The blazing New Mexico sun shines ocher through the tasteless curtains of the mobile home. Anxious, a not-so-young man tastes a tortilla chip, turns to the camera, wide-eyed, and exclaims: “Yo, they’re amazing!” A Bald man with a beard and a lab apron answers from one of the front seats in a deep voice: “And they’re not fried!” To then explain from the top down how he came up with the ultimate snack.
If these two people in this situation sound familiar, snack brand PopCorners has achieved what they set out to do with their Super Bowl commercial: Breaking Bad’s Walter White and Jesse Pinkman are back! However, not as a manufacturer and seller of blue crystal meth, but of blue chip bags. Series creator Vince Gilligan shot the commercial himself. And thus involuntarily shows at what depressed point perhaps the best series of all time has arrived is.
The Breaking Bad commercial doesn’t understand the series – or doesn’t want to understand it
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Walt (Bryan Cranston) and Jesse (Aaron Paul) are a fantastic duo. With a dynamic somewhere between “truant and teacher see each other again at class reunions” and “quarrelsome couple found a common hobby” they thrive Amateur meth chefs to drug lords that even the Mexican cartels can’t ignore. And all this in Albuquerque, which only looks sleepy at first glance
The series shows the moral decline of physics teacher and family man Walter White, who not only puts himself in danger, but has more and more people on his conscience. We see brutal fights, emotional breakdowns and the tragedy behind addictions. That moment in the trailerin which Walt’s business partner Jesse realizes how good the blue meth is, may seem triumphant in isolation, but it’s the beginning of the end.
In my opinion, it is all the more bizarre to put this scene through the capitalist meat grinder and end up with a chip commercial. As if Breaking Bad were essentially an entrepreneurial success story, the highlights of which can be jokingly transferred to other products without any problems. As if Jesse and Walt had started an experimental startup that just so happened to make a substance that falls under the Narcotics Act, rather than menstrual cups, collapsible tricycles, or chips.
Walter White and Jesse Pinkman are milked to death 10 years after the series ended
There are enough examples where cameos or pastiches on well-known franchises work. In a satirical context, for example, when US presenter Seth Meyers brings the fun-resistant Jon Snow from Game of Thrones to a dinner party. Or, to stick with the Gilliganverse, parts of the Breaking Bad cast do a satire on the MTV show “My Super Sweet 16” in which Bryan Cranston is planning his 60th birthday.
These skits take the soul of something and take it further, making it absurd. You want to entertain. Advertising, on the other hand, wants to sell something and nothing is easier than evoking emotions for a product when you associate it with something the target audience already loves. In this case: an iconic series that anchored so omnipresent in pop culture memory, so mememed to deaththat it now feels like Prestige TV’s “Carpe Diem” wall decal.
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There was already a Super Bowl commercial in 2015 with Breaking Bad participation: Walter White was supposed to emphasize the advantages of an online insurance provider as an unfriendly pharmacist (including the “Say my Name!!!” allusion, of course). At that time, the series finale was about two years ago and the spin-off Better Call Saul had just started. El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie didn’t follow until four years later. The advert was a cynical cash grab, too, of course. But she didn’t feel to me like this is the last time Walt will be seen. As if this video, trimmed for maximum virality, was a farewell forever.
Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul ruined their own perfect ending
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In 2023 it will be different. For months, fans like myself have been waiting for the much-anticipated return of Walt and Jesse in the final season of Better Call Saul. The result was an entertaining and melancholic flashback to two characters who have accompanied me for years of my life. The perfect closing chord for a masterpiece of serial narration. But instead of being remembered that way, Walt and Jesse now want to sell me popcorn-sounding tortilla chips with the slogan “Breaking Good.”
There are plenty of Breaking Bad fans who hailed the spot as if Vince Gilligan had just announced the continuation of his series universe. But we don’t know how and if it will ever continue. As of now, this damn Super Bowl commercial is the last time we Walter White and Jesse Pinkman bicker in a trailer together see. Does that really make anyone happy? And if so: why?
In the end, these empty cameos feel like devouring a bag of chips, at least to me: euphoria, greed, and finally a certain disgust. From myself, but also from those responsible, who know exactly how to milk the last bit of endorphin out of fan brains like mine. Until there is nothing left. Just an unbelievable feeling of emptiness.
Podcast: Is Breaking Bad Still The Best Series Ever?
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Even almost 10 years after the finale, Breaking Bad is still one of the best series of all time for many. To coincide with the start of the final season of the spin-off Better Call Saul, we dive deep into the main series again and discuss, what makes Breaking Bad so great. In addition to the most unforgettable scenes, in the second part we look at series that appeared after Breaking Bad and can be compared to the hit phenomenon.
Question for you: What did you think of the Breaking Bad spot?
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