Pepsi / YouTube Ben Stiller & Steve Martin
Today is the big day. Sunday, February 12, 2023, marks the biggest football game of the year, Super Bowl LVII. The Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles will face off at 6:30 p.m. Eastern time at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, both teams hoping to take the championship.
As one of the most watched television broadcasts of the year, the Super Bowl has also become known as one of the biggest days for commercials, with brands vying to have the most creative and memorable advertisements air during the big game.
This year, Pepsi Zero Sugar has made two commercials, which they are calling “Great Acting or Great Taste?”, featuring two of the biggest comedy actors in the business, Steve Martin and Ben Stiller. See the commercials, where Martin and Stiller ask viewers if they think Pepsi Zero Sugar actually tastes great, or if the actors are simply doing their job at making it believable, below.
Steve Martin Makes His Commercial Debut at For This Year’s Super Bowl
Martin’s Pepsi Zero Sugar Commercial shows the actor on set performing a nose job on a dog, throwing a fit at the DMV, and gloating over a family game night victory. “As an actor, it’s my job to make people believe that what they’re seeing is real,” Martin says. After going through all of the imagined scenarios, he takes a sip of Pepsi Zero Sugar, and says, “Wow, it’s fantastic!” before looking to the camera and saying, “or was I just acting? Only way to find out is to try it yourself.”
A clip of the television spot was previewed on The Today Show on February 8, where host Sheinelle Jones confirmed that this was Martin’s “official commercial debut”. Martin and Stiller teased each other for selling out by participating in a commercial in a teaser that was posted to the official Pepsi YouTube channel ahead of the big game.
Ben Stiller Channels ‘Zoolander’ in His Big Game Ad
Good Morning America reports that this is Stiller’s first Super Bowl commercial, and sat down with Stiller to talk about the commercial.
“It has been a while since I’ve been acting. It’s a whole different kind of energy from directing. When you’re acting you’re hopefully more in the moment,” Stiller says. In the past few years, Stiller has shifted some of his focus behind the camera, directing and producing more and more projects, especially for television. He was nominated for an Emmy Award for his directing work on the 2018 true crime limited series “Escape at Dannemora”, and again in 2022 for his directing work on the drama series “Severance” (for which he directed six of the first season’s nine episodes).
Rachel Dratch makes a guest appearance in Stiller’s Super Bowl ad, which is similar to Martin’s though with different on-set scenarios. Stiller kills an alien creature, proposed to his girlfriend (Dratch, who faints back in her chair, kicking Stiller in the face in the process), and gets ready for a photo shoot as his famous character, Derek Zoolander.
“It’s always fun to do Derek, because he is just a very simple person, who has very clear priorities in life. Looking good, and that’s about it,” Stiller said of returning to the role.