The Internet Is Torn Over Pringles' Super Bowl Commercial
The Super Bowl is known almost as much — if not more so — for its commercials than for its football. Even people who don't like sports can watch the Super Bowl for the commercials and still have a good time. But of course, not all ads are worth talking about (or even watching), and many simply don't hit the mark. For Super Bowl LV, the Pringles spot is one such ad, leaving viewers divided, but mostly disappointed.
The rather involved, if somewhat socially distant commercial — particularly in a year slim on ads amid the coronavirus pandemic — uses the old trope of people being distracted because they figured out something really basic. In the spot, two astronauts in a space capsule are adrift in the ocean, but they're unable to get the attention of either Mission Control, or a ship that happens to pass by. Why? Because the people inside both MC and the boat are so jaded by the marvel of space travel that they're easily distracted by ... the ability to stack different flavors of Pringles potato chips.
As one Twitter user wrote, "They're just NOW thinking that's a thing .... like that's been a thing since there've been drunk college kids at 4am." Keep reading to find out what other viewers thought of the chip spot.
Even NASA officials commented on the Pringles Super Bowl spot
While most of the reactions to the new Pringles ad haven't been very positive, some could be taken either way. Thanks to the difficulty in interpreting text online, it's unclear whether this user enjoyed the ad or not, tweeting, "Pringles are so good that you'll leave people to die at sea." Even Adweek noted, "this [ad] was as flat as a Pringles chip." Uh, we hate to break it to them, but the "salty parabolas" aren't flat. Does that mean they liked it?
Some felt the ad was a wasted opportunity, since there is a player on the Kansas City Chiefs named Byron Pringle, who "returned a kick 41 yards at the end of the first quarter," per Arrowhead Pride, which, coincidentally, was right after the commercial aired. This Twitter user pointed out the obvious: "Why wasn't the player NAMED PRINGLE in the Pringles ad?!"
It is a bit sad that the incredible ability to travel into space has taken a back seat to stacking potato chips. That being said, Twitter users and even employees of space exploration were bothered more by the lack of realism in the ad, and would have preferred that Pringles at least did their research. One user quote-tweeted, "And every space enthusiast watching the Super Bowl cringed simultaneously," in response to another user pointing out, "Two people in an Apollo capsule but in Sokol suits??? NOOOOOOOOO."
Even a NASA flight director mentioned, "The mission control shot looks more like MCC-Moscow than Houston." Though he also said, "I'm more curious to know how the astronaut got on top of the capsule..."