Football season is back and, as usual, the NFL is trying to find ways to get more people to tune in. Sure, there are folks who have been football fans their whole lives, like me. But there is even more money for the NFL and big brands to make by capturing the attention of younger fans of all genders. And when it comes to Gen Z and younger Millennials, there’s no one who is hotter among the crowd than Megan Thee Stallion. (She is at the tail end of the Millennial spectrum.) So it totally makes sense to me that this Pepsi commercial for the NFL honors the classic Gladiator commercial from years ago, boasts some Gladiator II vibes, and features Megan Thee Stallion, a tiger, and a few familiar football faces.
Pepsi’s “Make Your Gameday Epic” commercial is a whopping three minutes long and boy does it take you on a journey. We meet two football fans who order a couple of Pepsis at the bar and end up in a situation against a few gladiators. (They are actually football players Josh Allen, Derrick Henry, Justin Jefferson, and Travis Kelce. Yes, the latter is Taylor Swift’s bae.) They watch as the gladiators fight against the tiger using their multimillion dollar skills while Megan Thee Stallion raps and creates her own rendition of Queen’s “We Will Rock You.”
She declares that gameday will now begin and the pair find themselves back in the bar. Then, there’s a small flash of an ad for Paramount’s Gladiator II movie. What a trip, indeed. All I know is Megan Thee Stallion deserves all the good things, including a lucrative Pepsi deal.