Super Bowl commercials featuring big stars love to play with audience expectations, and the new Salesforce commercial starring Matthew McConaughey is now different. The spot looks like it could be a trailer for a sequel to Interstellar, but it’s really just a spot for the cloud-based software company. The commercial, titled “The New Frontier,” will air during Super Bowl LVI, which kicks off at 6:30 p.m. ET on NBC Sunday.
In an interview with Variety, McConaughey said he purposefully wanted to misdirect fans right at the start. The minute-long spot opens with the vastness of space, with McConaughey wearing an astronaut’s helmet that looks just like the one he sported in Christopher Nolan’s 2014 science-fiction epic. However, the camera quickly reveals that McConaughey is actually piloting a hot air balloon.
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“I wanted this misdirect at the beginning,” the Oscar-winner told Variety. “I wanted it to open and look very serious and in space because we’re about to pull the rug out from under you. Some people are going to think this is going to be the trailer for Interstellar 2.”
As the commercial continues, McConaughey pilots his hot-air balloon through a city. His narration suggests there is no need to search for a new frontier because there is one right here on earth. “I hope they go, ‘Look, what McConaughey and Salesforce is saying, is there is a problem in society today,” McConaughey told Variety when asked what he hopes people get from the spot. “Our relationship with each other, our relationship with the environment is fragile, man. We got a lack of trust, we got a lack of fairness. We got a lack of sustainable innovations. We have a lack of values.”
McConaughey later said the people who are “looking to escape and get the hell out of here or maybe look the other way” have a point. “But we can look around at our earthly challenges and look those in the eye and say, ‘Let’s handle this and restore what we got going here. We’re not ready to quit,’” he continued. “Hopefully businesses will see this and are urged and nudged to make a commitment to making life here on Earth more fair, equal, and sustainable.”
The spot also includes a jab at Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, and Elon Musk when McConaughey says, “While the others look to the metaverse and Mars, let’s stay here and restore ours.” McConaughey said the campaign isn’t meant to be seen as “anti-technology” or against space exploration. “It’s saying, ‘Hey, we have to not be so ready to quit on our home team; our home planet. We got a home-field advantage, let’s take care of it,’” McConaughey said.
This is McConaughey’s second consecutive year as a Super Bowl commercial star. Last year, he starred in a Doritos commercial for the brand’s revival of Doritos 3D snacks. He was “flat Matthew” in the spot, and needed the chips to become three-dimensional again. Of course, McConaughey’s most famous commercial campaign remains his work with Ford’s Lincoln division, in which he philosophically discussed the benefits of driving the luxury car brand.ย
