Watch Arnold Schwarzenegger Play Zeus In A Super Bowl Commercial
It's not just football legends coming out of the woodwork on Super Bowl Sunday. Actor, former governor, and all-around badass Arnold Schwarzenegger made his debut as a Greek god in a BMW commercial tonight, and it's as ridiculous and fun as you'd expect.
In the visual, Schwarzenegger's Zeus finds himself exploited by his friends and family for his electrical powers (remember, Zeus controls lightning) after retiring to Palm Springs with wife Hera (played by Salma Hayek). He even accidentally causes a citywide blackout at one point when his powers short circuit after so much use.
Finally, he goes to take his tiny horse, Peggy — you know, Pegasus, the flying horse — out for a walk when he gets a jolt of electricity running through him, which restores his old god armor. "I thought you could use a pick me up," Hera tells him as she presents him with a new electric-powered BMW.
The visual ends as the pair drive down a Palm Springs street while singing along with "Electric Avenue" by Eddy Grant as it plays in the background.
In late January, Schwarzenegger first teased his appearance in the BMW commercial via Instagram, where he shared a photo of himself as Zeus on a promo poster. "February 2022," he captioned the image. Nearly a week later, he shared a teaser visual in which a barista has a difficult time pronouncing his name while trying to hand off his coffee.
The Art of the Celeb Super Bowl Commercial
The commercial is a cute attempt at a quick story, which a lot of Super Bowl commercials tend to do. After all, the intention is not only to sell whatever product you're pedaling. The main objective for these brands is to stand out and be remembered as a highlight of the night, and using celebrity cameos are a great way to make that happen.
Similarly, Chevy used some cameos from "Sopranos" actors for their visual this year, Disney+ enlisted Awkwafina to push their expansive catalog that is only getting bigger, Anna Kendrick partnered with Rocket Mortgage, and Steve Buscemi (and a ton of other famous faces) starred in a Michelob Ultra commercial. Dolly Parton and Miley Cyrus even took part in a two-part T-Mobile short. The list goes on. I'm barely scratching the surface.
It's not that this is necessarily happening more than in any other year — it's an age-old tactic that marketing pros double down on during the most-viewed sporting event of the year — but there's something about this game's crop that feels almost nostalgic. Everything has been well-intentioned, light-hearted, and passionate so far, even when they've been on the cheesy side. Here's to (hopefully) a few more cameos to talk about.