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Hellmann’s is hoping a healthy does of silliness will help its Super Bowl recipe.
The Unilever-backed mayo is a Super Bowl regular, and in the past has tapped themes such as sustainability and nostalgia in commercials featuring everyone from Kate McKinnon to Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal.
But for its sixth consecutive Big Game appearance, the condiment is betting on something a little zany: Andy Samberg portrays “Meal Diamond,” a melody-making troubadour who gets a whole deli full of people to sing the condiment’s praises, all to the strains of “Sweet Sandwich Time.”
Elle Fanning plays one of the deli customers, and says the shoot spurred her to throw some caution to the wind. “It was a nice challenge to work with Andy because he’s so incredible and fast paced, and you have to really up your game with him, because you never really know what he’s going to do or going to say,” she said during a recent interview.
She believes Samberg’s satirical tune — it sounds an awful lot like Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline” — will make the commercial memorable. “I think it will be an earworm for people after they see the commercial, but with the new lyrics. It’s quite fun,” notes Fanning. “I think that’s also a song that kind of brings everyone together.”
No one was hurt in the making of this Super Bowl commercial, but some sandwiches had to pay the ultimate price. Samberg’s character squirts a lot of Hellmann’s on various plates, and after a while, “the mayonnaise gets piled up,” and the food would have to get switched out, says Fanning. “It was real, turkey and tomato. They had like four or five of them in a row waiting for you,” she recalls.
Fanning has had major roles in films ranging from “A Complete Unknown” to “Maleficent,” yet says doing a Hellmann’s Super Bowl ad made her feel a bit of a squeeze. “You know that everyone’s going to be watching it and then also you want to have a commercial that really stands out and is iconic in its own way and that people find funny or really touches them,” she says. “And so, there is an extra pressure, I will say.”
She says she’s not trying to compete with Hellmann’s ad from last year, which offered viewers an update on the 1989 film “When Harry Met Sally,” enlisting Ryan and Crystal to reprise their roles – and adding Sydney Sweeney for a surprise twist. “We’re not trying to compete” with it, she says. “That was one of really one of my favorite commercials last year — so iconic, so perfect, so clever.”
She doesn’t have to pretend to like the real hero of the commercial. “I’m a huge mayonnaise lover,” she says – Hellmann’s specifically. “I always have a big jar in my fridge. I put it on everything. I always ask for extra mayo. I dip it with my fries.” If she and Samberg can convince Super Bowl viewers to do the same, the ad’s simple sandwich satire will have all the makings of a big hit.
English (US) ·