This year, two commercials in particular are out to impress, both drawing heavily on nostalgia.
Mountain Dew and Uber Eats have called on legendary duos from cult TV shows to promote their products, with Ross and Rachel from “Friends” and the buddies from “Parks and Recreation.”
Brands are pulling out all the stops to create extra-special commercials for the Super Bowl football game, which takes place this year on Sunday, Feb 11.
Tapping into the prevailing mood of nostalgia, some brands have decided to reunite former onscreen duos – romantic couples or best buddies – well known to TV viewers in order to extol the merits of their products.
For Mountain Dew, the iconic “Parks and Recreation” duo, April Ludgate and Ron Swanson, played by Aubrey Plaza and Nick Offerman, are back together.
In a nod to the hit show, the two characters reunite to promote the “Mountain Dew Baja Blast” drink.
Riding on the backs of two dragons, in a universe referencing the series “Game of Thrones” and its spin-off “House of the Dragon,” the two actors share the kind of laugh you’d expect from their characters in the “Parks and Recreation” show.
Jennifer Aniston and David Schwimmer in an eagerly-awaited reunion
Uber Eats, meanwhile, has signed up Jennifer Aniston and David Schwimmer, who played Rachel Green and Ross Geller in “Friends.”
The commercial’s plot is simple but effective: the two lifelong friends run into each other after Jennifer Aniston picks up her Uber Eats order.
Aniston muses that in order to remember things, like the fact that you can order flowers on the app, she unfortunately has to forget other things. And it turns out that the actress has totally forgotten her former onscreen companion, actor David Schwimmer.
As an added bonus, the brand gives a Y2K nod to the Spice Girls, with David Beckham and Victoria Beckham, aka “Posh Spice,” having forgotten the name of the legendary band to which the fashion designer once belonged.
The ad also ends with Usher, another star of the late ’90s and ’00s, hoping one day to perform at half-time, and seemingly forgetting that this year he’s actually on the bill.
Echoing a trend at the movies
The appeal of these ads is not insignificant, forming part of a broader trend in pop culture today, which is seeing a renewed interest in the 2000s.
This Y2K nostalgia can be seen at the movies, with films such as “Scream” and “Mean Girls” being remade or revived with sequels, as well as in music, with bands such as NSYNC and the Backstreet Boys making a comeback.
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