BMW's Super Bowl ad features Arnold Schwarzenegger as Zeus
Thursday, 10 February 2022
How does a Greek god deal with retirement? Not well, if BMW’s new Super Bowl television advertisement is anything to go by.
Starring a pair of superstars in the form of Arnold Schwarzenegger as Zeus, the Greek god of lightning (actually, he’s technically the god of the sky, lightning, thunder, law, order, and justice), and Salma Hayek as his wife, the Hera (the goddess of marriage, women, childbirth, and family, in case you were wondering) the ad starts with Zeus announcing his retirement on Mount Olympus, before fast-forwarding to their life in retirement in the U.S. resort city of Palm Springs, California.
Zeus quickly gets bored with the monotony of taking the couple’s pet Pegasus for walks, charging up his friends and neighbours’ garden equipment and golf buggies with his godly lightning powers, and struggling with every day electronic devices (and eventually blacking out the entire city), before Hera reignites his spark by buying a BMW iX, the company’s latest all-electric SUV offering.
The two finish out the sixty-second spot by cruising down the street in the iX, singing along to Eddy Grant’s 1983 hit Electric Avenue (the title of which actually refers to the first commercial street in London to be lit by electric lights), with Zeus turning all the traffic lights green.
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While it is already on sale in New Zealand, BMW is launching the iX large SUV in the USA next month, so is using the spot in an attempt to use humour and celebrities to rev up its EV sales as it aims to reach a global goal of transitioning its sales to 50 per cent electric vehicles by 2030.
“The humour lies in this legendary god of lightning, who is supposed to be indestructible, battling with everyday electronics,” said Schwarzenegger of the ad.
“It is only when his brilliant wife presents him with the gift of an all-electric BMW iX that Zeus is struck with the mighty power of electricity and is completely rejuvenated.”
The spot was conceived by BMW’s U.S. creative agency, Goodby Silverstein & Partners, and directed by two-time Academy Award nominated director Bryan Buckley, highly acclaimed for his work on more than 65 Super Bowl commercials.
“This is my first Super Bowl commercial – and the first time I’ve played a Greek goddess,” said Hayek.
“Seventy-five per cent of the decisions made in a marriage about where to spend the money are made by women, and in this commercial, it is the woman who decides on the right car to get her husband back on track. Of course, the commercial is entertaining, but there is also a real human truth to it.”
“I’ve done 60-some-odd Super Bowl spots. I’ve never had more star power than these two,” said director Bryan Buckley.
“When I first saw Schwarzenegger’s name on the script, I was in. And Salma – there is no one greater as an actress. It’s a movie in 60 seconds, and it’s on the biggest platform.”