Walton Goggins and Doritos Drop a...

The Doritos Golden Sriracha hero ad was shot on film in Los Angeles in a single day by Smuggler director Björn Rühmann. The concept “wasn’t celebrity-dependent,” Bellinger said, and the script hadn’t been written with a particular famous face in mind. “We were looking for someone with unique, unconventional hotness.”

In approaching Goggins, the partners crossed their fingers that he would both buy in and be available.

“He thought it was hilarious,” Bellinger said, noting that the Righteous Gemstones and Fallout star contributed ideas and flourishes. Goggins suggested the line that provides one of the video’s biggest laughs. Hint: it revolves around “The Delivery Guy” character and an “extra large sausage” pizza.

The actor-entrepreneur is no stranger to commercials, having bulked up his CV in the space with Walmart and Jimmy John’s, along with his Super Bowl 2025 campaign for GoDaddy that won a Cannes Lions Grand Prix last month. His mockumentaries in 2020 and 2021 for the reintroduction of the Ford Bronco, from Imagine Documentaries and Gifted Youth, became viral fan favorites.

Cross-generational appeal

The Golden Sriracha ad, complete with faux credits and bloopers at the end, may strike a chord with Gen Xers who grew up on Boogie Nights, Foxy Brown, and other provocative fare, according to Deb Gabor, founder and CEO of Sol Marketing. 

“The craft and attention to detail are top-notch,” Gabor told ADWEEK. “There’s a whole visual language that hits just right for those of us who came of age pre-streaming—it’s brilliant and ridiculous at the same time.”

But its appeal to the coveted Gen Z—consumers without the context for such edgy entertainment—could be elusive, she said: “What’s meant to be camp might be read as cringey—or worse, off-putting. There’s a fine line between cheeky and alienating.”

The social-first campaign will fan out over print and out-of-home ads, including a Times Square takeover, with a Hollywood-style premiere planned for the short film in New York. Bellinger estimated its overall heft, which doesn’t focus on traditional media like linear TV, is in line with previous flavor launches in scale and investment.

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