The NFL season is officially back with Thursday Night Football’s showdown between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Baltimore Ravens, and apparently so are early aughts soda commercials. Paying homage to the 2004 ad that saw Britney Spears, Beyoncé, and Pink lunging about as gladiators, Pepsi returned to the Colosseum, this time with Megan Thee Stallion as its empress, and footballers Travis Kelce, Josh Allen, Derrick Henry, and Justin Jefferson as its warriors. For his part, Killa Trav was dressed in chainmail, forearm shivers, and a loincloth as he grunted, battled a CGI tiger, and performed stunts in historically inaccurate footwear. “ARE YOU READY?” the First Gentleman of the Eras Tour screams, later crushing a can of Pepsi. No, no I am not, but something tells me we don’t have a choice.
He may not be Paul Mescal, but gladiator isn’t a terrible look for a man who’s already well-suited to jeering crowds and arena battles. And starring in a beverage commercial isn’t too far off from Kelce’s previously stated goal of wanting to pursue a more thespian lifestyle. (The tight end is already set to star in Ryan Murphy’s Grotesquerie, due out later this month.)
Regardless, between this and Addison Rae’s earworm “Diet Pepsi,” it’s shaping up to be a good year for Big Soda. And hopefully a good season for America’s most public couple, too: Taylor Swift is expected to be front and center at her beau’s first game of the season.
