Nothing new here, folks, just much more of the same. Much, much more.
In its February 7-8, 2026, edition, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) published an article about Super Bowl advertising that read, in part, “Political discord and polarization in the U.S. means most brands will continue to avoid hot-button topics.” Even the idea of unity, which Jeep called for in a 2021 Super Bowl ad starring Bruce Springsteen, is probably beyond the pale.
Tim Calkins, a marketing professor at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management: A lot of people are not feeling like this is the time to come together. They feel this is the time to fight, push back, and battle it out.
It’s not hard to argue that this just-passed Super Bowl is an corroberating event. Even President Trump weighed in (as he always seems to do about just about everything) in an unprecedented (for a president) fashion.
Photo courtesy The Georgetown Voice
Politics is nothing new to the NFL game. The transformation to where we are today began when San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick first knelt during the U.S. National Anthem on September 1, 2016. He was protesting racial injustice.
Instead of letting the moment pass, President Trump turned it into a long-running political campaign by saying that Kaepernick’s and other NFL players’ kneeling during the anthem is a “disgraceful sign of disrespect” for the flag and country and urged owners to fire or suspend players who protested, suggesting they “get that son of a bitch off the field.” (Strong words from a person who is so patriotic that he ditched serving in the military because he received five deferments during the Vietnam War.)
Ever since then, the Super Bowl has become a political football, which brings me to this year’s game.
If there is one takeaway for sports marketers from the Super Bowl (and the Olympic Games as well), it is this: sports and politics do mix. In fact, the politics surrounding this year’s game were in the news a long time before the Super Bowl teams were selected.
After the NFL announced Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny, an American citizen, as the Super Bowl halftime performer, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents would be at the Super Bowl in Santa Clara to “enforce the law.” Her comments were similar to remarks by Corey Lewandowski, the long-time Trump advisor, who said that there was ‘nowhere for undocumented immigrants to hide,’ including the Super Bowl.”
Graphic courtesy Facebook
Adding fuel to the fire, President Trump said he would not attend the Super Bowl because Bad Bunny and Green Day were scheduled to perform. Both have been vocal critics of Trump and his administration.
President Trump was quoted in the New York Post saying, “I’m anti-them. I think it’s a terrible choice. All it does is sow hatred. Terrible.’ As for Bad Bunny, Trump said he “had never heard of him.”
Of course, the far-right followed his lead, calling the Puerto Rican “un-American” because he sings primarily in Spanish, voted for Kamala Harris, and has criticized Donald Trump.
–House Speaker Mike Johnson said the decision was “terrible,” that Bad Bunny’s music doesn’t appeal to a “broader audience.” He suggested a more suitable choice would have been Lee Greenwood, who performs the patriotic anthem, God Bless the USA.
–Sen. Bernie Moreno of Ohio called the selection “clearly partisan.”
—Turning Point USA, a conservative, youth-focused activist group founded by the late right-wing MAGA supporter Charlie Kirk, said they would produce their own halftime show, called “The All-American Show,” which could be viewed on social media.
The NFL was accused of (applying a football term) political unsportsmanlike conduct. That’s an interesting twist, given the fact that in the 2024 Presidential campaign, team owners donated 10 times more money to the Republican cause ($ 23 million to $2.5 million).
The backlash failed miserably. Bad Bunny, the world’s most-streamed artist for the fourth time, received more positive major media coverage than the football teams did in the days leading up to and the day of the game.
Jennifer Lopez at the Super Bowl (photo courtesy The New Yorker)
But let’s remember that Conservative concerns about Super Bowl halftime performances are not new. In January 2025, a group of 17 Louisiana lawmakers sent a letter to Super Bowl LIX organizers, expressing serious concerns about the halftime show and arguing that it needs to be “family-friendly”.
The letter cited previous Super Bowl halftime performances that they felt were objectionable. An example included the 2020 performance in Miami of Jennifer Lopez, in which she “wore little clothing and was groped by male and female dancers on stage, while the performer made sexually suggestive gestures and performed on a stripper pole.” Rihanna, they said, “was shown groping herself during the 2023 game in Glendale, Arizona, while singing song lyrics that were so offensive that few Louisiana adults could read those lyrics before an audience without shame.”
Again, the raging wind produced little damage. If anything, it piqued interest in this year’s featured performer. Consider this. The night before the Super Bowl, CNN aired an hour-long special program that “examined the global icon (Bad Bunny) and what his presence on the NFL stage reveals about race, identity, capitalism, and American culture.”
And what about the eagerly awaited (among advertisers) “battle of the commercials”? Well, Holy Moley! The most talked about spot of the night wasn’t about a product, and it wasn’t even broadcast during the game. It was an ad timed for digital release at game time in which Epstein survivors attacked Attorney General Pam Bondi for redacting and not releasing all the files.
Only people who get their news from right-wing outlets could possibly think that President Trump bested Bad Bunny in this year’s political football game. But unbiased people, who pay attention to mainstream media and are not brainwashed, know that the president not only came in second to Bad Bunny but that he was out of the running.
As for the game, it was like any other football game with a few exciting moments and many boring moments. Announcers Mike Tirico did his usual workmanlike job, and Cris Collinsworth, as usual, provided excellent analysis, even though both described plays as if they were the first time they ever happened.
And what would a Super Bowl (and every other NFL telecast) be without the league wrapping itself around the American flag, with performers singing the National Anthem and America the Beautiful?
That seemed a bit much, considering how President Trump trashed Bad Bunny, which was an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for sure.
