At a time when every news alert seems to deliver a seismic jolt about the world, these ads mostly touch on safe subjects we expect in Big Game commercials: Nostalgia. Comedy. Celebrities. Patriotism.

Advertisers are leaning on nostalgia more than they used to in Super Bowl ads, according to Kimberly Whitler, a marketing professor at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business. Nods to ...