Big Game ads meet the “AI Litmus Test”: People Pulse findings revealed.

By Chad Nicholson
EVP, Strategic Intelligence
BarkleyOKRP

For decades, Super Bowl commercials have been the gold standard of brand storytelling: big budgets, big swings, and even bigger cultural impact.

But what actually landed with consumers this year?

To find out, we fielded a quick-turn quantitative survey using our new, always-on Intelligence platform, People Pulse*, fueled by Vytal. We surveyed more than 280 consumers Sunday night, immediately following the Super Bowl, to capture real-time reactions while the ads were still top of mind.

And consumer responses suggest a shift. While the event remains unrivaled in mass reach and attention, how audiences judge effort, authenticity, and creativity is evolving fast, largely due to the visible rise of AI in advertising.

The biggest takeaway from this year’s consumer response is surprisingly human: people still want to feel like brands are trying.

The AI effort litmus test.

Roughly three-quarters of viewers noticed AI in some form, but only 15% felt it was a major theme. 

Open-ended responses show mixed sentiment: AI is “expected,” occasionally “cool,” but risks feeling “artificial” or inauthentic if it replaces human emotion rather than amplifying it.

Approximately 40–45% of respondents who noticed AI described AI-driven or AI-enhanced commercials as “lazy,” “cheap,” or “cutting corners.” 

“I feel like artificial intelligence negatively impacts my view of brands because the use of AI can seem inauthentic and does not contain human emotion, which is necessary to convey the importance of brands sometimes to customers.” – Survey respondent.

The Super Bowl is culturally positioned as advertising’s “no-expense-spared” moment. 

When viewers perceive AI as a shortcut and not a creative tool, it violates an unspoken rule: I give you my attention; you give me your best work.

That tension creates what we’d call the “AI Effort Litmus Test.“

For some, AI signaled innovation. For many others, it suggested reduced human effort, diminished emotional depth, and even ethical concerns around job loss and environmental impact. 

In a space where brands spend millions for seconds of attention, perceived efficiency can actually become a reputational liability.

“Creativity and craft have always been a labor of love, and that push is what, in many ways, gives the work its value in the world. Now that AI can produce limitless content in seconds, the real danger is how easily it encourages shortcut thinking that hollows out creativity. The issue is not the technology itself but the instinct to cut corners and accept work that carries no trace of human rigour or soul. – Tim McCracken, SVP, Creative and AI at BarkleyOKRP” 

What hasn’t changed? Humor still wins. By a landslide.

When asked which types of commercials they like most, roughly 75% of respondents chose humor, far outpacing pop culture references, emotional storytelling, or high-concept stunts. 

Humor also drove action. 

The most common post-ad behavior wasn’t purchasing; it was social. 

Less than 15% of respondents reported an actual purchase.

Talking about the ad with friends, quoting it, or sharing it online accounted for the majority of reported actions (35%), reinforcing humor’s role as cultural currency.

Interestingly, humor also softened resistance to AI. When AI was clearly used in service of a joke, rather than as a visual flex, it was more readily accepted. 

Laughter, it turns out, is still the best risk-mitigation strategy.

Uncanny is now synonymous with AI. 

Based on survey responses, it became clear that some consumers assumed the use of AI in instances AI might not have been used at all.

The line between AI and traditional production tools like CGI is blurring fast. Even when brands aren’t using AI, anything that feels slightly “off” is immediately side-eyed.

Take Dunkin’s de-aging-style commercial. Whether AI was actually involved or not, the audience assumed artificiality at first. 

The uncanny has become synonymous with AI.

The new standard.

Viewers aren’t necessarily rejecting technology. 

They just don’t appreciate anything that feels effortless, recycled, or emotionally hollow. 

Humor remains the safest shortcut to connection. Craft still matters. Originality still matters. And perhaps most importantly, intention matters.

Which poses an interesting question. 

Will the new standard for “good work” be whether the work feels human, intentional, and real? 

Regardless of how they’re made.

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*BarkleyOKRP People Pulse, fueled by Vytal, is an always-on intelligence platform that captures what modern consumers think, feel, do, and choose as they move through their daily lives. Not in a lab. Not in a months-long study. 

Through a mix of methodologies, we translate real-time signals into clear, strategic, creative, and category-specific implications, helping brands stay in step with the chaos of culture and shifting consumer priorities.

Get closer to your consumer than ever before. Let’s talk.