• by Fern Siegel , February 7, 2024

Jif is taking an offbeat approach to the Super Bowl. Rather than a game day ad, the peanut butter brand is promoting a run-up campaign.

The idea is that chicken wings, a football fan favorite, often come with celery sticks. Americans devour 1 billion wings during the Super Bowl, but only 14% of people prefer the accompanying celery, according to the National Chicken Council.

The "Celery Sorrows" spot highlights the situation.

The new campaign was created in partnership with PSOne, the Power of One solution for J.M. Smucker Co., led by creative agency BBH USA.

“There’s always been debate about whether purpose-driven work belongs in and around the Big Game,” said Erica Roberts, CCO at BBH USA. “Is it really the right stage for weighty messages? Well, if those messages are about saving fibrous stalks of celery, we say, ‘hell, yeah.’ ”

Customers can visit www.savethecelery.com on Sunday February 11, to get a free jar of Jif delivered by Gopuff in minutes.

In addition to TV, video and influencer partnerships with Jesse James Decker, the brand will roll out #SaveTheCelery during live pre-game show reads on Barstool's Pardon My Take podcast. It will also post on YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook. In addition, #SaveTheCelery offers a free jar of Jif peanut butter to chicken wing enthusiasts as a plea to save the celery side.

The Ringer's Bill Simmons will also promote the hashtag in his podcast.

Plus, Jif will sponsor the Truth or Dab segment on viral wings show Hot Ones, in the week leading up to the Big Game. The segment will feature former NFL player and social media personality Spice Adams answering challenging personal questions. Or, he can choose to hold onto his secrets, plead the “Jif,” save the celery, and endure eating a mega-hot wing.

“Jif wanted to hack the biggest dip day of the year with a dip you never see at the party ± peanut butter. And once we realized we had the perfect way in with discarded celery, it was a no-brainer,” said Peter Defries, group creative director BBH USA.