Arby's Airs a 13-Hour Commercial of Brisket Cooking

To promote its Smokehouse Brisket Sandwich, Arby's filmed a brisket being smoked for 13 hours and aired it as an uncut commercial with no dialogue over the weekend. According to the New York Times, the ad was aired on a single station in Duluth, Minnesota and features a really long shot of seasoned brisket being cooked in a smoker "fitted with a glass window and internal light" at a smokehouse in Texas that actually cooks the chain's brisket.

At the end of the commercial, the cooked brisket was removed from the smoker by Arby's corporate chef, Neville Craw. He then sliced the meat and assembled it into the Smokehouse Brisket Sandwich which includes toppings like smoked Gouda cheese and crispy fried onions. According to Rapid TV News, the ad officially set a Guinness World Record for longest television commercial ever aired this past Saturday. The purpose of the absurdly long ad was to draw attention to the fact that Arby's really does smoke its meat. Arby's brand president notes, "If there was ever a doubt that we actually pit smoke our brisket for 13 hours over real hickory wood, this ad makes it pretty mouthwateringly clear that we do."

In case you're all caught up on Game of Thrones and have nothing else to binge watch, Arby's will livestream the full 13 hour commercial tomorrow online at 13hourbrisket.com from 9 a.m until 10 p.m. EST. The chain will also offer $20,000 in barbecue-themed giveaways. According to the NYT, the chain dropped nearly $250,000 on the PR stunt which is enough money to buy almost five of singer Pharrell's infamous Arby's logo shaped Grammys hat.

· Televising Sizzling Meat to Bump Up Sales of a Brisket Sandwich [NYT]
· Arby's Smokes a Record with 13-Hour Brisket Ad [Rapid TV News]
· All Arby's Coverage on Eater [-E-]