For many people, the Super Bowl commercials are reason enough to watch the big game. Iconic ads like Britney Spears’ 2001 Joy of Pepsi commercial and Betty White’s football-playing Snickers ad are almost as legendary as the event itself.
That wasn’t the case with the commercials during Super Bowl LX, however. Instead of funny commercials that were great for Monday water-cooler conversations, we got ads that centered on artificial intelligence, cryptocurrency, GLP-1s, and Trump agenda items like Trump accounts for kids and “Make America Healthy Again.”
People on social media couldn’t help but draw a very specific ― and dark ― conclusion: The commercials really say a lot about the state of the world.
“The Super Bowl commercials last night were so damn scary. Straight out of a Black Mirror episode,” one Threads user wrote. Another noted: “The Super Bowl commercials are all the same. AI, crypto, Scientology. Yeah we get it you’re in a cult.”
Some of the ads may have started out exciting ― or even moving ― just for jump-scare branding to pop up at the end. A viral video on X shows Super Bowl partygoers happily belting out the Backstreet Boys, karaoke-style, along with an ad — until the name of the cryptocurrency company Coinbase appears on screen. TV-watchers responded with “boos” and middle finger gestures.
There was also that Ring commercial about the company’s new “search party” feature, AI-based surveillance that Ring camera users can opt in to. The Super Bowl ad showed the feature being used to track down lost dogs, but many on social media saw a surveillance state and shared rumors that Ring allows U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to use its footage for immigration raids. (The company has publicly denied this.)
“Guys, I’m gonna need you to understand that the Ring commercial was not about finding lost dogs,” one Threads user wrote. “Ring is not trying to help anyone locate lost dogs. That commercial was a dog whistle. Abolish ring AND ice,” another posted.
These commercials painted a clear, dystopian picture of life in the United States now. The truth is, we’re living at a time when costs are soaring, job losses are rampant, and residents of states like Minnesota are afraid to leave their homes and go to school as ICE agents forcefully detain citizens and noncitizens alike.
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The 2026 Super Bowl ads painted a grim picture of what matters most in America right now.
There are plenty of reasons you may be feeling bleak — even gaslighted — because of these commercials.
As AI companies (Google Gemini, OpenAI and others) try and convince people that AI really isn’t that bad, people are losing their jobs because AI is replacing human work. And as millions of Americans lose their access to food stamps because of the so-called “Big, Beautiful Bill,” an ad by RealFood.gov (paid for by the Robert F. Kennedy Jr.-aligned MAHA Center Inc.) told people to “eat real food.”
“Capitalism is damaging your mental health,” licensed professional counselor Jeff Guenther, who goes by @TherapyJeff on social media, wrote in an article about the topic.
These ads reinforce the key pillars of capitalism, including materialism, competitiveness and individualism (pull yourself up by your bootstraps! No more food stamps for you!), factors that were mentioned in a 2021 meta-analysis that linked the consequences of neoliberal capitalist policies to depression and anxiety. Simply put: We’re burned out by the state of the world, and the ads seem to reflect some of the very reasons why.
Experts also say the U.S. is undergoing a time of “national trauma,” and your body can’t tell the difference between a threat right in front of you and a threat on your TV or phone. So whether you’re watching a Ring doorbell commercial on a screen or dealing with a real-life stressor in front of you, your body’s stress response will activate if it bothers you ― leading to a faster heart rate, the release of stress hormones and more. And over time, this stress response can lead to feelings of fatigue, mood swings, digestive problems, depression and emotional numbness.
Are Super Bowl commercials the problem to focus on fixing? Of course not. They’re more like a microcosm of the stressors that many people have been navigating for much longer.
There are some things you can do to mitigate the stress that the current reality brings, such as spending time with loved ones and getting outside to exercise. It can also be a good idea to set boundaries around how often you’re checking the news or social media.
While it’s important to stay informed, you don’t need to consume everything in order to feel like you’re doing something. And at the very least, know you’re not alone in feeling disturbed by it all.
