Diet Coke’s Super Bowl Ad Doesn’t Seem To Know It’s A Super Bowl Ad

What: Diet Coke’s new ad may be directed by Paul Feig (Ghostbusters, Bridesmaids) and star Gillian Jacobs (Love, Community) but it’s just shockingly boring.

Who: Diet Coke, Anomaly Los Angeles

Why we care: Well, care might be a strong word, but let’s consider this a public service announcement to any and all advertisers: If you’re going to pay millions of dollars for a commercial, hire a celebrity like Gillian Jacobs, and a celebrated comedy director like Paul Feig to help create it, you might want to make sure it doesn’t come off as a lazy parody of a bad ad.

I get it, you’re going for the whole too-cool vibe of, “Hey, we make this soda, if you like it you should drink it, but no pressure, man.” Also, a yurt joke. This is the embodiment of every derogatory cliche assumed about the ad business in one tidy 30-second package. Why did Paul Feig direct this? It could’ve been written and directed by a robot. In fact, that might’ve been a better gimmick.

CORRECTION: The original version of this post named this as Diet Coke’s Super Bowl ad, but it isn’t. It’s the first in a series of new ads, one of which will debut during the big game on Sunday. Here’s hoping it’s better than this one.