Dunkin’, Pringles, & PepsiCo win the game. AI missed big time. Bad Bunny ruled.

“PEPSI!! made me want to chug a huge jar of Pepsi whenever the ad came up. I also liked the Pringles one, it’s been a while since I’ve heard of those chips”

— female / 19 / Germantown, MD

500+ Gen Z and Gen Alpha users give their real-time take on Super Bowl LX

During the game, users answered 26 questions each, and delivered 56 hours of insights by midnight.

They talked about the ads that hit, the ones that missed, and the ones that made them want to transact.

Dunkin’, Pepsi and Pringles win the ad game.

Here are Gen Z / Alpha’s favorite Super Bowl ads:

Dunkin’

Why → celebrity ensemble + nostalgia. Over a third referenced the star-studded cast. The deeper hook was “iconic” show nostalgia, with 22% calling out the 80s/90s sitcom throwback.

Pepsi

Why → The concept carried it, no celeb needed. The polar bear animation (48% mentioned) and the Coke rivalry narrative grabbed attention and the storyline (with the Coldplay meme nod) made it a clear favorite.

Pringles

Why → Sabrina IS the ad. 44% named her as the reason. 19% praised the creative concept itself. Gen Z / Alpha appreciated building the ad around her persona rather than just dropping her in.

“I thought it was just so captivating and like entertaining and I thought the whole concept of like just the Pringles being the boyfriend and the fans like knocking the Pringles boyfriend over I just thought it was so funny and like exciting and like what a plot twist at the end it was so much fun so I really like that one I just like love Sabrina Carpenter so I thought it was so good”

“I loved the Pepsi ad i thought that one was so good and creative and like trendy if you know what i mean like i understood it”

“I loved it because it was bold enough to “steal” Coke’s polar bear mascot, it was animated well, and referenced the Coldplay concert controversy”

PepsiCo’s portfolio drove purchase intent with Gen Z / Alpha.

When asked what ads “made you actually want to try it,” Pepsi, Poppi, Lay’s and Doritos all scored big with Gen Z / Alpha - collecting 48% of all top brands mentioned.

Brands spend big on celebs, but only some are memorable.

Sabrina Carpenter delivered Pringles the strongest brand recall tested. Nearly half of Gen Z / Alpha (48%) correctly connected Sabrina with Pringles — and only 13% guessed wrong. When Pringles registered, it registered clearly.

Meta x Oakley came in second at 43%. IShowSpeed wearing the glasses led to association with Meta + Oakley — half named only Meta and 29% remembered Oakley. Only 1 in 5 linked both brands together.

Two famous faces couldn’t make Instacart stick. Ben Stiller and Benson Boone did not resonate, just 22% of Gen Z / Alpha were able to name Instacart — the lowest of any ad tested. Over half (54%) drew a complete blank, and nearly a quarter (24%) guessed wrong entirely.

Andy Cohen didn’t break through with Gen Z / Alpha for Nerds. Only 26% could remember the celebrity from their ad.

AI and AI slop lose big.

When asked about the ads that flopped, Gen Z / Alpha expressed strong negative feelings toward AI and AI-created ads. They’re mentioning strong aversions to “AI slop”, calling out the Svedka vodka robot ad.

Bad Bunny made history.

His performance was legendary with a 81% positive response from Gen Z / Alpha across all genders. They emphasized his deep cultural pride and representation, the pure energy of the performance and the investment in high production value.