4. Advertising Analysis

Mountain Dew Super Bowl Commercial

As most (if not all) Americans are keenly aware, the annual Super Bowl ads are usually nothing to scoff at or even ignore completely during the Super Bowl. They're a part of the whole Super Bowl experience. People talk about the commercials the next day just as much - if not more - as the actual game. Unlike most advertisements and commercials we are used to, the Super Bowl commercials are super entertaining and usually off the wall. Companies know how many people are viewing the Super Bowl, so they really amp up their commercial game for this one-night-a-year event. Companies that usually don't even do commercials are coming out of the woodworks to make a commercial for the Super Bowl. 

Upon research and sifting through multiple commercials, I decided I wanted to analyze the Mountain Dew commercial. It is a parody of the Stephen King movie, The Shining. It starts off with actor, Bryan Cranston playing Jack Nicholson's iconic and eerily infamous character Jack Torrance. It seems like an excerpt taken from the movie and it even pans in on him like the iconic screen cap of Jack Nicholson when he says, "Here's Johnny!" Instead of repeating the famous line, he says it a little differently: "Here's.. Mountain Dew Zero!" 

The woman that he seems to be trying to attack, stops panicking once she sees the Mountain Dew bottle, and suddenly becomes really calm at the thought of drinking a Mountain Dew, and she is no longer scared of Cranston's character. 

I think this commercial was really well made, and the attention to detail from the original film is pretty spot on. Their choice of Cranston in place of Nicholson was pretty great as well. They even added a creepy but humorous ending of the ghostly twins at the end of the slip and..well, it's a see-for-yourself kind of clip.

Bryan Cranston dressing like the twins from “The Shining” is def a highlight. 😂 Props to the Mountain Dew commercial! #SuperBowl pic.twitter.com/sQzwQW2zBX

— cαssie ❥ (@hotasicexox) February 3, 2020

Are companies competing this #SuperBowl for the most disturbing ad ever??? I’m looking at you Mountain Dew and Rocket Mortgage..... #SuperBowlAd

— And the Oscar Goes to...... (@chenstoppable) February 3, 2020

Yo imagine getting your door broken down with an axe and not even getting a regular Mountain Dew #SuperBowl

— Blake Hammond (@BigRadMachine) February 3, 2020

5 best #SuperBowl commercials last night

Doritos: Lil Nas X/Sam Elliot dance off
Jeep: Bill Murray/Groundhog Day
Cheetos: MC Hammer/Can’t Touch This
Mountain Dew: Bryan Cranston/The Shining
T-Mobile: Anthony Anderson and Mama

— Nico Haeflinger (@NicoFOXIL) February 3, 2020

I think this commercial most likely caught the attention of most of its viewers. Most people have seen or at least heard of this movie and to see it sort of reimagined but with Mountain Dew is attention-grabbing at the very least. Mountain Dew definitely got their money's worth with the ad. I'm sure this really grabbed a lot of people in. Mountain Dew, to say the least, really got people talking about their product. It was all over twitter and every other social media. That's what the aim is usually: to get people talking about what you're trying to sell. It was well done and well received. I don't even drink Mountain Dew, but it made me want one!