Jerod Mayo Spreads Pete Davidson Thin in Hellmann’s Super Bowl Commercial

variety.com:

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorAs Americans chow down on buffalo wings, beer, quesadillas, and chips, during the Super Bowl Unilever thinks it’s found a flavor that will help them swallow a serious message.The company is sending its venerable Hellmann’s  mayonnaise back into the Super Bowl ad fray in a second effort to use the Big Game to get people at home to cut back on wasting food.

In the ad, linebacker Jerod Mayo tackles people getting ready to toss out old food, telling them instead they can use Hellman’s to turn potatoes into potato salad. “Saturday Night Live” cast member Pete Davidson (and his mother) turns up at the end to drive the lesson home.“There is a bigger ambition here, a bigger mission, says Benjamin Crook, senior marketing director for Hellmann’s North America, in an interview.

The company’s research shows that approximately 40% of all food in the U.S. is wasted each year and approximately 40% of that food waste happens at home. “We’d love to stand out and be noticed,” says Crook. “But the important thing for us is can we make a difference, can we change behavior?”Many consumer-products giants like Unilever are trying to answer that question.

Procter & Gamble and Colgate-Palmolive are among the manufacturers with close ties to American households that are trying to prod U.S.