We all know Seal, don’t we? Killer... Crazy... produced by Trevor Horn, kinda serious dude, not exactly the frivolous type, you’d suspect.
So what on earth are we to make of his appearance on an advert for Mountain Dew? Not as himself, mind you, but as an actual seal?
Those of you who watched the Super Bowl yesterday would have been 'treated to this utterly bonkers ad, which sees the 61-year-old singer’s head grafted – by the magic of computers n' stuff – onto the head of the marine mammal with which he shares a name.
The ad starts in the kitchen of US singer Becky G who picks up a can of Mountain Dew, sips it and is then transported to a fantastical world. Who is that over there? It’s Seal! Perched on top of a rock with other seals, serenading her with some slightly modified lyrics from his 1994 hit Kiss From A Rose: “Baby, I compare you to a kiss from a rose on the grey/ Baby, I compare it to a kiss from a lime on the bay.”
Utter genius.
Seal - Kiss From A Rose (Official Video) [HD] - YouTube
Social media users were generally positive about the ad. “Wth did we just watch ?”, questioned _eb4n_ on Twitter/ X while flowstateofmiind stated that the CGI was “traumatising”.
Meanwhile pjvergnetti commented: “Karaoke with Seal as a Seal is something I always knew I wanted and am so grateful to finally have.” Another added: “Seal is a seal… 2025 bingo card complete!”
The real Seal seemed to enjoy it, anyway. In a statement given to Adweek he said: “I had a blast coming up with new lyrics and loved collaborating with their team to bring this campaign to life in such a fun and unexpected way.”
Comical Super Bowl ads are quite a thing in the US. As well as Seal singing for Mountain Dew, this year also saw Matt Damon and (yawn) David Beckham pretend to be long-lost twins in attempt to flog Stella Artois beer, whilst Uber Eats’ ad featured Matthew McConaughey, Kevin Bacon, Martha Stewart, Charli XCX and Greta Gerwig. This famous fivesome uncover a ‘conspiracy’ that American football was created to make people hungry.
Neither of those scenarios sound exactly side-splitting, do they? Not compared to Seal as a seal, anyway.
