Selling Out

In the late 80s and early 90s, I was an avid fan of the MacGyver television series starring Richard Dean Anderson. MacGyver would use everyday items to get him out of life-or-death situations — all he needed was his handy Swiss Army knife, a bobby pin or gum wrapper. According to the show creators, all of his solutions were based upon real scientific principles and the inventive use of common items.

The show was entertaining, clever and fun. It even spawned some new words. When people try to jury rig something, it’s called a “MacGyverism,” or some might say that they “MacGyvered” a fix to a problem. A survey commissioned by the McCormick Tribune Foundation in Aug. 2007 even showed that MacGyver was the favorite fictional hero that Americans would want to have if they were caught in an emergency.

Saturday Night Live even created a parody of MacGyver called “MacGruber” with Will Forte as the title character. As a fan of MacGyver, these sketches always caught my attention. I found them to be funny because MacGruber is the anti-MacGyver. He’s a jerk and always fails to save the day.

I was really surprised to see a MacGruber commercial while watching the Super Bowl on Sunday. I was even more shocked when Richard Dean Anderson appeared in the commercial as the real MacGyver. He complains about the poor job MacGruber is doing and accuses him of being a sellout. It’s hilarious!

There are three commercial spots in total. Check ’em out, and kudos to Pepsi for giving us a clever, entertaining ad in the midst of mediocre (and dare I say, boring) Super Bowl commercials. I wish other advertisers had tried this hard.