Featuring: Seth Rogan and Amy Schumer.
Game: Super Bowl LI.
Celebrity Paycheck: $4 million.
Total Price Tag: $5 million.
For this memorable Super Bowl ad, Bud Light grabbed two people that have been called funny in the past. Rogan and Schumer joined up to forward a “Bud Light Party,” but the ad worked about as well as you expect.
Bud Light made sure everybody knew that the two actors were paid the same, and it got them exactly nothing. In fact, sales tanked after the ad’s release, which shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone who accidentally watched an Amy Schumer comedy special.
Heineken: “The Run” (2005)
Featuring: Brad Pitt.
Game: Super Bowl XXXIX.
Celebrity Paycheck: $4 million.
Total Price Tag: $12 million.
When regular everyman Brad Pitt heads to his fridge and finds it clear of beer, the ensuring beer run is one to remember. Directed by none other than Pitt's "Fight Club" collaborator David Fincher, this ad has a unique visual style and memorable details.
While the ad only ran once, Pitt garnered a hefty paycheck, up to five million if the rumors are to be believed. And despite the single showing, it's landed itself in the pantheon of legendary Super Bowl commercials.
Visa: “6 Degrees of Kevin Bacon” (2002)
Featuring: Kevin Bacon.
Game: Super Bowl XXXVI.
Celebrity Paycheck: $500,000.
Total Price Tag: $1.9 million.
Kevin Bacon has been in lots and lots of films, which gave rise to the game “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon,” in which you start with any actor or actress, and, via co-stars, tracks how long it takes to get to Bacon.
Visa turned this idea into a Super Bowl ad featuring the actor himself, who plays an obsessed fan of himself. Apparently Kevin Bacon is everywhere you want to be, which some people might not be too thrilled about.
Pepsi: “Joy of Pepsi” (2002)
Featuring: Britney Spears.
Game: Super Bowl XXXVI.
Celebrity Paycheck: $1 million.
Total Price Tag: $5.7 million.
Britney was the It Girl of an entire decade, and she could hardly do anything without every tabloid source in the world breathlessly reporting on it. She banked a number of big ads, including for Pepsi, and the ad she did for Super Bowl XXXVI.
It's a simple jingle with plenty of flashing lights and some good old fashioned pop dancing. Spears has even gone on record that this ad and the others she did with Pepsi are some of the work she's most proud of.
Amazon: “Alexa Loses Her Voice” (2018)
Featuring: Anthony Hopkins, Cardi B, and Gordon
Ramsay. Game: Super Bowl LII.
Celebrity Paycheck: $2 million.
Total Price Tag: $25 million.
In a world where Amazon's electronic assistant Alexa loses her voice, the company scrambled to replace her with famous chef Gordon Ramsay, famous actor Anthony Hopkins, and rapstress Cardi B.
The ad garnered acclaim from critics and audiences, was nominated for an Emmy, and won three “Clio” awards. The Clio's are apparently about honoring innovation and creativity in advertising, which is why you've never heard of them.