Top 10 Nightmare Fuel Super Bowl Commercials

“Super Bowl 50” (2016)

There are freaky mascots, and then there’s PuppyMonkeyBaby. Mountain Dew was coming out with a new drink called Kickstart, which was a combination of regular Mountain Dew, juice, and caffeine. So to celebrate, they created the PuppyMonkeyBaby, a combination of - well, you can probably guess. This thing is a complete horror show, with the head of a dog, the body of a monkey, and the legs of a human baby. As if it didn’t look scary enough, it also dances around the room in a jerky, stop-motion manner, making it look like something out of “The Nightmare Before Christmas.” Catchy tune, though. PuppyMonkeyBaby, PuppyMonkeyBaby.

“Super Bowl LIII[a]” (2019)

Call us crazy, but we get the shivers any time we see robots with human faces. In this horrific commercial for TurboTax, a man shows off his new “Robochild,” which is a metal figure with a human child’s face and one of those weird pre-Siri robot voices. This kind of “human face plastered on a robot body” was creepy when “Robocop” did it, and it’s still creepy today. Props to the design team who made this thing, because it looks fantastic. It’s just too bad that it is deeply, deeply unsettling.

“Super Bowl LVII[b]” (2023)

It’s amazing how much work goes into Super Bowl commercials nowadays. These things are basically short movies at this point. Unfortunately, horror shorts are very popular. Adam Driver stars in this impeccably-produced ad for Squarespace, which shows him walking in a vast desert landscape backed by moody synth music. It’s already quite eerie in a “Blade Runner” kinda way, but then he comes across the singularity. Suddenly, multiple Adam Drivers emerge and speak in unison, and then the singularity activates and sucks them all into its gravitational pull. Who knew that the year’s best piece of sci-fi horror would come via a Super Bowl commercial?

“Super Bowl LVII[c]” (2023)

Heck, this commercial is so scary that it even starts like a horror movie! A woman is working away on her computer when a figure walks by the doorway. She hears a creak and turns around, but of course, no one is there. And then she’s violently yanked away by a giant rabbit paw. So begins this Armageddon-type scenario where giant rabbits are kidnapping humans and throwing them into pits. The imagery is apocalyptic, and we don’t even want to know why rabbits are seven feet tall and walking on two legs. Luckily, the holes have TVs in them, so the humans can enjoy a bit of entertainment as they plummet to their apparent deaths.

“Super Bowl XLI[d]” (2007)

General Motors wanted to make a statement about their obsession with quality, but they went about it in a highly contentious and controversial manner. A robot is working on an assembly line when it drops a screw, throwing it into a pit of inescapable despair. The robot loses its job and then takes a number of menial opportunities, like holding a speaker at a fast food drive-thru. Hopeless and despondent, the robot then throws itself off a bridge. What were you thinking, GM!? The Super Bowl is a time for careless fun, not hopeless unemployment and death! The company eventually altered the commercial after a public outcry, removing the bridge jumping sequence from all subsequent airings.

“Super Bowl LIX[e]” (2025)


We don’t know why, but Super Bowl LIX had a bizarre amount of commercials devoted to body horror. In this one from Coffee-Mate, a guy takes a sip of their new cold foam, prompting his happy tongue to go absolutely bananas. His head shoots back, his tongue slowly emerges from his mouth like some kind of alien creature, and it proceeds to dance around to a custom Shania Twain song. No, we don’t know what’s going on, either. And then, just to make the commercial a little weirder, the guy’s tongue detaches from his mouth and spins around while fireworks erupt around it. You see his buddy’s facial expression? We think he speaks for everyone.

“Super Bowl XXXII[f]” (1998)

Just like robots with human faces, we’ll never get over humans doing animal things. Enter Miller Lite’s Evil Beaver commercial. A group of pioneers make a small settlement in a forest, and to celebrate, they drink Miller Lite, just as the real pioneers did. Well, the new settlement doesn’t go over well with the local beavers, who are portrayed as human men in beaver costumes. They attack the place on motorbikes, and one proceeds to eat away at the log house. It’s a disturbing visual, to say the least. The goofy ‘80s power ballad certainly helps lighten the tone, but just imagine if this was set to scary music. It would give most horror movies a run for their money.

“Super Bowl XLIX[g]” (2015)


Nationwide said that this commercial was meant “to start a conversation, not sell insurance.” So you know it’s going to be bad. The commercial shows a young boy telling viewers that he’ll never do certain things, like travel the world or get married. Why not? Because he’s dead. Yep, in some misaimed twist ending we find out that the boy died in a vague household accident. Because this is what people want to watch while eating their pretzels and dip. The backlash was both fierce and immediate, with many people calling out Nationwide for their depressing stunt, and the company was forced to make a public statement. Well, they certainly started a conversation. Just not the one they were hoping for.

“Super Bowl LIX[h]” (2025)

What…on Earth…is this? Everyone knows about the Seal seal by now, but just imagine watching the game and coming across this monstrosity for the first time. Seal’s face is superimposed over a CGI seal, and he sings “Kiss from a Lime,” a parody of his popular “Kiss from a Rose.” We don’t even know where to start with this thing. This is the definition of a fever dream, a visual and auditory onslaught that doesn’t make a lick of sense and leaves us feeling horribly confused and soaked from the fear sweats. We don’t know what Mountain Dew’s obsession is with terrifying animal-human hybrids, but we wish they’d knock it off.

“Super Bowl LIX[i]” (2025)

Tubi are the kings of making weird commercials, and they topped themselves in 2025, crafting a commercial that would make David Lynch proud. A young boy is born with a head shaped like a cowboy hat, and he goes through life suffering mistreatment from other people with other head shapes. These fleshy scalps are extremely disturbing. There’s no other word for it. We never thought we’d see young children with cowboy hats and wizard caps for heads, but the Super Bowl always delivers the unexpected! The commercial actually has a cute message, and its ending is quite touching. It’s just too bad about those dang heads. We will never unsee this.

Did we miss anything that has been engrained in your memory? Let us know in the comments below!

[b]57
[c]57
[d]41
[e]59
[f]32
[g]49
[h]59
[i]59