How Elton John, Will Ferrell and Jennifer Lopez surprised fans in 2023’s Super Bowl ads

Sir Elton John, Will Ferrell and Hollywood power couple Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez were among the celebrities who featured in this year’s star-studded Super Bowl advertisements.

Famous names from the film, television and music industries regularly feature in the commercials, which can reportedly cost up to £8.3 million ($10 million) for a 30-second slot.

Around 100 million people tune in to the Super Bowl each year.

This year’s half-time show was headlined by Rihanna, who performed a crowd-pleasing set of her biggest hits, while also revealing she was pregnant.

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Affleck and Lopez – often known collectively as ‘Bennifer’ by fans of the couple – appeared in an advertisement for coffee and bakery chain Dunkin’ Donuts.

The pair married last July almost 20 years after they were last together as a couple.

In the Super Bowl advert, Affleck is shown serving unsuspecting customers at a drive-thru before his wife makes a surprise visit.

“What are you doing here? Is this what you do when you say you’re going to work all day?” she asks him.

The advertisement follows viral photos of Affleck sheepishly picking up a Dunkin’ Donuts delivery from outside his home.

Elsewhere, Sir Elton John, 75, starred in a Doritos commercial with rapper Jack Harlow.

After “quitting” his rapping career in the advert, 24-year-old Harlow is shown building a new hugely successful reputation as a triangle player – only to be upstaged by legendary singer Sir Elton.

This photo provided by Frito-Lay shows Elton John from a scene from Doritos 2023 Super Bowl NFL football spot. (Frito-Lay via AP)
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Elton John in a Doritos advert at the 2023 Super Bowl (Frito-Lay via AP)

Meanwhile, Bradley Cooper and John Travolta appeared in two separate commercials for phone company T-Mobile.

Travolta was joined by Scrubs stars Zach Braff and Donald Faison, parodying the Summer Nights scene from the 1978 musical Grease.

Cooper starred in another T-Mobile commercial with his mother, in which he coaches her for their star appearance.

“I’ve been nominated for nine of these (Oscars),” he tells her. To which she responds: “But you haven’t won any of them.”

This photo provided by T-Mobile shows Bradley Cooper and his mother Gloria Campano in scene from  T-Mobile 2023 Super Bowl NFL football spot. ( T-Mobile via AP)
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Bradley Cooper and his mother Gloria Campano in the T-Mobile 2023 Super Bowl advertisement (T-Mobile via AP)

In an advert for GMC cars, Will Ferrell was seen parodying several popular Netflix shows including The Walking Dead, Bridgerton and Stranger Things.

This photo provided by Netflix/GM, Will Ferrell drives a GMC Sierra EV Denali as he is chased by zombies from Netflix's Army of the Dead from a scene from Netflix/GM 2023 Super Bowl NFL football spot. ( Netflix/GM via AP)
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Will Ferrell drives a GMC Sierra EV Denali as he is chased by zombies in a 2023 Super Bowl ad (Netflix/GM via AP)

Several celebrities reprised their legendary roles for the commercials which premiered during breaks in the Super Bowl action.

They included Ben Stiller, who returned as dim-witted male model Derek Zoolander in a Pepsi advert alongside Steve Martin.

And Alicia Silverstone reprised her role as Clueless character Cher Horowitz in her iconic checked yellow jacket and skirt for online shopping site Rakuten.

This photo provided by Rakuten Rewards shows Alicia Silverstone in a scene from Rakuten Rewards 2023 Super Bowl NFL football spot.  Big name advertisers are paying as much as $7 million for a 30-second spot during the big game on Sunday, Feb. 12, 2023. In order to get as much as a return on investment for those million, most advertisers release their ads in the days ahead of the big game to get the most publicity for their spots. (Rakuten Rewards via AP)
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Alicia Silverstone in a scene from Rakuten Rewards’ 2023 Super Bowl ad (Rakuten Rewards via AP)

Aaron Paul and Bryan Cranston also reprised their Breaking Bad characters for snack brand PopCorners.

This photo provided by Frito-Lay shows Aaron Paul, Bryan Cranston and Raymond Cruz in scene from PopCorners 2023 Super Bowl NFL football spot.  Big name advertisers are paying as much as $7 million for a 30-second spot during the big game on Sunday, Feb. 12, 2023. In order to get as much as a return on investment for those million, most advertisers release their ads in the days ahead of the big game to get the most publicity for their spots. (Frito-Lay via AP)
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Aaron Paul, Bryan Cranston and Raymond Cruz in the PopCorners 2023 Super Bowl NFL ad (Frito-Lay via AP)

Read more:
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Rock icons Ozzy Osbourne, Joan Jett, Billy Idol and Kiss guitar player Paul Stanley also gathered for the first Super Bowl advertisement for enterprise software company Workday.

Musician Ozzy Osbourne takes part in a Super Bowl ad for Workday, in this undated handout photo provided by Workday. Workday/Handout via REUTERS THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES
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Musician Ozzy Osbourne takes part in a Super Bowl ad for Workday (Workday via AP)

While tennis superstar Serena Williams joined Succession star Brian Cox on the golf course for beer brand Michelob Ultra.

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