Stella Artois’s new Super Bowl commercial features two cocktail-loving pop culture icons sharing a beer together: Carrie Bradshaw from Sex and the City and the Dude from The Big Lebowski.
The ad begins with Bradshaw (played by Sarah Jessica Parker) entering a swanky restaurant as the Sex and the City theme plays in the background. When she sits down at her table, the maitre d’ asks if she’d like to start her meal with a cosmopolitan, and she replies, “Nope, tonight I’ll have a Stella Artois.” The request throws everyone — the chef, the bartender, the servers, the string quartet playing in the dining room — for a loop. After her pint of Stella is delivered to the table, the action then switches to the other end of the dining room, where the Dude (Jeff Bridges) walks in, to the tune of Bob Dylan’s “The Man in Me.” The bartender asks the Dude if he’ll have a White Russian, but he replies, “No, Gary, give me a Stella Artois,” pronouncing the last word so that it rhymes with “car tows.” When the Dude sits down next to Bradshaw, the Sex and the City star pokes him in the arm and says, “Good choice.” To which he replies, “Changing can do a little good.”
That last line is likely a reference to Stella’s “Pour it Forward” campaign, which helps bring clean water to communities around the world that have none. This is the same charitable effort that the company announced with last year’s Super Bowl ad starring Matt Damon. And just like last year, the company is selling special beer chalices where proceeds will go to help fund the clean water project.
This ad gets big points for bringing two beloved fictional characters out of retirement for the big game, while also slyly incorporating Stella’s charitable initiative. With this commercial and Budweiser’s ad promoting wind power, it seems that the big brands are particularly keen on showcasing their do-gooding efforts in their Super Bowl spots this year.
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