We cannot reclaim politics until we reclaim the culture — and Super Bowl advertising is a major cultural event, aside from the game itself. Traditionally, advertisers have eschewed political statements in their big-money spends during the game. However, rumors were percolating pre-game this year that the commercials would have a leftist bent.

Let’s see just what the ads really delivered this year.

Let’s see just what the ads really delivered this year.

The American Petroleum Institute — an oil company trade association — came out early and strong. The bright, colorful ad delivered quite an education to the leftists who scream that fossil fuels and global warming are going to kill us all. It demonstrated all the ways in which oil is intimately involved in our lives — from art, to cosmetics, to robotics, health care, and into outer space.

Coca-Cola teed up a commercial we’ve seen before — images of all kinds of Americans singing “America the Beautiful,” mostly in English but also in a few other languages. This seems like a great way to honor what our country is, and has always been, about. Conservative social media seems to be annoyed by this commercial, yet there doesn’t seem to be a terribly good reason for it.

Honda offered up a great commercial about chasing dreams, with the clever conceit of taking numerous entertainers’ high school yearbook photos and commenting about achievement. While Hollywood is an easy target and we should always slam celebrities for their leftist nonsense, we can’t shoot the messenger here. It’s the message that counts and the message was a good one, reflective of American values. Even a stopped clock is right twice a day.

Related: Budweiser Celebrates American Dream in Super Bowl LI Ad

Alfa Romeo, similarly, earns kudos for a soaring and optimistic vision of paralleling the human understanding of balancing grace, strength, and ingenuity to become better with the company’s automobile evolution.

On Airbnb’s ad, called “#weaccept,” there’s likely to be disagreement. One of the challenges of messaging in any media is determining what message is actually delivered and what is received. Without any context, Airbnb’s ad seems perfectly acceptable. It showed faces of many different ethnicities and ages with the words, “We believe in the simple idea that no matter who you are, where you’re from, who you love, or who you worship, you deserve to belong. The world is more beautiful the more you accept.”

On the surface, it’s difficult to argue with these ideals. A visit to the company website has a lot more to say. There’s a statement supporting The International Rescue Committee, and a commitment to provide short-term housing for 100,000 refugees. These moves by Airbnb were motivated reportedly by President Trump’s recent refugee-related executive order. It’s ultimately an anti-Trump political maneuver, an odd move by a company that is arguably libertarian in handing power to individuals to rent their homes.

[lz_ndn video=31944351]

Who do you think would win the Presidency?

By completing the poll, you agree to receive emails from LifeZette, occasional offers from our partners and that you've read and agree to our privacy policy and legal statement.

Of course, we got plenty of Hollywood content ads — and they were for shows and movies with admittedly conservative values.

“24:Legacy” is, of course, a reboot of the rah-rah-stop-the-terrorists action series.

“Logan” is another film from Marvel, whose films traditionally carry solid messages about individual heroism, good triumphing over evil, and personal responsibility.

The Kia Nero offered up Melissa McCarthy as an “eco-warrior” who gets her butt kicked repeatedly while trying to save the whales, ice caps, trees, and rhinos — and was a great riff making fun of said eco-warriors. Of course, on the other hand, it could also be seen as a high-five to eco-warriors with their heads in the clouds.

Audi’s cloying inequality claptrap garbage was part of the second act of the big game, amid terrific imagery of a young female boxcar racer fabulously out-racing some big burly young boys. This occurred with a voice over about how women are paid less than men and are worth less and valued less regardless of their skills. Imagine if there had been no voice over at all, and it was just a cool commercial about this girl outracing her competitors.

Related: Most Memorable Super Bowl Moments of All Time

84 Lumber, as expected, aired an ad about a Mexican mother and child making their way through various Central American countries taking any work they can. Fox wisely chose to reject the rest of the ad, which could only be found online — in which the pair are blocked at the U.S. border by a wall.

The president of 84 Lumber, Maggie Hardy Magerko, said in a statement: “Even President Trump has said there should be a ‘big beautiful door in the wall so that people can come into this country legally.’ It’s not about the wall. It’s about the door in the wall. If people are willing to work hard and make this country better, that door should be open to them.”

That’s a sentiment everyone can get behind. Unfortunately, 84 Lumber chose a narrative that makes no mention of legal immigrants, but rather suggests the ad’s chosen pair are illegal. In what can only be described as the most in-your-face, laughably obsequious moment in Super Bowl history, the poor sad illegal mom cries as she and her daughter are stopped by the big bad evil wall. Oh, but wait! There’s a door and they walk right in. The tagline: “The will to succeed is always welcome here.”

It is. By those entering the country legally. Too bad 84 Lumber doesn’t seem to think so.