5 Doritos Super Bowl Commercials That'll Make You Feel Old
For decades, Super Bowl commercials have been a cultural and commercial phenomenon, almost on par with the big game itself. Companies spend millions of dollars for a standout ad on what is arguably the biggest stage in the TV advertising industry. And with decades of competition on this stage, Doritos has amassed a lengthy track record of notable Super Bowl spots — including some of the top food commercials in recent history.
From gimmicks it referenced in subsequent Super Bowl ads to a chain of fan-created shorts chosen by voters, the extensive history of Doritos Super Bowl ads is fertile ground for feelings of nostalgia. A tendency to lean on current events and celebrities for ad content only bolsters the memories, as well as the brand recognition. But through all these years of content, some of the standout ads can make one feel old, whether or not they're particularly well-remembered.
Live the Flavor (2007)
The ad, set to music from the opera "La traviata," features a distracted driver eating Doritos and looking at an attractive pedestrian, who is also eating Doritos. This causes a car accident that turns into a meet-cute between the two Doritos eaters. The story is punctuated by color-washed screens that also show characteristics of the chips, like spicy, for the attractive pedestrian and her Doritos, or crunchy for the driver's face hitting the steering wheel through his bag of Doritos.
This was the viewer-chosen winner of the first "Crash the Super Bowl" contest. The consumer-generated ad competition was put on by Doritos' parent company Frito Lay. Fans of the chips would watch the submitted ads online and vote on their favorites, and the winner was chosen as Doritos' official Super Bowl ad to run during the big game. The contest ran from 2006 to 2016 but was recently revived for Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans.
Laundromat (1998)
A playful spot starring Miss USA 1996 Ali Landry, "Laundromat" featured two men trying to draw the attention of a beautiful woman (Landry) with their Doritos-eating skills. Impressed enough, she saunters toward them, only to take their Doritos and empty the bag in a dryer behind them. The dryer explodes with Doritos, which the woman acrobatically eats as they fly toward her mouth. This ad was a huge hit for Doritos, and the company referenced Landry's chip-eating skills in subsequent Super Bowl ads starring the model, who became known as "the Doritos Girl."
This ad was part of the rollout for a new product called 3D Doritos. 3D Doritos were small, thin-walled, puffed versions of typical Doritos, and this discontinued Doritos product was originally available in the U.S. from 1998 to 2004.
Though a version of 3D Doritos persisted in the Mexican market, they disappeared from U.S. store shelves until the 2020 relaunch of 3D Crunch Doritos. Reviews on Reddit say they are thicker and crunchier than original 3D Doritos. Still, the new 3D Crunch Doritos retain the iconic puffed triangle concept — even if they don't come shooting out of a laundry machine.
Canceled (1994)
In one of Doritos' first Super Bowl ads, original Saturday Night Live cast member Chevy Chase is filming a Doritos Super Bowl commercial when the director yells "cut" because Chase has been canceled for low ratings. For Chase, it was a self-effacing shot at his extremely short-lived talk show, which ran for just a few weeks in 1993 before being canceled. (Chase was later "canceled" in a different sense almost 20 years later after reports arose of his problematic behavior on the set of "Community.") In the ad from 1994, though, the canceled Chase still gets to keep the bag of Doritos Tortilla Thins. "Tough year," he says, but "good chip."
Doritos Tortilla Thins were a big bet for the brand when they debuted in 1992. Believing that consumers were moving past potato chips as a snack, Doritos attempted to get ahead of the wave with a new tortilla chip that was thin and crispy, like potato chips.
Despite the pedigree of Doritos popularizing tortilla chips in the U.S. and a tortilla chip trend in the early 1990s, sales of Doritos Tortilla Thins were ... well, a little thin. Much like "The Chevy Chase Show," the discontinued chips are little remembered today beyond this advertisement.
Craveman (2015)
In this 2015 Super Bowl ad, a prehistoric caveman emerges from the bushes and discovers bags of Nacho Cheese Doritos inside an animal's nest. After finding that the chips make poor spear tips and flint, he discovers that the orange dust on his fingers can make cave paintings — like Michelangelo's "The Creation of Adam," but with God handing Adam a Dorito. Only then does the caveman find out that the dust is also tasty.
The caveman in this Doritos ad bore a striking visual resemblance to an earlier, mega-viral caveman ad campaign for the car insurance company GEICO. Beginning in 2004, the GEICO cavemen ads aired for several years, and even spawned a sitcom in 2007. Nacho Cheese Doritos have proven more enduring than the GEICO cavemen, though; the sitcom was quickly canceled, and the ads, which were nostalgic even in 2015, remain infrequent.
Mario Cuomo and Ann Richards (1995)
Doritos' 1995 Super Bowl spot featured former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo and former Texas Gov. Ann Richards packing up an office and discussing the difficult necessity of change. "Change can be very exciting," Cuomo says. Richards replies, "You're probably right, Mario. I guess I'll get used to Doritos' new bag."
As governors, Cuomo and Richards were major figures in 1990s politics, both of whom suffered surprise defeats in 1994 elections — hence the joke of them packing up an office and struggling with change. In the case of Texas, Richards' loss was especially consequential. The last Democrat to serve as governor of Texas, she was replaced by future President George W. Bush.
It was also a consequential time for Doritos: The chips were overhauled in 1995 to be thinner, stronger, and more heavily seasoned. Around this time, redesigned bags also included the first prominent use of Doritos' triangle shape in its logo, an iconic choice that the brand has stuck with to this day.