Since last February, the NFL has been a mosh pit of controversy, allegations, and criticism until the Super Bowl XLIX aired on Sunday, February 1st, ending the PR mess of a season. Although the New England Patriots took home the Vince Lombardi Trophy due to an unbelievable play by Malcolm Butler in the last 15 seconds, the real stars of the super bowl were the advertisers. A study conducted by the ad agency Venables Bell & Partners showed that 78 percent of Americans tune in to the Super Bowl solely for the commercials. That gives companies an audience of over 100 million since 2009, and particularly 114.4 million for this year’s super bowl. The enormous audience comes with a hefty price tag, a 30 second slot cost $4.5 million, so imagine Nissan’s payment for their minute and a half long “With Dad” ad.

This year’s ads ranged from funny, such as Fiat’s “Blue Pill” and Doritos’ “Middle Seat” ads; to inspiring, like Always’ “Like A Girl” and Microsoft’s “Braylin” ads; positive, like Coca Cola’s “Make It Happy” and McDonald’s “Pay With Lovin’” ads, and cheesy, like Doritos’ “When Pigs Fly” and the Kim Kardashian featured T-Mobile “Save The Data” ad. The super bowl also included a few striking commercials like Nationwide’s “Boy” ad, featuring a young boy who will never be able to “ride a bike” or “get cooties” because he died in an accident, which the commercial says is the number one cause of childhood death. The commercial was a trending topic, but not in the way Nationwide may have anticipated. The internet responded by making jokes and memes, referring to Nationwide as the Debbie Downer of the super bowl. Another intense commercial was No More’s “Listen” ad, displaying wreckage after a domestic dispute and a woman’s coded call to 911. The commercial was more positively received the Nationwide’s, and may have been the NFL’s response to controversy surrounding the Ray Rice incident.

A recurring theme in Super Bowl XLIX’s ad space were dads. Nissan, Toyota, and Dove, all chose to honor the fathers of the world with touching commercials, while First Bank involved a dad who let his son down by not using the company’s “person to person transfer” feature. Other notable commercials were Budweiser’s “Lost Dog” ad, featuring a lost pup who, with the help of his horse pals, found his way home, and Dodge’s “Wisdom” ad which celebrated their 100th anniversary and featured people who have made it to 100 years of age imparting their wisdom.

Most students and teachers I surveyed described the superbowl commercials as sad overall, although the BMW’s “Newfangled Idea” Commercial seemed to be a favorite. The ad started with a throwback of Bryant Gamble and Katie Couric in 1994, just discovering the internet and asking their director Allison to explain it to them, and ended with Gamble and Couric in the present, driving an i3, BMW’s newest project (don’t call it a car), and again calling Allison to have her explain it to them.

And of course, some epic movie trailers aired during the big game. Furious 7 gave us a longer preview of what’s to come this April, and it was epic. Universal Studios announced a sequel to Pitch Perfect, and a sequel is also going to be released for Ted (Mark Wahlberg and Seth MacFarlane), and the Avengers Movie. Terminator, Divergent, and Jurassic Park also released trailers for their upcoming installments, and Despicable Me announced a spin-off for the movie’s minions, aptly titled “Minions”, to be released this summer.

Super Bowl XLIX was unforgettable, and the ads were entertaining, but the Pepsi Halftime Show headlined by Katy Perry & Lenny Kravitz may have been the most talked about event, especially Missy Elliott’s surprise appearance and Katy Perry’s left shark who has become an internet hero by forgetting the routine but carrying on with his own rhythm. The halftime show required 4 wardrobe changes, 22,000 crystals and 20 carats of diamonds. She garnered 118.5 million viewers, 4 million more than the actual super bowl.