Not the Game, The Ads: WGHS Drafts Picks for Best Super Bowl Commercials

Students around Walnut Grove were tasked with drafting their pick for the greatest Super Bowl commercials of all time.
​by Emery Brown and Amelia May

Every year, millions of Americans tune in to the Super Bowl. Whether it be for the game itself or the halftime show, one underrated MVP of the game is the high-quality commercials that air every year, known for good production, unique concepts, or celebrity cameos. Students around Walnut Grove were tasked with drafting their pick for the greatest Super Bowl commercials of all time. Here are their picks:

Senior Sully Gouge watches the Super Bowl almost every year, and names Mountain Dew’s infamous “Puppy Monkey Baby” as the GOAT of Super Bowl commercials, claiming that it represents “life itself.” The creature first appeared in 2016, promoting Mountain Dew’s energy drink Kickstart, before returning in 2022 and 2025 respectively (MEL Magazine). Sully claims the commercial speaks to him “because he’s a puppy, and a monkey, and a baby, and that’s awesome.” With that, what could be his pick for the worst advertisement in Super Bowl history? Simple. It’s “all of the other ones.” 

Junior Mason Bender has no debate when it comes to the best Super Bowl commercial of all time. “Number one is Kanye’s commercial. There’s no doubt about it–it’s literally the most goated commercial I’ve ever seen.” The ad shows Kanye West laying in a dentist chair, filmed on his iPhone, explaining how he bought a Super Bowl ad, spent the budget on new grills, and then used the commercial to plug his website, Yeezy.com. It's just Kanye... talking... for about 40 seconds–and according to Mason, that’s the whole point. “It’s just so creative and so Kanye. You can’t really choose anything else.” On the other hand, Mason is much less impressed with this year’s Dunkin commercial, calling out its AI generated Good Will Hunting parody play. “This year’s Dunkin one was pretty bad… it was AI…”

Auntry Estero, a Junior, doesn’t often watch the Super Bowl, claiming, “I mean, I only saw a couple of [commercials],” However, he still has his pick for greatest commercial. “I saw the 50 Cent commercial for Doordash, and I really liked that one.” He then elaborates that he loved the ad because “We see him diss Diddy.” He then agrees with Mason that “Good Will Dunkin” is the worst ever advertisement for its use of AI.

With Super Bowl LX ending with a Seahawks victory, we can only look forward to the incredible advertisements of Super Bowls yet to come.