A field, a song, a debut
Oatly airs its first Super Bowl commercial during Super Bowl LV on February 7, 2021, a 30-second spot in which chief executive Toni Petersson stands in a field of oats in southern Sweden and sings an original jingle titled "Wow, No Cow." Petersson writes both the music and the lyrics himself, delivering the line "It's like milk, but made for humans" as the opening phrase.
The spot was filmed in 2014 during a brief break in the Swedish summer rain and has never aired on Swedish television. The country's dairy lobby sued Oatly over the wording of the jingle, and a court ruling bars the commercial from broadcast in its home market. According to John Schoolcraft, Oatly's global chief creative officer, Petersson initially refused to write the jingle and changed his mind only after reviewing early drafts from the wider team.
A challenger tone in a big-budget slot
The brand's Big Game placement signals a broader U.S. push for the Swedish oat milk producer, which entered the American market in 2016 and saw sharp demand growth through the 2020 pandemic. Oatly pairs the low-production aesthetic of the commercial with a merchandise drop at its online store, including a T-shirt reading "I Totally Hated That Oatly Commercial" that goes on sale the same day. The deliberately polarising creative reflects the brand's long-running positioning against conventional food advertising, prioritising conversation over consensus.
Source: Superbowlcommercials
