Did you know Ritz crackers have a Super Bowl commercial this year?
I watched it early. And as someone who genuinely loves Ritz, this pains me to say.
It’s aggressively… mid.
That’s disappointing because Ritz are elite-tier crackers. If I show up to a party and the snack table is stacked with off-brand, flavorless cardboard discs instead of Ritz, I’m questioning the host’s judgment and maybe the friendship.
So why talk about a Ritz commercial at all?
Because it’s a perfect case study in modern marketing, and what’s going wrong with it.
Welcome to my weekly dive into Business Development, Sales, and Marketing. Yes, BDSM. No, not that kind. Get your mind out of the gutter.
The Celebrity Crutch
The campaign leans heavily on celebrities and a “salty” positioning. The ad is set on a fictional Ritz Island, featuring Jon Hamm, Scarlett Johansson, and Bowen Yang at a tropical party for “salty” personalities.
On paper, that might sound fun.
In reality, it feels like a checklist:
- Add celebrities
- Add a theme word
- Add a party
- Call it a day
There’s no real wit. No sharp insight. No memorable joke. No emotional hook. It just… exists.
It’s the classic “Oh my God, celebrities!” approach to advertising. The problem is that celebrities alone aren’t an idea. They’re a garnish. If there’s no strong concept underneath, you’re just paying a premium to be forgettable.
When Positioning Gets Pretentious
The justification behind the campaign is where it gets even more absurd.
The idea is that “saltiness” is a modern emotional state tied to micro-frustrations in daily life. A little outrage, a bruised ego, social comparison, self-awareness. Supposedly relatable.
But we’re talking about crackers.
People are not reaching for Ritz to process their existential dread, economic anxiety, or social frustrations. They’re reaching for them because they taste good with cheese.
Also, if we’re being honest, Ritz are not the first thing anyone thinks of as a “salty snack.” Pretzels own that category. No one says, “I’m craving salt, pass the Ritz.”
Sometimes a cracker is just a cracker.
The Agency Isn’t Always the Villain
Here’s where it gets interesting.
The agency behind the spot, The Martin Agency, actually has a stellar track record. They’ve done iconic, genuinely great work. Campaigns people still remember and quote.
So how do you get from great agency to bland Super Bowl ad?
My theory: the client picked the safest idea in the room.
Big brands often ask for bold thinking, then reward safe thinking. They request disruptive concepts, then approve the least risky option. Over time, that process sands off all the interesting edges.
You end up with work that offends no one, excites no one, and is remembered by no one.
The Super Bowl Proves People Love Great Ads
Here’s the irony.
Millions of people watch the Super Bowl specifically for the commercials. Not the game. The commercials.
Why? Because people enjoy being sold to when it’s done in a fun, clever, entertaining way.
What they don’t enjoy is a nonstop stream of bland, low-effort marketing the rest of the year.
The Super Bowl is proof that great advertising works. It grabs attention. It creates cultural moments. It gets people talking.
So the real question is:
Why do we only try that hard once a year?
Imagine if brands aimed for memorable instead of safe all the time. Imagine if more marketing tried to be genuinely funny, sharp, or surprising instead of just acceptable.
There’s real money in being interesting.
The Takeaway
The Ritz ad won’t be the best Super Bowl commercial.
It won’t be the worst either.
It’ll just be… there.
And in marketing, being inconsequential is often worse than being polarizing.
Because nobody remembers “fine.”
They remember funny.
They remember bold.
They remember different.
The Super Bowl reminds us of that every year.
The question is whether brands will remember it on Monday.
