On Sunday, February 3, at 6:30 pm Eastern, the New England Patriots and the Los Angeles Rams will face off at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia. Super Bowl 53 marks the ninth time Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and coach Bill Belichick have made it this far together, and their third year in a row. This is the first time the Rams have been in the Super Bowl in 17 years. Maroon 5 will headline the halftime show, along with rappers Travis Scott and Big Boi. Gladys Knight will sing the national anthem.
Super Bowl commercials have already been making headlines. Gillette’s pre-Super Bowl ad — released three weeks before the Super Bowl, as part of the YouTube-era rat race to get advance press coverage and possibly a viral hit during peak-commercial-watching season — hoped to tap into the #MeToo movement by explaining centuries of societal glorification of male violence. People aren’t happy.
During this year’s game, you can expect to see expensive and flashy ads from all the usual suspects: car companies like Kia and Audi, junk food and soda brands like Pepsi and Frito-Lay, and classic drugstore brands such as Procter & Gamble’s Olay and Colgate. One thing you won’t see advertised, though, is cannabis. CBS rejected a Super Bowl 53 ad from the medical marijuana company Acreage Holdings, a move that says a lot about America’s complicated relationship with marijuana.