Hard Rock Edits Its Super Bowl Ad; Watch All the Big Game Spots: Thursday's First Things First

Welcome to First Things First, Adweek’s new daily resource for marketers. We’ll be publishing the content to First Things First on Adweek.com each morning (like this post), but if you prefer that it come straight to your inbox, you can sign up for the email here. After Kobe Bryant’s Death, Hard Rock Edited Its Michael Bay-Directed Super Bowl Ad With Michael Bay at the helm, there was little doubt that Hard Rock's Super Bowl ad would feature some action. But that penchant for the big explosion led Hard Rock to edit its spot following the death of Kobe Bryant. The brand and VaynerMedia, the creative agency behind the ad, declined to describe the problematic scenes, but said parts of the ad could have been considered "insensitive." The brand released a teaser on Wednesday, which promises a "provocative" and "epic" tour of the Hard Rock property after a thief nabs what appears to be Jennifer Lopez's diamond-encrusted coffee cup. J-Lo, her fiancé Alex Rodriguez, and Miami’s own Pitbull and DJ Khaled star in the ad. Watch it: See the teaser here. Plus, travel reporter Ryan Barwick spoke with the brand about the changes. Watch All the Super Bowl Spots Released So Far As of now, brands have released 33 Super Bowl spots, but only a handful more will debut before the Big Game. In total, we're projecting a little more than 50 ads, which means about a dozen or so will premiere during the Super Bowl. To make watching all the ads easier (if you don't care about being surprised on Super Bowl Sunday), we created a user-friendly gallery—on desktop and mobile—for your viewing pleasure. See all the ads here. Here's a rundown of all the ads released on Wednesday: Reporter Katie Lundstrom spoke with Sam Elliott about his Doritos spot that features an unorthodox dance battle. In this charming interview, Elliott talks about how he maintains his glorious mustache, Old Town Road and Lil Nas X. Watch it here. Amazon is back in the Super Bowl again, this time with a spot featuring Ellen Degeneres and her wife actress Portia de Rossi. The pair wonders what life was like before Alexa. Watch it here. Bud Light made two versions of its ad, which fans will vote on to determine which spot will air in the Super Bowl. The ads go inside the mind of rapper Post Malone as he tries to decide whether he should try Bud Light Seltzer. Watch them here. This headline describes this ad perfectly: If Coke’s Unity Anthem ‘Hilltop’ Had a Cynical Sibling, It Would Be This Delightful Snickers Super Bowl Ad. Watch it here. Sometimes Super Bowl ads are like a game of Mad Libs. In today's edition, Missy Elliott and H.E.R. cover a Rolling Stones song so that Pepsi can throw shade at Coca-Cola. Watch it here. A few months after the debut of Frozen 2, Audi opted to bring back "Let It Go," sung by Game of Thrones star Maisie Williams (anybody think Into the Unknown would be a way better song for a car ad?). Watch it here. In an uplifting Kia spot, Raiders running back Josh Jacobs voices what he could tell his younger self about persevering through homelessness. Watch it here. Discover split up its 30-second ad buy into two 15-second ads that will bookend a different brand's spot. The ads feature montages of famous characters in TV and movie history. Watch them here. TurboTax created a rap about doing your taxes. Yes, it's better than last year's Robochild. Watch it here. Queer Eye's Jonathan Van Ness will help Pop-Tarts debut a new product in this sparkling spot. Watch it here. Heinz is running four spots at the same time. The only thing they have in common is a bottle of ketchup. Watch it here. Jeep is returning to the game and reportedly running a Bill Murray/Groundhog Day-themed spot. Get the details here. Ryan Reynolds Loves Super Bowl Commercials, Except When He Has to Pay for Them One year after Mint Mobile gave us the Chunky Milk ad—which the entire Adweek newsroom hated last year except for me—Mint Mobile is back, but with a stunt. Ryan Reynolds recently bought the mobile phone service provider, but didn't want to pony up $5.6 million for 30 seconds of air time. Instead, the brand bought an ad in The New York Times to announce its giving away over 300,000 months of free phone service. How much would over 300,000 months of Mint Mobile phone service cost consumers? You guessed it. About $5 million. Read more: See the print ad and learn how the brand is giving the months away. Best of the Rest: Today's Top News and Insights OpenX Names President John Gentry New CEO Jake Tapper Breaks Story That White House Has ‘Issued a Formal Threat’ to Ex-NSA John Bolton Advertising Trades Urge California Attorney General to Delay CCPA Publicis Names Ronnie Dickerson Stewart as U.S. Chief Diversity Officer Barstool Sports’ New Investor Signals Deepening Ties to Betting Warren Buffett Exits the Media Owner World, Selling BH Media Group