The Pepsi Polar Bear Commercial – The Choice, The Song, and More

In this corner, hailing from Atlanta, Georgia, with its mascot the mighty polar bear, it’s Coca-Cola. And in the other corner, hailing from Purchase, New York, along with its mascot— the Coca-Cola polar bear?? This is more twisted than the ending of Begonia starring Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons! Or was there no movie twist at all, which is a twist no one saw coming? Check out the Pepsi commercial (with a twist) below and then scroll down for more…

The Song. Taking us way back to 1984, Pepsi calls up a song from Queen called “I Want To Break Free.” Here’s the full track…

Ruthless. And at the same time, playful. For this fight between the beverage giants, we get a seat ringside– or is it more fitting to say we’re on the sidelines since this is a Super Bowl commercial? Pepsi appropriates the Coke polar bear we’ve grown to love over the years and viewers have been quick to kick while Coke is down. Remember Coke’s AI animated holiday commercial? Commenters on YouTube aren’t holding back, praising Pepsi for hiring animators and blasting Coke for the AI ads. So this commercial is a one-two punch– taking the polar bears AND using real animation, both elements that make Coke look poorly.

Pepsi delivers its final body blow of this round in the form of the top culture reference from 2025. The Coldplay Kiss Cam. Did anyone have polar bears hugging on their 2026 bingo card?

-Out of the Wilderness

Dr. Rick Job Site Progressive Commercial – Construction and Destruction

Who doesn’t love checking out a good construction site? Well, except when it messes up traffic. This love for all things “manual labor” is the sentiment behind a new Dr. Rick commercial from Progressive.

Gosh, I’ve written about two commercials that remind me of one of my favorite movies, Elizabethtown. Remember the “Rusty’s Learning to Listen” scene? Boys love construction, or in the case of the movie… DEstruction.

Have you seen another commercial that reminds you of Elizabethtown? If you guessed the Budweiser clydesdale eagle commercial for the 2026 Super Bowl, you got it! Great commercial. It sounds like someone needs to watch Elizabethtown this weekend. And that someone is me.

-Out of the Wilderness

The Chipotle Yup Yup Nope Commercial – The Music and the Fake YouTube Views?

Everybody has choices, especially when it comes to fast food. Chipotle wants us to say “Yep” to their fresh food and “Nope” to thawed out meals from other restaurants. Check it out then scroll down for more info…

The Song. From 2015, this is a song from E-40 called “Choices (Yup)”. This is a great use of the chorus for a message Chipotle only has 30 seconds to deliver to the viewer. Here’s the full track… and warning about the language. There’s a lot of foul words in this one.

I don’t have (fresh) beef with the commercial, even if my feelings for Chipotle have frozen over (like a McDonald’s nugget in transit). Why am I being cold? I find it hard to believe the YouTube video has 1.6 million views in just 3 days but only 4 comments.

Did Chipotle buy views? Yup. Are they going to get away with it? Yup. Now do I trust them with food I’m putting into my body? Nope.

-Out of the Wilderness

Campbell’s Mm Mm Good Commercials Are Uncomfortable

Campbell’s Soup has a series of ads where no one talks and I’m going to talk about it. They’re weird. In the ad below, a couple of boys come to the kitchen after playing outside in the snow. They’re eerily quiet until they utter, “mm mm good.”

It’s so unnatural. When was the last time two brothers ran through the front door and weren’t hooping and hollering about the fun they had in the snow? Get it together Campbell’s! In another ad, a family bakes mac and cheese and the longest line of the whole ad is written on a sticky note. I’m starting to think we’re all in a sequel of “A Quiet Place” and it’s giving me icky vibes.

I understand the idea that sometimes silence can say a lot when it comes to advertising. When we’re blasted with messages, sound, music, voiceovers, telling us to buy this and buy that, there’s an effective way to draw the viewers attention by what we’re not hearing. But when the only human sounds are grunts and one word conversations, it’s a no from me, Campbell’s.

-Out of the Wilderness

The Budweiser Clydesdale Eagle 2026 Commercial – Freebird!

And the winner of the best Super Bowl commercial goes tooooooooo……… *drumroll* Actually scratch that, no drumroll. Budweiser wins. Everyone else… just go home. They really brought it with their commercial featuring a few signature American icons– an eagle, the clydesdale horse, and “Freebird” by Lynyrd Skynyrd. Here’s this year’s best Super Bowl commercial…

This ad is great for every reason you can think of. First– tiny, baby animals. Everyone knows animals are at their cutest when they’re young and that’s an instinctual characteristic of humans– to think of baby humans (and other mammals and animals) as cute. It’s why we say “awwwww” when we see a puppy, or birds in a nest, or even that one baby our friend has who’s really not that cute at all.

Budweiser pairs a foal and an eaglet together and our collective hearts are melted. The unlikely duo grow up, which is hard to show in a serious way in less than a minute, mostly with the young horse helping the eagle spread its wings. They don’t get into how the horse gets food for the bird, where the bird sleeps at night, how predators were denied day in and day out, that’s much too realistic for this “warm and fuzzy” commercial.

And then there’s “Freebird,” the next reason this ad is killer. Using this song for the ad is kind of like looking at your friend’s baby and saying “Awwwww so cute!” when the baby is, like I said before, not cute. So even if you don’t like this song, you keep that to your unpatriotic self. In this case, though, the song is a perfect fit and there won’t be anyone who trashes the song or the ad in any comment section… except for an occasional flyby post reminding us all of the Bud Light fiasco from a couple of years ago. 🥴

Here’s a performance of “Freebird” from one of my top 5 favorite movies, Elizabethtown.

It’s such a great movie starring Orlando Bloom and Kirsten Dunst. Thank you Budweiser, for reminding me of this gem of a movie and putting together the best Super Bowl commercial this year.

-Out of the Wilderness