When your cat meows, what is it actually saying? More crucially, what are you hearing?
This is what Hellmann’s is trying to answer with its new, full Super bowl ad, launched today. Created with agency VML, the spot opens with Kate McKinnon stuck in a dilemma of what to do with leftover chicken, scallions, and cheese. “What am I gonna make with this?” says the former SNL star.
Then the cat responds, “Mayo.”
Now, did the adorable cat say “Meow” or “Mayo”? This is up for debate and interpretation. What is irrefutable is the spot’s commentary on the modern fame industrial complex—and how adorable that darn cat is.
Last year, the Unilever-owned mayo brand enlisted John Hamm and Brie Larson, as well as Pete Davidson, for its big game ad. Here, Davidson is back (briefly), but the brand decided to include a hallmark of many blockbuster Super Bowl spots—the cute animal in funny situations. It’s a trope that will never die, and why should it? Back in 2016, Mtn Dew even made a whole spot about a Frankencreature made from three of the Super Bowl’s most popular characters: a puppy, a monkey, and a baby.
Hellmann’s is so excited about its talking cat that it will be the first Unilever and condiments brand to advertise on the Sphere in Las Vegas.
This isn’t the first time the word meow has been used as a Jedi Mind Trick in pop culture, but what I like most about this ad is its ambition to embed itself in our brains in such an insidious way that we hear it every time a cat meows from now on.
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