Super Bowl commercials: Lil Nas X, Sam Elliott team up for Doritos ad

Lil Nas X

There are a number of memorable ads this Super Bowl Sunday, and over the course of the big game, consider CarterMatt your source for some of the best! We’re going to be presenting you with ways to watch/re-watch the ads, plus also our verdict on whether or not some of them are effective at their intended goal. Sure, they want to be funny and buzzworthy, but shouldn’t they also sell the product?

Within this article, let’s put the emphasis mostly on singer Lil Nas X, who is working with Doritos and Sam Elliott for what seems like the 1000th collaboration involving Old Town Road. This time around, we eventually are hyping up the Cool Ranch flavor — which is apparently now cooler than every before.

The pitch – We see a cowboy-style showdown of sorts between Lil Nas X and Elliott, but one that includes music and dancing a little bit more than gun-slinging. Eventually, you see Lil Nas X bust out the bag of Doritos in the closing seconds.

What Works – Visually, the ad is super-appealing, and it’s probably smart on the part of Doritos to emphasize something that has dominated the music charts over the past several years. Everyone’s been talking about “Old Town Road” in some shape or form.

What Doesn’t – The biggest problem is that it takes so long to get to the big reveal, and even when they do, most of this ad doesn’t have anything to do with Doritos. It’s more just about watching two big names have a little bit of fun with a popular song in the background. We don’t think it should take THIS long to get somewhere, especially when viewers have short attention spans on Super Bowl Sunday.

Overall Verdict – Is this a funny ad? Moderately so, but it does feel like a lot of time was spent on what is effectively very little payoff. Doritos’ ads have consistently been hit-and-miss, and this one’s probably more miss despite having some big names attached. Luckily, Doritos is spending their money on a ton of other ads over the course of the show as well.

Want more Super Bowl commercials?

Then head over to the link here! Meanwhile, be sure to share what you think about this ad in the comments! (Photo: Doritos.)

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