This Super Bowl Ad Will Have Taylor Swift & Travis Kelce's Haters Groaning
Love them or hate them, Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce have come to dominate the NFL conversation this season — to mixed reactions, of course — but Cetaphil's new Super Bowl LVIII commercial chooses to look at the positive impact they've made on the game.
Some NFL fans have taken issue with the media attention their relationship has garnered at the cost of the game. The "Shake It Off" singer was booed in January 2024 when she attended a Kansas City Chiefs game to show support for her boyfriend. Sports journalists like Jeff Pearlman took to X, formerly known as Twitter, with scathing remarks, posting, "In case anyone didn't hear, Taylor Swift was at the game. And NBC made it r-e-a-l-l-y annoying." Fox's Tomi Lahren added, "The wall-to-wall coverage of Taylor Swift at this game is annoying AF. I don't even like football and I agree it's destroying football. Just enough."
Even Kelce's brother, Jason, critiqued the way networks have been covering football games on the "New Heights" podcast, which he co-hosts with his brother. Jason said, "Like, basketball has it figured out. They're all courtside, they're sitting there. They show them once or twice, but they get back to the game." But, even though Swift's appearances at Kelce's games remains a sore spot for some, it seems her attendance has sparked a new interest in the game among an untapped audience. And with Super Bowl ad season upon us, Cetaphil's commercial indicates that Swifties might be invested for the long haul.
Cetaphil cashes in on the Taylor Swift effect
Cetaphil dropped its new advertisement just in time for Super Bowl Sunday. The Cetaphil commercial features a father and daughter bonding over football, bridging a gap with their newfound common interest. In the ad, a father struggles to connect with his daughter, but he fails when she decides to retreat to her room instead. She indulges in her Cetaphil skincare routine while her dad watches a game downstairs. Suddenly, she hears the commentator say, "Well folks, there she is. It's the most famous fan of the game," and it's enough for the teen to join her dad on the sofa. Of course, the father is thrilled to finally be spending some time with his daughter.
Although the commercial only implies that Taylor Swift is the celebrity fan, there are certain clues that Swifties will notice right away. First and foremost, the father and daughter are wearing red jerseys — the same shade as the Kansas City Chiefs, for whom Travis Kelce plays — and the dad is even wearing a slew of Swiftie-style friendship bracelets. Also the father's jersey features No. 89, the year of both Swift and Kelce's birth, and the daughter's jersey features No. 13, Swift's lucky number and birth date.
Of course, Cetaphil is cashing in on the Super Bowl championship since Deadline reported that the NFL now has broadened its fan base. The outlet reported in 2023 that there has been a 53% increase in viewership among girls age 12-17. And that's, quite frankly, thanks to the Taylor Swift effect.