As football fans throughout the country prepare for Super Bowl LIX on February 9, 2025, major brands are preparing to show off their wares to the biggest U.S. audience of the year. Super Bowl commercials are always the stuff of legend, and this year, beloved potato chip brand Lay’s, which recently recalled its Classic Potato Chips, tapped Academy Award-winning filmmaker Taika Waititi to tug on our heartstrings with an ad that centers the company’s family-run farm suppliers.
The commercial, titled “The Little Farmer,” is a one-minute short directed by Waititi with a simple premise. Watching her older family members set out for a day of potato farming, a young “Little Farmer” plants a potato of her own in a patch of dirt behind her house. Set to a soothing cover of Barry Louis Polisar’s “All I Want Is You,” the little girl lovingly tends to her tiny garden, rain or shine, even camping out at night to keep an eye on it. Her hard work is rewarded when she digs up the thriving potato and returns it to her family’s Lay’s-branded truck, much to their pride. The intergenerational family finally enjoys a big bag of Lay’s chips on their porch. The spot is part of a campaign to highlight the brand’s support of North American farms; it will include various scholarship and training programs for young farmers.
The true story behind the ad
Though the commercial is fictionalized, it was inspired by the true story of the Pavelski family of Heartland Farms, according to a press release shared with Chowhound. “Jeremie Pavelski is a fifth-generation farmer who produces Lay’s potatoes out of his Wisconsin farm alongside his family, including his own ‘little farmer’ daughter,” Chris Bellinger, Chief Creative Officer of PepsiCo Foods U.S, said.
While the United States is not the country that produces the most potatoes in the world, Lay’s aims to shine a light on the local U.S. farmers that supply its potatoes during the Super Bowl, a quintessentially American event. “The commercial showcases the pride that goes into producing every single potato — not just on Pavelski’s farm, but on the more than 50 family-owned farms that grow potatoes for Lay’s,” Bellinger said.
The company is furthering its mission of support not only with ad space, but with a $1 million multi-year financial investment benefiting farmers and a commitment to working with the Farm Foundation, a nonprofit organization. The Foundation’s initiatives include scholarships for students pursuing degrees in agriculture, hands-on business training for at least 250 participants, mentorship opportunities, and a free, digital Young Farmer Toolkit.