The Super Bowl on the second weekend in February of each year is not only a highlight for football fans: even the many advertisements during the final in the US national sport can be attractive, because the companies behind them make a special effort in view of the big event. Already in 2020 there was a lot of creative for electric cars during the breaks – not from Tesla, of course, but CNBC reported that half the National Football League is obsessed with his electric cars may be. More came in 2021, and Polestar, at least, was the first all-electric car maker to attend this year’s Super Bowl — and it took the expensive opportunity to dig at Tesla (updated, see below).
Electric car spots from GM, Nissan, Kia, BMW
The 56th Super Bowl took place this Sunday night at SoFi Stadium in California between home team Los Angeles Rams and Cincinnati Bengals; the local Rams ultimately prevailed with 23 to 20 points. Part of it was a big music show at halftime, and those who wanted to advertise for 30 seconds while the spectacle was televised reportedly paid a record price of up to $7 million this year, according to reports. According to the broadcaster NBC, all spot slots for this year were sold out, the majority to companies from the automotive, technology and travel sectors.
In this respect, one could also assume Tesla to be one of them, but the company stubbornly does not spend any money on classic . In its place, Polestar made its debut this year during the TV events, also as a purely electric car manufacturer. Unlike other advertisers, the Swedish-Chinese brand didn’t show their Super Bowl spot in advance. Instead, there was initially only a short preview in which Polestar listed what should not be seen in it. Update: It stayed that way: Polestar stuck to its motif “No…” and mentioned, among other things, “No conquest of Mars”, which of course should be understood as a dig at Tesla with its CEO Elon Musk, who populate the distant planet with SpaceX almost incidentally want. The spot ends with “no compromises” and then shows the Polestar 2.
As in the previous year, General Motors (GM) will be present at the Super Bowl 2022 with an electric car squad. The company is once again working with real stars and humor: Dr. Evil is still angry, but mostly about the fact that the world is no longer afraid of him, but of climate change, which is why he wants to save it now. Of course they are available for this new GM electric cars with the battery platform Ultium developed together with LG Energy Solution.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoqiQtc79CQ
In its spot for this year’s football final, Nissan even directly demonstrates the balancing act in which established manufacturers, unlike purely electric car suppliers such as Tesla or Polestar, are stuck: The Japanese brand shows what its new combustion engine racer Z can do, lets the action However, after this demonstration, heroes in it approach the Nissan Ariya, the brand’s SUV electric car. In addition, the spot is socially modern, because the front row of the Ariya is then occupied by two colleagues instead of the actor.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bu56KAaIcac
Also from Asia, Kia takes part in the football spectacle, unlike Nissan, but only electrically – and with a robot dog. He is waiting for a new master and is looking for the Kia EV6. After chasing after the electric car (an SUV like so many do) he runs out of power. But fortunately the EV6 offers an optional socket outlet from its battery, and with its help its driver can revive the robotic animal. Afterwards they drive through the city together (see photo).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoNMz_OV_dI
Finally, BMW tries to be less cute, but with Arnold Schwarzenegger in funny. He plays Zeus, who plans to retire in California, but his ability to send out lightning bolts constantly gets in the way. Only in the iX, which Salma Hayek as Hera puts in front of his door, does he find happiness and peace – especially since he can still turn traffic lights to green thanks to his god power. Finally, BMW fades in its old US slogan “The Ultimate Driving Machine”, extended by an “Electric” in the middle.
So, as you can see at the Super Bowl and without a direct appearance from Tesla, times are changing. Toyota, however, remains cautious when it comes to electric cars. Although the world’s largest car manufacturer is treating itself to two spots for this year’s Super Bowl, none of them is about the electric car offensive that Toyota at the end of December with 30 new models by the end of 2030 announced.