NFL fans are used to getting blitzed with ads, but Matthew McConaughey’s latest Uber Eats spot managed to cut through the noise in all the wrong ways. What started as a quirky teaser during a high‑stakes playoff game has snowballed into a wave of online threats to ditch both the delivery app and the Super Bowl broadcast that will feature the full commercial.
The backlash has turned a routine celebrity endorsement into a mini culture war over how far brands can push their Super Bowl campaigns before viewers snap. Between angry posts, boycott vows, and a looming Super Bowl LX rollout, the reaction around McConaughey’s new ad shows just how thin the line is between memorable and maddening.
The AFC Championship spot that lit the fuse
The spark for all this came when Uber Eats rolled out a new Matthew McConaughey commercial during the AFC Championship matchup between the New England Patriots and Denver Broncos. Viewers settling in to watch the Patriots and Denver Broncos fight for a Super Bowl berth suddenly found McConaughey front and center, pitching food delivery in a way that immediately split the room. Coverage of the rollout notes that the ad was strategically dropped during the AFC Championship broadcast, using the massive audience as a launchpad for a broader campaign tied to Super Bowl LX, with January 25’s AFC game serving as the first big test.
Fans did not exactly ease into it. Reports describe social feeds lighting up almost in real time as the spot aired, with viewers complaining that the tone felt jarring in the middle of a tense Championship showdown. One recap of the broadcast points out that Uber Eats used that Patriots versus Denver Broncos stage to kick off a multi‑part series of McConaughey ads, a rollout that some viewers immediately labeled “annoying” and “atrocious,” framing the AFC Championship debut as less of a fun surprise and more of an unwelcome interruption tied to Uber Eats.
Why this particular McConaughey ad hit a nerve
McConaughey has been a familiar face in commercials for years, so the outrage is not just about a celebrity popping up between drives. What grated on viewers, according to fan reactions and entertainment write‑ups, was the ad’s whole vibe: a drawn‑out, self‑aware performance that leaned hard into his trademark drawl and philosophical delivery. Instead of a quick joke or a clever twist, the spot reportedly lingered on his persona, which some NFL fans felt hijacked the game they were trying to watch, a frustration that bubbled up in complaints about the NFL broadcast itself.
On top of that, the ad did not wrap up cleanly. It ended with a teaser hinting that what viewers had just seen was only the beginning, promising a longer version to come during Super Bowl LX on Sunday, February 8. That cliffhanger structure, which might have felt clever in a different setting, instead landed like a warning for already irritated fans who realized they were being set up for more of the same during the biggest game of the year. Coverage of the campaign notes that the teaser explicitly pointed toward a Super Bowl LX rollout, with the Sunday timing and extended cut framed as the payoff, a strategy that quickly became a sore spot for viewers who already found the initial ad annoying.
From eye rolls to boycott threats
Annoyance is one thing, but the reaction to this campaign has gone well past a few eye rolls. As clips of the commercial circulated, some NFL viewers started talking about taking “drastic action” in response, threatening to delete the app or skip ordering from Uber Eats altogether. One widely cited comment captured the mood in blunt terms, with a fan declaring, “I will never order on Uber Eats again cuz of that annoying a-s Mcconaughey commercial,” a line that has been repeated in coverage of the backlash as shorthand for how quickly irritation turned into calls for a personal boycott of Uber Eats.
Others took the frustration a step further, saying they were ready to tune out of future NFL broadcasts if the ad kept popping up. Reports on the reaction describe fans threatening to mute commercial breaks, switch to different feeds, or skip the Super Bowl LX broadcast entirely if the longer version dominates the breaks. The language in some posts has been harsh, with viewers calling the spot “atrocious” and accusing Matthew of ruining the flow of the game, a sentiment that has been highlighted in coverage of how viewers threaten to push back with their wallets and remotes.
Inside Uber Eats’ Super Bowl LX playbook
From the brand’s perspective, this is not just a one‑off commercial, it is a full Super Bowl LX strategy built around Matthew McConaughey as the face of Uber Eats. The AFC Championship spot was essentially a trailer, with the real centerpiece scheduled to land during Super Bowl LX on Sunday, February 8, when the audience will be even bigger and the stakes for advertisers sky high. Entertainment coverage notes that the ad that aired during the playoff game closed with a clear preview of a longer Super Bowl cut, signaling that Uber Eats is betting heavily on McConaughey’s star power to carry its message through the most crowded ad environment of the year, a plan that has been detailed in reporting on the Super Bowl LX teaser.
That long‑game approach is part of a broader pattern for the company. Uber Eats has leaned into elaborate, narrative‑driven Super Bowl campaigns before, including a previous spot that played off a “Football Conspiracy Theory” involving McConaughey and a tongue‑in‑cheek riff on turning on ESPN and obsessing over Rob Gronkowski’s game day dips. That earlier effort, described in coverage of the brand’s 2025 Super Bowl push, showed a willingness to get weird and meta with football culture, a style that is clearly carrying over into the current campaign built around Super Bowl Ad.
How this fits into McConaughey’s ad career
For Matthew McConaughey, this uproar is landing on top of a long history as a commercial pitchman. He has already spent years as the cool, slightly cryptic driver in Lincoln spots, and he has popped up in everything from whiskey campaigns to tech ads. That background is part of why some fans are so surprised to find themselves irritated now, since many of them actually like his work in other formats and have said as much even while dragging the Uber Eats campaign. One Facebook thread about the new commercial includes comments from viewers who insist they “love McConaughey” but still found the ad “a bit much,” a split reaction that has been highlighted in coverage of how Football fans are parsing the difference between the actor and the ad.
At the same time, McConaughey’s growing presence in football‑adjacent marketing has made him a recurring figure in the sport’s commercial breaks. He has already been the centerpiece of a previous Uber Eats Super Bowl campaign built around a Football Conspiracy Theory, and now he is back as the face of a new wave of spots that some viewers say feel overexposed. Coverage of the current backlash notes that Matthew has “once again” managed to rile up NFL viewers with his latest commercial, underscoring how his persona has become a kind of running character in the league’s ad ecosystem, a role that is now being tested by the intensity of the reaction to his latest work for Uber Eats Super.
Enter Bradley Cooper and the “Jogging” crossover
McConaughey is not the only star in Uber Eats’ football‑season arsenal. The company has also rolled out a spot titled “Jogging” featuring Bradley Cooper, who appears in a Philadelphia Eagles cap while taking a relaxed run through a suburban neighborhood. In that ad, Cooper’s peaceful jog is interrupted in a way that ties back into the Uber Eats universe, giving the brand another celebrity‑driven angle on NFL fandom. Coverage of the campaign notes that “Jogging” is part of the same broader push that includes McConaughey’s work, with Bradley Cooper’s Eagles gear and the suburban setting designed to tap into a different slice of the football audience, a strategy laid out in reporting on Jogging.
Reactions to Cooper’s appearance have been more muted, but his presence adds another layer to the conversation about how much celebrity is too much in a single ad campaign. Some fans see the combination of McConaughey and Bradley Cooper as overkill, a sign that Uber Eats is trying to brute‑force its way into every conversation around the NFL. Others are more forgiving, treating the Cooper spot as a lighter, more playful counterpart to the heavier McConaughey performance. Either way, the fact that the company is pairing Actor Matthew with another A‑list name in a Philadelphia Eagles cap shows just how aggressively it is chasing attention in the run‑up to the Super Bowl, a tactic that has been detailed in coverage of how Matthew and Cooper are being deployed together.
What fans are actually saying online
Scroll through the replies and comment sections and the tone is not subtle. Viewers have called the new Uber Eats commercial “terrible,” “very annoying,” and, in one memorable line, said it “sucked the Big One.” Others have joked that McConaughey should have been driving a Lincoln instead, or that even their dogs seemed irritated when the ad came on. A Facebook roundup of reactions captures the range, from people insisting “all actors are annoying” and should “get real jobs like the rest of us” to others who admit the spot was “annoying but I love him,” a mix of snark and reluctant affection that has become part of the story around Matthew.
On X and other platforms, the posts that have gone viral tend to lean into hyperbole, but the themes are consistent. Fans complain that the ad is “on every break,” that it ruins the rhythm of the game, and that it feels like Uber Eats is trying too hard to be clever instead of just selling food. Some users have even joked about needing a second screen just to avoid seeing McConaughey’s face during timeouts, while others have posted memes about muting the TV whenever the familiar opening shot appears. Coverage of the backlash has pulled in these social reactions to illustrate how the annoyance has spread from a few gripes to a broader narrative that the new Uber Eats ad is the season’s most divisive commercial.
Annoying but effective? The marketing gamble
For all the outrage, there is a reason brands sometimes lean into ads that border on irritating. The logic is simple: if people are still talking about a commercial days later, it has already cleared the first hurdle of being memorable in a crowded field. Some of the same fans who say they “hate” the McConaughey spot also admit they cannot get its lines or images out of their heads, which, from a pure marketing standpoint, is not necessarily a failure. Coverage of the reaction notes that even viewers who claim they will never use the app again are still repeating the name Uber Eats and dissecting the creative choices, which keeps the brand lodged in the center of the conversation.
There is also the question of how much of the boycott talk will actually translate into behavior. Fans have threatened to quit brands over Super Bowl ads before, only to quietly keep using the same services once the noise dies down. Marketers know this, which is why they sometimes accept a wave of short‑term backlash in exchange for the long‑term brand recognition that comes with a high‑profile, polarizing spot. Uber Eats has already shown a willingness to ride out controversy with its Football Conspiracy Theory campaign, and the current strategy built around Matthew suggests the company is comfortable walking that line again, a pattern that has been traced in coverage of its previous Football Conspiracy Theory play.
More from Vinyl and Velvet:
Leave a Reply