the one guy), but then never show them again. I think they introduced 3 different interpreters before the game. Always strikes me as a sorta meaningless gesture to suggest they are being inclusive. Why is closed captioning insufficient?
Final thought - I always think a flyover over a domed stadium kinda a silly gesture.
