• by Barbara Lippert , Columnist, January 31, 2024

As a hazy window into the changing American economy, Super Bowl commercials can be very telling.

For example, this year, there will be almost the same number of commercials for the on-demand food delivery category as there will be for cars.

Yes, that’s a shocker. For better or worse, the 2024 lineup shows that the “gig economy” is only getting stronger, while traditional industries, like the big four American automakers, will sit the game out for the first time in 23 years. (Foreign-owned brands Kia, Volkswagen and BMW will fill those slots, ponying up the reported $7 million for 30 seconds.)

The car economy is challenging for many reasons, while on-demand delivery really speaks to our contemporary social and psychological needs and the way we have learned to live and cope post-pandemic.

While wanting to make the world and its insanity seem smaller and feel safer, we’ve become more of an avoidant behavior culture. For many, that translates into hunkering down at home, rarely wanting to leave the couch. Why would you, when you can order pretty much anything with the press of an app?

More specifically, the Super Bowl presents the most perfect couch-based opportunity for food delivery, and is therefore one of the highest grossing days of the year for those services.

Uber Eats, a major contender in that category, and a return sponsor to the Bowl, this week released a funny teaser that rises to the supersized occasion.

We’ve gotten used to seeing big-budget Uber Eats spots filled with megacelebrity wattage, as with an older commercial featuring Elton John and Li’l Nas X ordering in while playing on horsey rides in John’s gilded palace.

This time, UE and its agency, Special, have delivered Victoria and David Beckham -- who, when you think about it, were the late ‘90s-early 2000s equivalent of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce: a popstar and a footballer. 

If you recall, the Beckhams also suffered mightily under the red-hot glare of the media, but that was largely pre-internet. The treatment they received can’t compare to the nonstop horrifying invasiveness of today’s social media forces.

No one has ever suggested, for instance, that Posh, who frequently appeared at David’s games, was going to strip in the middle of a Manchester United pitch in order to take part in a political conspiracy to elect the next MP.

Never mind. I’m sure the planning for this very funny promo and subsequent spot started before Tayvis even became an item.

It’s based on a bit from “Beckham," the 2023 Netflix 4-part documentary series that got mixed reviews at the time.

But one scene immediately went viral, garnering more than 4 million views on TikTok within the first week of its debut. Its fame will no doubt grow as a result of this promo.

In it, Posh is sitting at home alone on a sofa, wearing jeans and a crisp white shirt, speaking to the camera about the Beckhams’ humble, hardworking family roots.

“We’re very working-class” she says.

Her husband then pokes his head in from seemingly nowhere (behind a door, and who knew he was listening?) to admonish her to “be honest.”

Victoria insists, “I am being honest! “

And then there’s a long back and forth until Posh finally admits that in the ‘80s, her father drove her to school in a Rolls-Royce. (Hence the name Posh.)

Cut to the new spot, where we see the same scene recreated, this time with a pony-tailed Victoria sitting on the sofa sporting jeans and a T-shirt that prominently reads, “My dad had a Rolls-Royce.”

Talk about cutting to the chase. It’s a way to establish immediately that this is a parody of that scene. And it’s pitch-perfect.

Though they might look the same as last year, in their dotage (they are now 48 and 49), they seem to have developed problems remembering words and names.

“So David and I are gonna be in a little commercial,” Mrs. Beckham tells us.

David then recreates the famous head peek, darting in from the door with a new kind of bend-it.   “Be honest. Be honest,” he says.

“I am,” his wife responds, swiveling her head. “OK, it’s a big commercial.”

And then David keeps interrupting, pushing her to spill the details, just as he did in the doc.

“OK, it's during the big baseball game” she says.

Being the honest one who obviously knows more, he corrects her with “Super big baseball game.”

Then they both go on to misremember everything, agreeing that it’s part of a “hockey bowl.”

They also mention that the spot will include “Jessica Aniston.” They both say they love “Jessica.”

It’s funny. But considering what great actors they are to pull off this hilarious deadpan performance, it made me wonder just how scripted the original Netflix “docu-series” was. I want to ask the producers to “be honest.”

The teaser ends with “Whatever you forget this Sunday, remember Uber Eats.”

So we can look forward to the couple showing up in a spot during the big baseball game on Feb.11 in Nevada. It will no doubt be huge for a Hockey Bowl, offering star-filled entertainment. I’m curious what role Jessica A. will play.  

And I’m wondering if the Beckhams will watch at home, united on the sofa, ordering in.