Pratt, ‘Solo’ join Super Bowl commercial parade

Actor Chris Pratt, the star of the “Jurassic World” and “Guardians of the Galaxy” film franchises, made his advertising debut during the Super Bowl on Sunday in a pair of commercials for Michelob Ultra.

Hyundai ad filmed in Minnesota

Hyundai is trying a stunt to advertise that it donates to pediatric cancer research every time someone buys a Hyundai.

The ad was filmed on location in Minneapolis in the days before the Super Bowl. The company invited Hyundai owners to the stadium and made them go through a pseudo-metal detector that went off when they passed through. The owners were brought into a room and shown a video about cancer survivors. Then, the actual survivors walked in.

Dean Evans, Hyundai chief marketing officer, says some of the Hyundai owners thought they were in trouble even though the metal detectors had hearts on them. He says, “there’s this big heart the size of a head, glowing, and no one noticed it.”

Lighthearted ads

Part of the fun for Super Bowl ad viewers is guessing which brand is behind the hokey jokes or inspirational messages before a commercial ends. Tide is playing on that game with a series of ads that give one answer: They’re all Tide ads!

“Stranger Things” actor David Harbor pops up in scenes that seem to be ads about different products: a car, an insurance company, jewelry and Old Spice (another P&G product). He proclaims them all Tide ads because everyone’s shirt is spotless — even the mechanic underneath a car.

The lighthearted ads have been trending on Twitter and getting good reviews.

Bret Werner is the president of MWW public relations. He says the Tide ad is creative and “a great way to draft off of every commercial.”

‘Solo’ movie coming

The trailer for “Solo: Star Wars Story” is getting the most Twitter attention so far, followed by Wendy’s attack ad against McDonald’s.

That’s according to an initial analysis by Amobee, a global marketing technology company.

Also among the most-tweeted were Tide, Ram Trucks, Pepsi and the back-to-back Mountain Dew/Doritos ad featuring Peter Dinklage and Morgan Freeman lip-synching to hip-hop.

Tide seems to be getting positive reaction for its attempt to co-opt all other Super Bowl ads. In a spot that harked back to the “Energizer Bunny” of the 90s, the message is that anyone wearing clean clothes must be in a Tide ad.

Ram Trucks is getting mixed reactions. Many Twitter users were put off by the use of an MLK speech to sell trucks. Others appreciated the sentiment.

Honoring MLK?

Fiat Chrysler is using the 50th anniversary of a Martin Luther King Jr. speech to sell trucks.

King’s voice rings out as the ad for Ram Trucks shows a series of ordinary people in acts of love. In his speech, King called on people to show greatness through kindness and service. The point? Ram’s tagline: “Built To Serve.”

The ad, which wasn’t released early, contrasted with the humor many other brands are going for.

Wendy’s took its ongoing Twitter snark against McDonald’s to the small screen. Its first quarter ad called out its rival for using frozen beef in most of its patties. Wendy got into it before the game started, tweeting at McDonald’s: “Who wants a Bread Mac?” That came minutes after McDonald’s aired an ad before kickoff.

Bud Knight ad

Look for his coming on the first light of the fifth day, at dawn look to the East.

Oh no, that was Gandalf at the Battle of Helm’s Deep. The much-ballyhooed Bud Knight’s adventure turned out to be much different. More like that friend who’s always promising he’ll “try” to stop by for drinks after the “thing” he has later.

Bud Light is aiming to give impatient “Game of Thrones” fans their fantasy fix with a series of ads that follow a hapless medieval army that shouts the nonsensical phrase “Dilly Dilly” before battle.

They looked for his coming in the second quarter. Before halftime, they looked to the 60-second ad. But the Bud Knight blew off his military duties to have drinks with friends.

Olympics-related ads

The Super Bowl isn’t the only sporting event in town. NBC will start broadcasting the Olympics just four days after the big game, so some Super Bowl ads are Olympics-related.

NBC is running five 60-second spots pregame, in game and postgame, each featuring an athlete’s Olympic story: skier Mikaela Shiffrin, snowboarder Chloe Kim, snowboarder Shaun White, figure skater Nathan Chen and skier Lindsey Vonn.

Meanwhile, Toyota has its own 60-second ad with an Olympics and Paralympics theme airing in the first quarter.

Some Super Bowl ads will pull double duty. For instance, Coca-Cola’s 60-second fourth-quarter ad that celebrates the diversity of its customers will also run during the opening ceremonies.

Male celebrities dominate ads

Just who are the 111 million viewers of the Super Bowl? According to Nielsen, the audience last year was almost evenly split between men and women — 53 percent and 47 percent, respectively.

But advertisers are again turning mostly to male celebrities. Charles R. Taylor, a professor of marketing at Villanova University, said his analysis of Super Bowl ads released in advance last week showed a roughly 2-1 ratio of male-female celebrities in principle roles — in line with past years.

The first exception came after the kickoff. Toyota touted its longtime Olympic and Paralympic sponsorship with the story of Canadian Alpine Skier Lauren Woolstencroft, a Paralympic gold medalist.

Later, Cindy Crawford will reprise her role for Pepsi in a nostalgic spot celebrating pop culture moments of years past.