3 reasons Chance the Rapper and the Backstreet Boys had a perfect Super Bowl ad

The commercials are always a highlight of the Super Bowl. Regardless of who is playing in the actual game, you have the ads to hold your attention. Most years, they’re great. Some years (I’M LOOKING AT YOU, PUPPY-MONKEY-BABY) they’re terrible.

This year, we have a perfect ad. Doritos, promoting its new Flaming Hot Nacho chip, combined Chance the Rapper with the Backstreet Boys, and it’s incredible:

The video opens with Chance the Rapper trying one of the new chips as the dulcet tones of Backstreet Boys’ ballad plays in the background. “Did they make the original...hot?” he asks as we fade into a dream sequence that features fast cars, a dance crew, and Chance adding new rap lyrics over the old hit.

It finishes in an airplane hangar as Chance is joined by the Backstreet Boys. The sextet do a dance number, and it’s perfect for several reasons:

It doesn’t take itself too seriously

Look, chips are fun, especially Doritos. They’re not a serious commodity — or particularly...umm...good for you. And this ad embraced being silly. It’s an unusual mix — popular rapper and a 20-year old boy band — paired with over-the-top visuals.

CBS

The original video/song is an iconic banger

This is one of the defining songs and music videos of the late 1990s as it was a mainstay on Total Request Live. The Backstreet Boys were arguably kings of the pop culture landscape (I’m an *NSync girl myself, but BSB ain’t bad), and ‘I Want It That Way’ is one of the most fun boy band love songs...ever.

The video featured all the amazing stuff that made teenage girls swoon over the Backstreet Boys, especially the choreographed dancing in questionable outfits.

The video was so iconic it was even spoofed by Blink-182 in their ‘All The Small Things” music video, also released in 1999.

It’s memorable

That’s the point of the ad, right? People will talk about ads the next day, and the catchier the better. What’s catchier than remixing a Gen Y classic? The tagline, “The Original. Now it’s hot” is perfect.

Get a lovable group in their old boy band costumes (despite their...more advanced age), drop them in an airplane hanger (which was never really explained), and add a hot new act. What’s not to love?

“Ooooh hot stuff on my nachos, walking like a taco, driving over potholes, hotter than a pyro.” That’s going to be in my head for weeks.

This picture? [chef’s kiss]

CBS