Ellen and Portia's Super Bowl Ad Imagines Life Before Alexa

The commercial is one of seven LGBTQ-inclusive ads that will air during the Super Bowl.

Tracy E. Gilchrist

Tracy E. Gilchrist is the VP of Editorial and Special Projects at equalpride. A media veteran, she writes about the intersections of LGBTQ+ equality and pop culture. Previously, she was the editor-in-chief of The Advocate and the first feminism editor for the 55-year-old brand. In 2017, she launched the company's first podcast, The Advocates. She is an experienced broadcast interviewer, panel moderator, and public speaker who has delivered her talk, "Pandora's Box to Pose: Game-changing Visibility in Film and TV," at universities throughout the country.

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Tracy E. Gilchrist

January 31 2020 4:13 PM EST

May 31 2023 6:26 PM EST

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Amazon Alexa's Super Bowl ad 2020 peeks inside Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi's home as DeGeneres ponders what life was like before one could just tell Alexa to turn down the thermostat.

The commercial then hilariously flips back in time to see various historical possibilities to questions typically asked of Alexa.

One scenario features a queen circa the 1600s issuing a decree to a jester with a name close to Alexa to "tell me a joke."

Another scene features pioneers traversing the Old West via horse and buggy when one fellow asks the other, "Play that song I like." The other begins to play a tune on an jug until the first guy says, "Next song."

The commercial ends with DeGeneres and de Rossi in their car with DeGeneres asking Alexa to play her favorite song.

The ad is one of seven Super Bowl commercials that feature LGBTQ people or themes, a phenomenon GLAAD is calling the "rainbow wave" of advertising.

Joining Amazon's Alexa with queer visibility at this year's Super Bowl are advertisers including TurboTax, Pop-Tarts, Microsoft, Olay, Sabra, and Doritos.

The upcoming "rainbow wave" has already elicited a right-wing backlash. One Million Moms -- an arm of the hate group American Family Association -- has petitioned to ban Sabra for showcasing drag queens in its ad. In response, GLAAD petitioned One Million Moms, a frequent but ineffectual boycotter of LGBTQ-inclusive ads and entertainment, to call it quits.