In this hilarious short film by Rethink, the only triangle Walton Goggins wants is Sriracha-flavored.
While Walton Goggins may be fully embracing his new sex symbol status, he is not here for your fantasy fulfillment.
At least that — along with “try the new Doritos Golden Sriracha flavor” — is the message in this comedic banger from the snack brand.
Created by Rethink, A Spicy But Not Too Spicy Plumber is a glorious sendup of ’70s-era adult films — complete with loopy fonts for the credits, the soft filter shots, the close-ups of elongated stares after every suggestive line and the saxophone-heavy soundtrack. Goggins hams it up as the sweaty and chiseled plumber who hilariously dodges the unsubtle advances of the lusty residents in a house he was called to, um, “service,” by doing the actual duties of a typical plumber, much to the spectacularly campy cast’s disappointment.
Despite being the object of everyone’s desire, the pipe-fixing hero stays fixated on his purpose until he grabs ahold of the blingy bag of “swicy” tortilla chips.
The spot goes beyond being simply entertaining, it also expertly markets the product — which taps into the latest food trend of Asian-inspired “sweet and spicy” flavor blends favored by Gen Z consumers — making both the flavorful chips and the cheeky content an intergenerational delight.
“Our whole approach with this has been: If it’s not making us nervous, if we’re not a little scared, then we haven’t pushed it hard enough,” PepsiCo Foods U.S. CCO Chris Bellinger shared with Campaign via statement. “It was a very intentional creative choice to find that line and walk right up to it. We wanted to tell a story that felt unmistakably Doritos — bold, layered, a little unexpected — but do it in a way that made people look twice. Playing into the ‘spicy, but not too spicy’ notion gave us this incredible tension to play with. It let us tease those classic tropes you’d expect, then we flip the script. It’s just like the flavor experience of the chips themselves, there’s a nuance, a clever subtly in both the flavor and the film that speaks to how Gen Z consumes content: They want edge, but also wit and intention. When you’re watching it, humor is the hook, but it’s the heat that keeps you coming back.”