DoorDash's Sesame Street Commercial Has The Internet Divided
Who doesn't gush over Big Bird and Grover eating fresh fruits from the neighborhood deli, deliciously juicy street food hamburgers, and (lest we leave him out) Cookie Monster eating chocolate chip cookies from a local bakery? Also, can we say, yes, yes, yes, and more yes to Hamilton star, Daveed Diggs and his amazing vocal cords (via People)? "I think you'd have been hard-pressed to get me to say no to anything involving Sesame Street," Diggs explained his participation in the commercial, "I'm a pretty big fan." All of which makes DoorDash's 2021 Super Bowl commercial, on the face of it, heartwarming in the way that Hallmark rarely pulls off anymore (via YouTube).
About half of Twitter took its Super Bowl 2021 contribution at face value. One user tweeted, "Very cute," and another posted, "winning it for me." While another tweeted, and "if Ernie and Bert had made an appearance I probably would have cried." However, the other half of the Twitter-verse had a very different take on DoorDash's Sesame Street collaboration.
Why half of the internet is hating on the Sesame Street DoorDash Super Bowl collab
While DoorDash highlights neighborhood business in its 2021 Super Bowl commercial, the delivery company, itself, is hardly a local enterprise (via Twitter). That's one issue that has some of Twitter seeing red. "I mean, you want to corrupt Miss Piggy, that sucks too ..." posted one enraged viewer, "But GROVER IS NOT A CORPORATE SHILL!!!" Another seconded, writing, "I feel weird about Sesame Street being used for corporate advertising." Perhaps Big Bird was driven into corporate advertising because of " rising rental prices on Sesame Street?" asked a third.
Sesame Street, however, had its own motivations for partnering with the delivery company. Through the partnership, DoorDash offered $1 to Sesame Workshop for every order between Super Bowl Sunday 2021 and the following Monday. The publicity worked. Less than two hours into the big game, Sesame Street proudly tweeted that it had successfully raised $1 million. Proceeds will go to support its programs in refugee response, autism acceptance, and COVID-19 response, among others (via Sesame Workshop).