THE AD: Instacart’s 30-second Super Bowl ad is all retro vibes, with pop star Benson Boone and actor Ben Stiller playing an accented and acrobatic musical duo, who happen to be brothers. Onstage with giant anthropomorphic fruits, Boone and Stiller dance and sing about Instacart’s new “preference picker” tool, which allows shoppers to choose the ripeness level of the bananas they order on the app.
But familial drama takes over as Boone’s signature flip sends Stiller into a jealous rage—ending with a crash landing.
MY TAKE: “Instacart lets you choose your bananas” has been playing in my head on repeat since the ad dropped on Jan. 28, so I have to give it to the creative team behind this work for creating such an earworm.
While I love the nostalgic look and feel of the spot, the full story doesn’t come across in just 30 seconds. After watching the 150-second director’s cut, where the characters were more developed, the song had more lyrics, and key plot details have time to seed, I wished the final Big Game ad had been a 60, giving it a little more space to breathe.
But I guess that’s what you get when $30 seconds comes with a price tag of at least $8 million.