The Japan Times - Stars, Clydesdales and an AI beef jostle for Super Bowl ad glory

With 30-second spots commanding as much as a record $10 million apiece, brands are pulling out all the stops for the Sunday matchup between the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California.

Here are some ads generating buzz ahead of kick-off:

- AI slugfest -

The fiercest pre-game battle isn't on the field — it's between rival AI companies.

Anthropic, the maker of chatbot Claude, is making its Super Bowl debut with an ad openly mocking OpenAI's decision to introduce advertising in ChatGPT.

In one spot, a man asking an AI chatbot for advice on communicating with his mother receives earnest guidance before the conversation veers into a pitch for a fictional cougar-dating site called "Golden Encounters."

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman fired back on social media, calling the spots "funny" but "clearly dishonest."

Google and Amazon are also in the AI fray, with Google showcasing its Gemini assistant in an emotional spot about a mother helping her son cope with moving house, and Amazon's Alexa playfully tormenting actor Chris Hemsworth.

- 'Free Money!' -

An ad for so-called "Trump accounts" will invite Americans to take advantage of "free money!" with the new savings option for children, created under US President Donald Trump's "big beautiful bill."

The ad features a montage of diverse children speaking about the virtues of saving through the 530A accounts.

"And millions will be pre-funded," a child says in the ad, before the next exclaims: "That's free money!"

Dell Technologies founder Michael Dell and his wife Susan have pledged to seed 25 million of the accounts "with $250 each for children across all 50 states," he wrote in a post on X.

- 'Free Bird' -

Budweiser's "American Icons" spot, marking the brewer's 150th anniversary, pairs its iconic Clydesdale horses with a bald eagle in a soaring tribute set to Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Free Bird."

Bud Light, meanwhile, reunites NFL-great Peyton Manning, Post Malone and comedian Shane Gillis at a wedding where a runaway keg sends the entire party tumbling downhill to the strains of Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You."

In what may reignite the cola wars, Pepsi's spot for its Zero Sugar line features a polar bear — long associated with rival Coca-Cola — suffering an existential crisis after picking Pepsi in a blind taste test.

- Celebrities everywhere -

The roster of A-listers appearing in this year's ads reads like an Oscar night party list.

In a throwback to the 1990s, Ben Affleck returns for donut brand Dunkin' alongside Jennifer Aniston, Matt LeBlanc and Jason Alexander. George Clooney hosts an opulent banquet for GrubHub, a food delivery app. Emma Stone teams up with her frequent collaborator, director Yorgos Lanthimos, for website builder Squarespace.

Adrien Brody goes full method-actor in a noir-inspired TurboTax spot. And Melissa McCarthy channels telenovela drama for cosmetics brand e.l.f. — a nod to Bad Bunny's request that fans learn Spanish before his halftime performance.

At 94, "Star Trek" legend William Shatner chews the scenery in a Raisin Bran ad that leans into fiber jokes, introducing himself as a character named "Will Shat."

- The newcomers -

Novo Nordisk makes its Super Bowl debut promoting its new Wegovy weight-loss pill with an ensemble cast including "Saturday Night Live" comic Kenan Thompson, DJ Khaled and actor John C. Reilly.

The inaugural spot from Fanatics Sportsbook, a gambling site, stars Kendall Jenner, who playfully leans into the internet's "Kardashian Curse" meme about athletes whose careers supposedly falter after dating members of the famous family.

- Tear jerkers -

Toyota's "Superhero Belt" traces a grandfather-grandson relationship across three decades, bookended by rides in a first-generation and the latest RAV4.

Instacart recruited director Spike Jonze for a spot pairing Ben Stiller with pop star Benson Boone in an '80s-style band, with chaotic results when Stiller attempts one of Boone's signature backflips.

Super Bowl LX, the most watched event in the United States, kicks off Sunday at 2330 GMT.

K.Okada--JT