2023 Super Bowl Auto Ads: Is There a Hidden Message?

Super Bowl LVII saw a hobbled Patrick Mahomes lead the Kansas City Chiefs to a 38-35 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles. In addition to an entertaining halftime show by Rihanna, the Super Bowl is a marketing spectacle where companies spend big dollars to showcase their products. As noted in our review of the 2020, 2021, and 2022 Super Bowl ads, automakers, traditionally among the largest Super Bowl advertisers, have used the Super Bowl to mainstream the shift to electric vehicles. While this year’s ads again touted EVs, is there a hidden message with so many automakers sitting out the big game?   

The automakers running ads during this year’s game were General Motors with its “Why Not An EV?”; Kia and its “Binky Dad;” Stellantis with Ram’s “Premature Electrification” featuring the Ram 1500 Rev; and Jeep’s “Electric Boogie” and “Parking Spot” ads featuring the Wrangler 4xe and the Grand Cherokee 4xe.  Porsche, in collaboration with Paramount, aired its “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts” film ad shortly before the game.  But, with eight auto companies running ads last year, why so few ads this year?

According to an CNBC, most automakers bypassed the Super Bowl this year “to preserve cash or spend ad dollars elsewhere,” apparently either anticipating increased consumer acceptance for EV products as more states implement zero emission vehicle requirements, or at least discounting continued consumer resistance to EV products.  And non-traditional participants in related industries, like online used car sales platform Carvana, have faced headwinds over the past year with supply chain and regulatory issues.  In its first-ever Super Bowl ad, Carvana in its 2022 “Oversharing Mom” touted a great buying experience through that company.  Now, Carvana is struggling with increasing prices, logistical issues and customer and regulatory issues. 

GM’s “Why Not An EV?” continues the company’s aggressive push to an EV future.  Following up on 2021’s Will Farrell “No Way Norway” ad showcasing the company’s commitment to an EV future and its 2022 Mike Meyers “EVerybodyIn: Dr. EV-il” ad featuring GM’s new Ultium® battery platform, GM again used Will Farrell to mainstream EVs by showcasing GM EVs in iconic Netflix programs and asking: Why Not An EV?

In a shift from promoting EVs, Kia’s “Binky Dad” ad featured every new parent’s worst nightmare, the missing binky.  Set to Rocky’s famed “Gonna Fly Now,” the ad promotes a family SUV with off-road capabilities by following a father racing a 2023 Telluride X-Pro SUV to retrieve a “binky” for his baby.  Looking to capitalize on the power of social media, Kia provides Binky Dad fans three alternate endings exclusively on TikTok as the relatable adventure goes viral.

Ram’s innuendo-packed “Premature Electrification” ad featured actor Jason Jones introducing the Ram 2024 1500 REV electric pickup truck by narrating a tongue in cheek spoof “PE” commercial humorously addressing potential concerns consumers may have with an electric pickup truck.  Meanwhile, Jeep’s two ads featuring the Wrangler 4xe and the Grand Cherokee 4xe also mainstreamed EVs.  “Electric Boogie” featured the Wrangler 4xe and the Grand Cherokee 4xe in off-road adventures to the iconic “It’s Electric” while “Parking Spot” has two winter hikers blasting a snow-covered electric Wrangler out of a snowbank with the message “Go Anywhere, Do Anything.”

As the automobile industry continues its path to an EV future, many important strategic, legal, and regulatory issues and challenges remain for both established automakers and new entrants, including:

• The ability to navigate supply chain, inventory, and economic pressures and challenges;
• The need for readily available and economical home, business, and roadside charging infrastructure; and
• The need for state dealer laws and regulations to embrace a rapidly evolving auto industry fueled by new technologies, changing consumer demands, and new sales and distribution models.