The ‘Mandalorian and Grogu’ Super Bowl Trailer Was Secretly Brilliant

As with everything Star Wars, the latest look at The Mandalorian and Grogu has generated a lot of opinions online. The Super Bowl is one of the best televised events every year and, for decades, has been a prime spot for a studio to release a look at an upcoming film. This has taken the form of memorable 30-second teasers, or, more recently, brief videos that tell audiences to watch the full trailer online. Yet The Mandalorian and Grogu opted for a different approach. Instead of showing a quick montage of shots from the movie, Disney and Lucasfilm opted for a parody of classic Budweiser Clydesdale ads, which later revealed itself to be centered on The Mandalorian and Grogu, with the “horses” actually being Tauntauns.

This clever little bit of meta marketing, of course, has divided the Star Wars fandom. Many were disappointed not to get a traditional trailer, particularly after the first teaser was so underwhelming. Others think it is beneath the Star Wars franchise to parody another type of commercial. Yet The Mandalorian & Grogu doing a fake-out commercial, one that steered into what a Super Bowl ad is, was good in terms of drawing interest for the movie, but it shows how the overall brand is willing to evolve.

Doing a Fake-Out Trailer Drew Interest in ‘The Mandalorian and Grogu’

The history of the fake-out trailer is vast but effective. Austin Powers and the Spy Who Shagged Me teaser trailer built off the hype for The Phantom Menace by making everyone think it was a Star Wars trailer, only to reveal what it truly was by the end. In 2001, Warner Bros. marketed what looked like a new Batman movie, only for the trailer to reveal itself as Scooby-Doo. In 2011, Disney released a slew of fake parody trailers for The Muppets that spoofed romantic comedies, detective films, and even Green Lantern. Now, all of those are comedy movies, but the primary goal is to subvert audience expectations with the final reveal of what the actual film is as a reward, and a bit of fun for the audience that they were briefly deceived. That is what the Super Bowl spot for The Mandalorian and Grogu did.

What appeared on the surface to be a beer commercial, turning out to be The Mandalorian and Grogu, was a pleasant surprise and likely grabbed more attention from viewers at home and those online than random flashes of a traditional teaser. It says something that the teaser for The Mandalorian and Grogu has generated more discussion and interest than the more straightforward trailers for The Super Mario Galaxy Movie or even the excellent teaser for Steven Spielberg’s Disclosure Day. The teaser clearly worked.

Disney and Lucasfilm played into the idea of what audiences “expect” from a Super Bowl. The Budweiser Clydesdale commercials are a staple of the event and are typically among the most talked-about each year. Playing off that built-in association, including a voice-over by Sam Elliot, to pull the rug out and reveal it is actually a teaser for The Mandalorian and Grogu is both a clever marketing spin and an homage to two types of Super Bowl ads: the classic Budweiser ads and movie teasers.

‘Star Wars’ Has Never Been Afraid to Get Weird

The Mandalorian & Grogu

Walt Disney Pictures

There is, of course, the idea that Star Wars shouldn’t be doing these types of parody or subversion ads. It is acceptable for products like Energizer and VW to use Star Wars iconography for their ads, but Star Wars should remain pure. Epic and straightforward. While Deadpool can be clever, Star Wars needs to always be serious and stick to a rigid formula. Yet that hasn’t always been the case.

The Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones home video release featured ads with the tagline “Yoda Man.” Star Wars Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, the darkest entry in the franchise that features children being killed, had an official Lucasfilm poster featuring Darth Vader with the tagline “Who’s Your Daddy?” which was part of the official merchandise, including Father’s Day cards and shirts. If that is all acceptable, why is it somehow a low point for The Mandalorian and Grogu’s Super Bowl ad to be a humorous teaser? The honest answer is that most fans don’t remember or even know that they exist.

It is clear that fans wanted more, and while it is certainly understandable, it can’t help but feel a little entitled. It isn’t as if there won’t be a second trailer for The Mandalorian and Grogu (likely to play in theaters alongside Hoppers). A full trailer at the Super Bowl would have gotten lost in the shuffle and ultimately would have been more of the same, an issue Star Wars has been facing for some time. Star Wars needs to take creative swings, and this Super Bowl spot continues what Andor Season 2’s trailer featuring Steve Earle’s “The Revolution Starts Now” did by showing that Star Wars can be flexible in terms of how it is marketed.

This brief teaser was fun and humorous, and it served The Mandalorian and Grogu well by drawing interest from millions of Super Bowl viewers and reminding them how much they love this corner of the Star Wars franchise, particularly Grogu, or as many people still know him, Baby Yoda.