Megan Thee Stallion, Travis Kelce, Lamorne Morris and more star in Pepsi's sequel to the iconic 2004 Gladiator commercial
In America, we can get nostalgic about anything—even commercials. And under capitalism, advertisements have been cultural products worthy of a sequel. Thus, we get Pepsi’s own, the grand follow-up to the iconic 2004 commercial that starred gladiators Beyoncé, P!nk, and Britney Spears with Emperor Enrique Iglesias. In lieu of another diva-off, this one’s got Megan Thee Stallion, a handful of football players , and a couple comedic character actors.
You may think: That sounds like a lot going on for one commercial. In fact, it is. The original, directed by), had a simple conceit with a mild girl power message . And while the cover of “We Will Rock You” couldn’t touch the original, it was at least interesting to hear three very different vocalists take on an incredibly familiar track.The sequel ad, directed by Ridley Scott’s actual son Jake Scott , is oddly more complicated.
Josh Allen, Derrick Henry, Justin Jefferson, and Kelce are our new gladiators, and Megan Thee Stallion is the empress. While the football players team up to defeat the savage beasts in the Coliseum, Megan raps over the “We Will Rock You” beat. It doesn’t sound great. Then the Coliseum turns into a football stadium and then the football stadium turns back into a bar and, mugs an “Are you not entertained?” from the bar’s television.
, it’s just gained a sort of cult following over the last decade. Does that speak to the genuine quality of that old ad, or just to the wistfulness of the American consumer? If there’s anything to be gleaned from putting these two cultural artifacts side-by-side, it’s that today’s version of corporate creativity is stuffed to the gills with too many ideas.
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