Classic ‘Mean’ Joe Greene Ad Gets a Super-Bowl Reboot

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It’s that time of the year for popcorn sequels, big-budget remakes and barely recognizable re-imaginings. Nope, not summer movie season. It’s just the surreal week before Super Bowl Sunday, where viewers who normally keep ads muted acquiesce to creative blockbuster commercials uploaded to YouTube.

The latest: a 1980 Coke commercial featuring “Mean” Joe Greene of the Pittsburgh Steelers has been tweaked into a new spot touting fabric softener. It’s not quite as nonsensical as it sounds.

If you’re old enough to have viewed the original spot at a Super Bowl XIV party (or if you happened to just watch it here right now), the ad features a boy offering Coca-Cola to Greene; in return, the football star tosses the kid his jersey. The new spot takes place in a similar hallway, but instead Amy Sedaris convinces a slightly-graying version of the Steelers star to use a Downy product to make his clothes smell better.

The remake isn’t the first time that Greene was asked to reprise his role, according to Adweek. The report humorously notes that “after reading the script (and sensing the reverence of the new version), the gridiron legend signed on.”

The ad will air during NBC’s pre-game show, this Sunday between 5:30 and 6 pm Eastern.

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