He’s the plumber, and he’s right here to unclog your pipes.
And sure, that could be a wrench in his pocket, and he’s glad to see you, largely as a result of he’s lusting after your Doritos Golden Sriracha chips.
Walton Goggins—the Emmy-nominated White Lotus actor who’s seemingly in all places without delay lately—stars as “The Plumber” in a brand new brief movie for the PepsiCo model that parodies tacky XXX-rated flicks.
The video, a slick manufacturing clocking in at practically 4 minutes, overflows with stereotypes of the porn style, circa 1972, together with characters like “The Bombshell” and “The Cougar,” together with skintight clothes, shag carpets, seductive stares, and double entendres.
The work, a primary collaboration between Rethink New York and PepsiCo, goals squarely at a Gen Z viewers that’s seemingly unfamiliar with the decades-old supply materials however might get the joke anyway, based on Chris Bellinger, chief inventive officer of PepsiCo Meals U.S.
Although it may very well be thought-about a threat for being risqué, Bellinger stated the idea from Rethink instantly scored with the model groups. It was only a matter of levels.
“The large dialog was about how far we go, the place’s too far, the place’s not far sufficient?” Bellinger stated. “With our tagline being ‘For the Daring,’ if we don’t take an enormous swing, we’re not dwelling as much as our personal hype.”
The product itself, trend-right with its swicy combo of candy and spicy substances, impressed the inventive. The brand new chip taste has a kick “with out being overly formidable on the spice stage,” Bellinger stated. “So we have been going for spice lite within the content material—what can we do this’s rooted within the technique of the flavour, a real perception, and never be overly express?”
Whereas manufacturers within the PepsiCo conglomerate typically work with inside inventive division D3, which produced north of 20 campaigns in 2024, additionally they collaborate with outdoors businesses. Doritos, for the revival of Crash the Tremendous Bowl in February after a 10-year hiatus, introduced in Goodby Silverstein & Companions and The Advertising Arm, whereas D3 dealt with social.
The Doritos Golden Sriracha hero advert was shot on movie in Los Angeles in a single day by Smuggler director Björn Rühmann. The idea “wasn’t celebrity-dependent,” Bellinger stated, and the script hadn’t been written with a specific well-known face in thoughts. “We have been on the lookout for somebody with distinctive, unconventional hotness.”
In approaching Goggins, the companions crossed their fingers that he would each purchase in and be obtainable.
“He thought it was hilarious,” Bellinger stated, noting that the Righteous Gems and Fallout star contributed concepts and thrives. Goggins instructed the road that gives one of many video’s greatest laughs. Trace: it revolves round “The Supply Man” character and an “additional massive sausage” pizza.
The actor-entrepreneur is not any stranger to commercials, having bulked up his CV within the area with Walmart and Jimmy John’s, alongside together with his Tremendous Bowl 2025 marketing campaign for GoDaddy that gained a Cannes Lions Grand Prix final month. His mockumentaries in 2020 and 2021 for the reintroduction of the Ford Bronco, from Think about Documentaries and Gifted Youth, grew to become viral fan favorites.
Cross-generational attraction
The Golden Sriracha advert, full with fake credit and bloopers on the finish, might ring a bell with Gen Xers who grew up on Boogie Nights, Cunning Brown, and different provocative fare, based on Deb Gabor, founder and CEO of Sol Advertising.
“The craft and a focus to element are top-notch,” Gabor advised ADWEEK. “There’s a complete visible language that hits excellent for these of us who got here of age pre-streaming—it’s sensible and ridiculous on the similar time.”
However its attraction to the coveted Gen Z—shoppers with out the context for such edgy leisure—may very well be elusive, she stated: “What’s meant to be camp is perhaps learn as cringey—or worse, off-putting. There’s a wonderful line between cheeky and alienating.”
The social-first marketing campaign will fan out over print and out-of-home adverts, together with a Occasions Sq. takeover, with a Hollywood-style premiere deliberate for the brief movie in New York. Bellinger estimated its general heft, which doesn’t give attention to conventional media like linear TV, is in keeping with earlier taste launches in scale and funding.
