Doritos has named the three finalists in its final Crash the Super Bowl competition, with only one of the three contenders going on to air during the big game.
The international competition saw 4,500 submissions from 28 countries, culled down to fifty semi-finalists before the recent cut to three finalists. Of the semi-finalists, the most viewed entry, Logan Paul‘s “Paranormal Snacktivity” and the highest rated entry, (which also received the second most views), Thorbjørn Kragh‘s “A Tasty Tragedy,” failed to make the final cut.
The three finalists are “Swipe for Doritos,” “Doritos Dogs” and “Ultrasound.” “Swipe for Doritos” (featured above) was created by Los Angeles talent manager David Rudy and stars Doris Roberts of Everybody Loves Raymond fame. It takes a look at (and mocks) the world of online dating before ending with an unexpected (and bizarre) twist, something of a common occurrence among entries. Australian commercial filmmaker Peter Carstairs submitted “Ultrasound” (below), which shows a man taunting his unborn child (seen via ultrasound) with a bag of Doritos. TV/screenwriter Jacob Chase created “Doritos Dogs” (also below) which follows three dogs as they hatch a plan to gain admittance to a grocery store to buy the snack.
Voting for the finalists is open until the end of January, with the winning entrant receiving $1 million and the chance to work with director Zack Snyder on a future project, in addition to seeing their spot in the Super Bowl. The winner won’t be revealed until during the big game itself, with the three finalists invited to watch from a private suite in Levi’s Stadium in San Francisco; the two finalists who didn’t win will receive $100,000, not a bad consolation prize.
“We thought for our last ‘Crash,’ less finalists was more,”Frito-Lay vice president of marketing Jeff Klein said, in a statement. “It’s the chance to laser-focus the spotlight on the very best of the best, and ensures all of our finalists walk away with truly life-changing opportunities.”
“The Doritos brand created a whole industry around user-generated content,” he added. “We were imitated but never replicated. We were the only brand willing to take this risk year after year. We had no safety net.”