Back in 2012, the Lonely Island starred in a campaign by Doritos, in which they enlisted the public to create their own Doritos ad, with the winner airing during the Super Bowl. But here's what viewers at home didn't see: the Lonely Island also created their own Doritos ad to be aired during the Super Bowl, but it was "tested the worst of anything that had ever been tested by the testing company."
The group spoke about the scrapped ad on the latest episode of their Seth Meyers and Lonely Island Podcast. The commercial starred "Normal Guy," a character that appeared on the comedy group's 2009 album Incredibad, and is essentially a character with a high, sing-song voice who repeatedly insists that he's just a regular guy.
"Part of that deal was we would also make one that would air during the Super Bowl, and we made one that they decided not to air," Andy Samberg explained. "And the reason they decided not to air was that they tested it, and it tested the worst of anything that had ever been tested by the testing company."
Jorma Taccone added, "I take full ownership and responsibility" for the failed ad. He said, "Me and Andy decided that would be really funny to have the spokesman for Doritos be Normal Guy. Turns out, America disagreed."
So, just how bad was this stinker? Here's Seth Meyers's memory of it: "I remember watching it, but I watched it after I heard it tested the worst of anything that had ever been tested. So I went into it thinking, 'How bad could it be?' And I walked away thinking, 'I believe every word that you were told by the good people at Doritos.' If you had told me they turned the negative dial so hard they like were coming off in people's hands..."
Believe it or not, the Lonely Island actually did have a strategy for making such a weird ad. Samberg explained, "Our thinking was, if this airs, everyone will be like, 'What the hell was that?' And I do stand by that thought. People would have been like, 'What just aired on the Super Bowl? What the hell was that?'"
Evidently, the shock factor wasn't incentive enough for Doritos, but there was a silver lining: even though they rejected the ad, they did make a $250,000 donation to Berkeley Unified School District on behalf of the Lonely Island.
There's only one way to settle whether this is really the worst ad ever: release the rejected Super Bowl commercial!