From Trump to Taylor: Six Super Bowl storylines Canadian marketers will be watching

New England Patriots fans react while watching the first half of the NFL Super Bowl 53 football game at a bar in Boston, Sunday, Feb. 3, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Steven Senne

When Canadians tune into the Super Bowl on Sunday, there will be plenty of action on and off the field that marketers will have their eye on.

This year’s face-off between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles comes as U.S. President Donald Trump has torn up the traditional political playbook.

Among other things, he’s used his first weeks in office to threaten tariffs against Canada and Mexico and attack diversity initiatives.

Marketing experts say nods to both could crop up in the onslaught of ads scheduled around the big game, pre- and after-shows and the Kendrick Lamar halftime performance.

Here’s what they’ll be watching for.

Buy Canadian

With Trump promising 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian goods in roughly a month’s time, Canada has been whipped into a frenzy. Shoppers are now frantically checking labels at grocery stores and other retailers, searching for ways to support homegrown brands.

Concordia University sports economist Moshe Lander expects hints of the tariff feud to spill over to the Super Bowl — if brands had enough time to tweak their ads, which are often completed months in advance.

“It might be just a line, it might be a voiceover or it might be just a subtle twist ... to maybe capture the current sentiment,” he said.

“For anybody who could see that far out, they might even have been able to incorporate it without having to do any major reimagining of what they plan on running on Sunday.”

Among the ads that could be seen as a playful jab at the U.S. is one from Tim Hortons. The café chain teamed up with the family of the late Stompin' Tom Connors to reimagine his beloved “the Hockey Song.”

The ad changes Connors’s lyrics to call football “the second-best game you can name.” The spot ends with the message, “Sorry, not sorry. We’re proudly Canadian.”

Hollywood meets home

Though U.S. ads are unlikely to make light of or even acknowledge the trade situation, Canadian stars will pop up in several of the spots.

An ad from pizza brand Little Caesars will see Eugene Levy’s bushy eyebrows fly off his face.

Canadian actress Catherine O’Hara will team up with Willem Dafoe to hustle younger players on a pickleball court for Michelob Ultras.

Even songstress Shania Twain will get in on the action, voicing a dancing tongue in an ad for Nestlé‘s Coffee Mate Cold Foam.

Moshe sees such ads as an unintentional way to highlight how much value the U.S. derives from Canada.

Presidential presence

Trump is reportedly due to attend the game, making him the first sitting president to head for the Super Bowl stands.

His every move will be watched closely because what he does at the game and who he appears with will offer insight into what and who he values, said Cheri Bradish, a sports marketing professor at Toronto Metropolitan University.

“Who is he sitting with? And who wasn’t he sitting with?” she questioned. “Do they own a brand and what does that mean about those brand values?”

The scrutiny paid to him will also apply to a pre-taped interview airing during Fox’s Super Bowl pre-show, which Canadians are expected to listen to closely for any mention of tariffs or the country.

“I’d be disappointed if we weren’t watching it,” Lander said. “What do we accomplish by not informing ourselves of what our adversary has planned for us?”

Swiftonomics

Taylor Swift was in the stands last year to cheer on her boyfriend Travis Kelce, a Chiefs tight end.

With the team back at the big game, many predict the popstar will return as well, but will the bevy of fans who started following football because of the star also tune in? And will brands cater to them?

It’s a toss-up, said Lander, because some newer fans will be drawn in more by seeing her, but hardcore fans may be getting fed up.

The Swift narrative may also come across as tired.

“It’s not as fresh and new and the story is not as relevant in the marketplace to many people, but she undoubtedly has driven interest to the game, so it’ll be interesting,” Bradish said.

The end of ‘End Racism’

The Super Bowl end zones have been emblazoned with the “End Racism” slogan for the last several years, but this year they’ll carry a new message: “Choose Love.”

The switch comes as Trump has scraped all diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives within the U.S. government.

While Super Bowl advertisers are no stranger to using social messages to sell products, Bradish has doubts about whether other companies will adopt the “End Racism” message in the NFL’s absence.

“I don’t know if a brand (will be) brave and big in that way,” she said.

AI vs. sports betting

Meta will use Chris Pratt and Chris Hemsworth to advertise AI-powered Ray-Ban smart glasses, while Salesforce will lean on Matthew McConaughey to highlight its AI agent, Agentforce.

Google, meanwhile, will have a spot with a guy using its AI tool Gemini to learn about football so he can impress his girlfriend’s family.

While the focus on AI will be obvious in the U.S. telecast, Lander said, “I don’t think that’s going to be part of what we’re trying to advertise.”

He expects gambling to be the bigger focus in Canada, where sports betting platform FanDuel is sponsoring Bell’s telecast.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 8, 2025.

Tara Deschamps, The Canadian Press