William Shatner just wanted to eat his breakfast in peace.
When photos appeared on sites like TMZ and MailOnline earlier this week, snapping the 94-year-old actor eating a bowl of cereal in his car in LA traffic, the grainy, paparazzi-style shots suggested a man caught mid-meal rather than mid-brand deal.
However, in the days since, another set of images has emerged, showing Shatner getting out of a car, with a box of Raisin Bran tucked under his arm, as if he had just popped out to restock his cupboard.
The coincidence started to strain credulity, begging questions about why Shatner was suddenly being papped like a Marvel star. And why with so much cereal?
As it turns out, the photos are part of a deliberately staged lead-up campaign for Raisin Bran’s first Super Bowl ad, a spokesperson for the creative agency behind the campaign, VaynerMedia, confirmed to ADWEEK.
The cereal brand, long associated with fiber and digestive health, is making its Super Bowl debut this year with a spot set to air just ahead of halftime on streaming platforms, with additional regional placements during the broadcast.
The commercial will mark the first appearance of the parent company, WK Kellogg Co in roughly 15 years.
Kellogg’s has positioned the campaign as a humorous nudge toward better gut health at a moment when consumers are paying closer attention to nutrition, part of a broader trend set to transform the game into the so-called Wellness Bowl.
The art of the pap-walk ad
In recent years, brands’ Super Bowl efforts have themselves transformed from a one-time 30-second spot into a sprawling, multi-week marketing event.
The Shatner sightings were designed to spark curiosity before the reveal, designed to let gossip sites and social feeds accomplish the early amplification.
Shatner, enjoying a bite of cereal while driving, as one does.TMZ
The faux-candid rollout places Raisin Bran squarely within a growing trend of brands using staged paparazzi moments to promote their products. It’s an approach that blurs the line between entertainment, tabloid culture, and advertising.
In the last 24 months, brands including CeraVe and Velveeta have used such tactics, dispatching celebrities into public spaces with products conspicuously in hand.
CeraVe’s Super Bowl campaign famously fueled weeks of speculation by sending Michael Cera around New York carrying bags of moisturizer, while Velveeta enlisted Julia Fox to debut a branded hair look courtside at a Knicks game. In each case, the photos weren’t leaked so much as choreographed.
For Raisin Bran, tapping Shatner adds a winking layer to the formula. The actor’s outsized persona transforms the idea of him being caught with cereal into a gag, ensuring the reveal lands as a punchline rather than a bait-and-switch.
If the goal was to make a fiber-forward cereal part of the Super Bowl conversation before kickoff, mission accomplished.