On Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026, the NFL will hold Super Bowl LX at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, in a gritty gridiron matchup between the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots.
While millions will be glued to their big-screen TV sets, cheering on their favorite team to see who becomes the victor with the right to hoist the coveted Vince Lombardi Trophy, others will be snacking and checking out the colorful parade of Super Bowl commercials corporations are paying upwards of $8 million per slot to air in this annual football season finale.
Over the decades, there’s been a wealth of Super Sunday ads that use outer space and science fiction as a major theme to promote their brands, and we’re tossing out a stellar lineup of these classic Super Bowl sales tools to determine the best of the best. From somber dystopian societies and insane alien invasions, to an Area 51 test kitchen and cute space puppies, let’s count down the 10 best space and sci-fi Super Bowl ads and choose the winner!
10. AXE Apollo “Lifeguard” – 2013 Super Bowl XLVII
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Nothing beats an astronaut! Here’s an oldie but a goodie from 2013, courtesy of AXE Apollo Body Spray. It depicts a beach lifeguard charging into the ocean to save a female bather in peril from the jaws of a ravenous shark.
The brave lifeguard risks life and limb to stab and punch the killer fish and rescue the damsel in distress, only to lose her to a man in a spacesuit walking along the sand who removes his helmet as the woman sprints to our space hero.
9. Doritos “Abduction” – 2025 Super Bowl LIX
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What would the Super Bowl be without a delicious Doritos ad? Here’s last year’s entry with an enjoyable sci-fi twist.
When a serious alien conspiracy theorist has a close encounter with a UFO that intends to abduct his Doritos chips, a furious tug-of-war battle to extricate our true believer from his tangy supply of Doritos ensues.
The chip-loving aliens succeed, but the snack food’s bold flavor causes their flying saucer to split in half and explode, ending with a crunchy cross-universe cultural exchange.
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Jeff Goldblum returns as Apartments.com’s charming spokesman, Brad Bellflower, in this funny takeoff on classic alien invasion films with a tense standoff between insect-like creatures and cautious humans armed with weapons.
Bellflower knows that finding a suitable place to live when moving to a new city or galaxy is a top priority, and he’s here to help the strange visitors discover a nice one-bedroom apartment to rent.
It’s quick and effective, using familiar tropes to deliver an amusing dose of advice while you’re refilling the chips and dip platter during the game.
7. Hexclad “Unidentified Frying Object” – 2025 Super Bowl LIX
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Tough celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay stars in this advertising jewel from last year’s Big Game. Ramsay is recruited to the secret Area 51 test kitchen to prepare special cuisine for a new alien species Earth has just made contact with.
He’s equipped with an advanced set of HexClad cookware to whip up some killer chow for these “foodie” extraterrestrials. These durable, low-friction pans were designed using reverse-engineered alien spaceship technology. Comedian Pete Davidson makes a cool cameo in the finale!
6. Olay “Space Walk” – 2020 Super Bowl LIV
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“Is there enough space… in space…for women?”
Olay’s Regenerist face cream targets the ladies in this STEM-centric spot launched for the 2020 Super Bowl. Inspired by 2019’s first all-female spacewalk, Olay’s empowering mission stars late-night talk show host Lilly Singh, actress Busy Philipps, and former astronaut Nicole Stott blasting into space with Hidden Figures star Taraji P Henson.
It’s a silly trip into orbit and beyond with a solid message of equality and opportunity for all. Its hope was to provide inspiration to young women interested in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics by donating up to $500K for the Girls Who Code organization.
5. Walmart “Famous Visitors” – 2020 Super Bowl LIV
There’s an explosion of cool pop culture cameos that must have cost the company millions in licensing fees in Walmart’s extended Super Bowl LIV commercial promoting their expanded curbside grocery pickup service.
It’s a veritable Who’s Who of sci-fi vehicles and cameos, including spaceships and transportation methods from “Star Trek,” “Guardians of the Galaxy,” “Men in Black,” “Mars Attacks!,” “Star Wars,” “Arrival,” “Flash Gordon,” “The Lego Movie,” and even Looney Tunes’ Marvin the Martian’s flying saucer all grabbing some supplies before zooming off again.
4. Squarespace “Hello Down There” – 2024 Super Bowl LVIII
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Directed by Hollywood legend Martin Scorsese, here’s the extended cut of the alien invasion ad created for the website-building company, Squarespace.
This tale of intergalactic contact begins when extraterrestrials try to get Earthlings’ attention, but they’re so fixated with watching cat videos and reading about celebrity bacon diets on their cell phones that they don’t notice.
Clever aliens decide to construct a website that will announce their arrival. The attractive online greeting card works, and humans finally wake up to greet their cosmic neighbors. Scorsese even scores a fun cameo at the end!
3. Kia “Space Babies” – 2013 Super Bowl XLVII
Heralding from the iconic ad agency of David & Goliath, this hilarious spot for the 2014 Kia Sorrento features a dad spinning a wild yarn to his young son about the planet Babylandia, where newborn humans and animals are created.
There’s an exceptional use of CGI in Kia’s instant classic, as this gem reveals baby boys, girls, puppies, pandas, and piglets as they make their 9-month rocketship journey to Earth and parachute to safety all over the world.
No doubt this impressive mini-movie helped sell a container ship full of family-friendly compact SUVs, and it’s still one of the best of the bunch.
2. Audi R8 “Commander” – 2016 Super Bowl L
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This awesome ad for Super Bowl 50 chokes me up every time! It’s a beautiful piece of advertising that blends nostalgia with a bittersweet message about pushing boundaries.
Here, a retired Apollo astronaut surrounded by mementos of the Space Age’s golden years regains his zest for life when his son arrives and hands him the keys to a new Audi R8 V10-powered sportscar and he’s back on the launch pad, rocketing into outer space.
Paired with David Bowie’s 1972 tune, “Starman,” it resonates on every level, making us believe in the power of exploration, technology, and its transportive abilities.
1. Apple “1984” – 1984 Super Bowl XVIII
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Big Brother is watching!
Although this remarkable Ridley Scott-directed ad for Apple’s new Macintosh personal computer only ran once in the third quarter of the 1984 Super Bowl, its legend lives on. Meant to be a takeoff on George Orwell’s dystopian masterwork novel, “1984,” it’s clearly a shot across IBM’s bow with its oppressive themes and fearless rebel tossing a hammer to shatter the propaganda screen.
Banned due to a lawsuit from the Orwell estate for copyright infringement, it’s never been topped or broadcast again.
