Fiber, FOMO and famous faces: Why brands are all-in on the Big Game

Key takeaways:

• The Big Game remains one of the last true mass-reach moments, forcing brands to justify eye-watering ad spend in a fragmented media landscape.
• Snack and bakery brands are increasingly blending indulgence with health-adjacent messaging, signaling a shift from pure celebration to self-aware moderation.
• Celebrity still drives attention, but only when it’s tightly integrated into brand storytelling rather than used as expensive decoration.

The Big Game has always been advertising’s most expensive vanity project. But in 2026 – when Super Bowl LX kicks off on February 8 – it’s also shaping up to be something more uncomfortable for snacks companies: a stress test. Can legacy brands still justify spending Super Bowl-level money in a fragmented media world? Can indulgence messaging coexist with health narratives? And does celebrity still cut through or has it become background noise?

This year’s line-up suggests the industry isn’t backing down. With 30-second spots reportedly selling for around $7m, brands are once again treating the Big Game as a cultural shortcut – one moment, one message, one chance to matter. For major snacks players, that message is increasingly conflicted. These ads are selling comfort, fun and nostalgia, while quietly acknowledging fiber gaps, gut health and post-snack regret.

The stakes are high because the audience still is. According to Nielsen, Super Bowl LVIII drew more than 120 million US viewers across broadcast and streaming, making it one of the last remaining media moments that reliably delivers mass, real-time attention. Circana data shows Super Bowl Sunday consistently ranks among the top food consumption days of the year, with snack volumes rivaling – and in some salty snack categories exceeding – typical holiday peaks such as Thanksgiving.

That collision – peak indulgence meets peak attention – explains why cereal, crackers, chips and candy brands are leaning in harder than they have in years. But the way they’re showing up tells a more complicated story about where snacks are heading next.

From indulgence to intervention: snacks reckon with the hangover

One of the most telling developments this year isn’t who’s advertising, but how. The debut of WK Kellogg Co.’s Raisin Bran in the Big Game lineup marks a sharp tonal shift for the category. This isn’t a sugar-forward, cartoonish cereal ad. It’s a deliberate attempt to hijack the moment after the party – when the wings are gone, the chips are crumbs and viewers are quietly aware they may have overdone it.

The campaign leans on data from the 2020-2025 US Dietary Guidelines for Americans and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) showing that around 95% of Americans fail to meet recommended daily fiber intake. It reframes cereal not as breakfast nostalgia, but as nutritional correction. That’s a notable repositioning for a category that’s spent years on the defensive around sugar, processing and relevance.

This isn’t happening in isolation. Across bakery and snacks, brands are increasingly threading health-adjacent narratives into indulgent occasions. It’s not about replacing the party food. It’s about inserting themselves into the recovery arc. Gut health, balance and moderation are becoming acceptable language even on the loudest, most indulgent advertising stage in America.

Circana data helps explain why brands feel emboldened to try this. While total cereal volumes have remained under pressure, products positioned around functional benefits – including fiber, digestive health and sustained energy – have consistently outperformed the category average in value growth. Fiber-forward claims, in particular, have shown resilience as consumers recalibrate their relationship with carbs rather than abandoning them outright.

The Big Game, paradoxically, gives brands permission to say this out loud. When everyone knows it’s a day of excess, acknowledging consequences feels relatable rather than preachy. That’s a subtle but important tonal shift for bakery and snacks advertising.

Celebrity still sells but only if it’s doing real work

If there’s one constant in Big Game advertising, it’s celebrity. This year is no exception. Brands are once again drafting actors, athletes and musicians in bulk, betting that familiar faces still buy them attention in an oversaturated media landscape.

Kellanova’s Pringles is back for another consecutive appearance, building on last year’s moustache-led campaign that blended sports figures with deadpan comedy. Mondelēz International’s Ritz is also returning with refreshed creative after leaning heavily on high-profile talent in its previous outing. In confectionery, Ferrero is making its first-ever Big Game appearance with Kinder Bueno, while Ferrara’s Nerds is returning for a third consecutive year.

But there’s a noticeable shift in how celebrities are being deployed. The era of random cameos is fading. Instead, brands are asking talent to do narrative work – anchoring humor, signaling cultural relevance or lending credibility to a repositioning effort.

This matters because celebrity effectiveness is no longer a given. Kantar advertising effectiveness studies consistently show that fame alone doesn’t drive recall or brand lift. Ads that integrate talent into a clear, emotionally resonant story significantly outperform those that rely on recognition alone.

For bakery and snacks brands, that’s a particular challenge. These are low-involvement, habitual purchases. The celebrity can’t just show up. They have to stand for something – nostalgia, trust, irreverence or even authority on wellness. When they don’t, the ad risks becoming expensive wallpaper.

The Big Game still rewards boldness, but it punishes creative laziness. EDO data shows that ads generating strong post-game search lift are those with clear brand linkage and storytelling, not simply star density. At $7m a slot, that distinction matters.

Why the Big Game still matters – even when everyone says it shouldn’t

Every year, someone predicts the death of Super Bowl advertising. Every year, brands keep lining up. From a brand perspective, the logic remains stubbornly intact.

Unlike digital campaigns that fragment across platforms, the Big Game offers scale with context. Viewers expect ads. They discuss them. They rewatch them. According to Nielsen and EDO, Super Bowl ads consistently outperform average TV advertising on attention metrics and post-airing engagement, particularly for food categories tied directly to the viewing occasion.

There’s also a signaling effect at play. For legacy brands, showing up says stability and confidence. For newer or repositioning brands, it signals legitimacy. That’s especially important in categories like cereal and snacks, where private label pressure and social media-native brands have chipped away at traditional dominance.

This year’s mix of first-time advertisers and returning stalwarts suggests the Big Game is being used both defensively and offensively. Some brands are there to remind consumers they still matter. Others are there to announce that they’ve changed.

A very American spectacle

For all its global visibility, the Big Game remains a uniquely US advertising phenomenon. International audiences may watch the ads online, but the economics and cultural dynamics don’t translate.

In Europe and much of Asia, there’s no single broadcast moment that combines comparable audience scale, emotional investment and eating behavior. Even global sporting events such as the World Cup fragment attention across markets and time zones. Advertising spend is distributed, localized and rarely concentrated into one make-or-break slot.

That’s why international brands often treat the Big Game as a US-specific play rather than a global one. The messaging is unapologetically American – loud, celebrity-driven and rooted in national food rituals. Health cues are framed differently, too. Where European campaigns might emphasize regulation, provenance or moderation, US Big Game ads lean into humor and self-awareness.

That doesn’t mean the influence stops at US borders. Successful Big Game campaigns increasingly ripple outward via social media, internal playbooks and global marketing strategy discussions. For multinational food and drink companies, the Super Bowl functions as an internal benchmark – a test of whether a brand is culturally sharp enough to command attention at the highest level.