Super Bowl Ad W's and L's

Carls Jr.

The Fathers Take:

Carl’s Jr. made a big splash this year by bringing back “hot girl marketing.” Alix Earle made her Super Bowl debut, smashing a burger in a spot straight out of the early 2010s Carl’s Jr. playbook.

It would be surprising to see this ad run five years ago, but in a climate of trad wives, conservatism, and “anti-woke” conversation, this is not so surprising to see. While it got headlines and drove conversation, the question is, did it drive downloads of the Carl’s Jr. app?

Middling W, jury is out.

Uber Eats

The Fathers Take:

Uber Eats must have burnt cash because this ad had everything and everyone—Matthew McConaughey, Mike Ditka, Charlie XCX, and an NFL-sized budget.

It’s big, loud, and completely ridiculous—aka perfect for the Super Bowl. But let’s be real: was this worth $12 million dollars of celebrity cameos? Will anyone even remember this ad in a week? Who knows. But that’s the name of the game and people like it.

Meta Ray-Ban

The Fathers Take:

Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses are actually great technology — live translation, real-time AI, and hands-free content. But you’d never know it from this confusing mess of an ad.

Instead of showing off how the glasses actually work, they gave us Kris Jenner, the avengers and some rich people vibing. No context, no clarity—just vibes.

Hexclad

The Fathers Take:

HexClad is a DTC cookware brand that somehow landed a Super Bowl spot—which is wild, because these ads aren’t cheap. But if you’re gonna go big, might as well bring in Gordon Ramsay, Pete Davidson and… a GeoGuessr influencer?

The rollout was textbook modern marketing—mystery teasers, influencer hype, and Ramsay doing his thing. They even roped in Ashwinn (yes, our very own Father).

Does this mean we’re in the Super Bowl DTC era? Probably not. But HexClad just pulled off a massive flex and made sure people won’t forget them anytime soon.