Two Biola alumni “crashed” the Super Bowl in February, when their Doritos commercial, “Casket,” aired during the first quarter of the game.
Kevin Willson (’01) and Stephen Yao (’05) entered Doritos’ fourth annual “Crash the Super Bowl” competition as part of a group of filmmakers from Los Angeles’ Mosaic church. The church’s commercial was selected from more than 4,000 entries as one of the four finalists that aired during the Super Bowl and will continue to air throughout the year.
“Casket,” which earned the filmmakers $25,000 in prize money, features a man who fakes his own funeral so he can watch the Super Bowl and eat Doritos undisturbed inside a casket. The ad ranked 14th most popular on USA Today’s Ad Meter, out of more than 60 ads that aired during the game.
Willson, who directed the commercial, and Yao, who edited it, are both graduates of Biola’s Cinema and Media Arts program. Yao said the duo was “ecstatic” about the success of the 30-second commercial, which drew media attention from the likes of Fox News and USA Today and was seen by 106 million who watched the Super Bowl — the largest television audience of all time.