Enough with the Sugarcoated Nonsense: The 12 Ads Everyone Pretends to Love This Week—Here’s Why Most of Them Suck

Let’s get this out of the way: the ad industry’s weekly victory lap, parading a dozen so-called ‘breakthrough’ campaigns for Hershey’s, Cheez-It, BMW, and the usual Fortune 500 suspects, is a masterclass in mediocrity. It’s September in Manhattan, the air’s crisp, and every subway ad is still just a QR code on beige. But Adweek’s latest “Ads of the Week” list, which you probably scrolled past while waiting for your cold brew, wants you to believe we’re living through a creative renaissance. Spoiler: we’re not.

Hershey’s launches another nostalgia-laced spot, as if invoking s’mores is a stroke of genius in autumn 2026. Cheez-It’s campaign? A tired, performative wink at meme culture that would’ve felt stale two years ago. Allstate’s ‘edgy’ new character-driven spot lands with all the subtlety of a LinkedIn influencer bragging about their ‘authentic voice.’ Did BMW finally stop making car ads about driving dynamics no one in the city actually experiences? Of course not—just another CGI night-drive, now with more fake rain for that “cinematic” look.

But let’s talk about Amazon. Their entry is a data-driven Frankenstein: a grab bag of split-tested tropes engineered for engagement and promptly forgotten by dinner. There’s no risk, no punch, just a never-ending feedback loop where ‘brand lift’ means ‘we annoyed you more efficiently this quarter.’ This is what happens when agencies treat creative like an A/B test for a landing page instead of, you know, art.

Here’s the real problem: the only thing these campaigns have in common is the safety net of bloated budgets and zero accountability for real-world results. The average DTC startup on Lafayette Street has more to lose and more to say with a $5k TikTok shoot than these behemoths do with a $2M media buy. Want to see advertising that actually moves culture? Stop watching what makes Adweek’s list and look at what your neighbor’s 16-year-old cousin is posting for her Depop store.

Uncomfortable truth: If your agency’s ‘win’ is a slot in a round-up list, you’re already losing. Scrap the fraudulent ‘best of the week’ congratulation circles and demand stuff that people actually talk about on a Saturday night, not just in a Slack thread full of C-suite hand-wringers. Until then, enjoy your beige QR codes and CGI rainstorms.