"Hey Kid, Catch!" is a
television commercial
A television advertisement (also called a commercial, spot, break, advert, or ad) is a span of television programming produced and paid for by an organization. It conveys a message promoting, and aiming to market, a product, service or idea. ...
for
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a cola soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. In 2013, Coke products were sold in over 200 countries and territories worldwide, with consumers drinking more than 1.8 billion company beverage servings ...
starring
Pittsburgh Steelers
The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. Founded in 1933 P ...
defensive tackle
"Mean" Joe Greene. The commercial debuted on October 1, 1979, and was re-aired multiple times, most notably during
Super Bowl XIV in 1980. The 60-second commercial won a
Clio Award for being one of the best television commercials of 1979.
During its planning and filming stages,
McCann Erickson, the advertising agency that created the commercial, used the working title "Mean Joe Greene". The commercial was a part of Coca-Cola's "Have a Coke and a Smile" ad campaign of the late 1970s.
The commercial
After sustaining an injury during a football game, Greene is limping alone into the tunnel toward the Steelers' locker room when a young boy (played by Tommy Okon) comes up behind him offering his help, which Greene declines. After telling Greene that he still thinks he is the best, the boy offers him his bottle of Coke; Greene sheepishly accepts it with thanks and drinks the entire bottle as the boy quietly says "See ya 'round" and slowly walks away. When Greene finishes the Coke he turns back to the boy and says "Hey, kid... catch," tossing his jersey (slung over his shoulder) to the surprised boy who happily says "Wow! Thanks, Mean Joe!" Greene casts a smile toward the boy before continuing his trek to the locker room.
Production notes and accolades
The campaign's director was N. Lee Lacy, the art director was Roger Mosconi, the writer was Penny Hawkey, and the singers of the "Coke and a Smile" jingle were Jim Campbell, Don Thomas, Liz Corrigan, Shellie Littman, Arlene Martell, and
Linda November. The footage was shot in May 1979 at a small stadium in
Mount Vernon, New York
Mount Vernon is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States. It is an inner suburb of New York City, immediately to the north of the Borough (New York City), borough of the Bronx. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, Moun ...
, and the commercial first aired on October 1, 1979, on
ABC's ''
Monday Night Football'', though its airing during Super Bowl XIV in 1980 brought it the most attention due to the program's enormous audience. Coincidentally, the Steelers played in Super Bowl XIV, defeating the
Los Angeles Rams
The Los Angeles Rams are a professional American football team based in the Greater Los Angeles, Greater Los Angeles area. The Rams compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West ...
31–19.
The commercial has been listed as one of the top ads of all time by multiple sources, including ''
TV Guide
TV Guide is an American digital media
In mass communication, digital media is any media (communication), communication media that operates in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital content can be created, vi ...
''. The ad later received worldwide acclaim when it was re-filmed in various countries using local sports figures such as
Diego Maradona,
Niwat Srisawat and
Zico.
Greene later recalled that in filming the commercial, it took several takes to get his final line in the commercial in without burping. "Between me belching and going to the men's room, it took three days to film it," Greene recalled. The end of the commercial was also shown during the 2004 film ''
Miracle'' when the
USA vs. USSR hockey game was on a commercial break.
In 2016 Joe reunited with Tommy Okon during a two-hour CBS special filmed at Apogee Stadium in Denton, Texas honoring Super Bowl's Greatest Commercials. Greene speaking with Okon almost 40 years since the original filming said to Okon “It’s great to see you. My God, look at you. I don’t need to look down here anymore!”
The Steeler and the Pittsburgh Kid
A made-for-TV movie that was loosely based on the commercial starring Greene and
Henry Thomas instead of Tommy Okon as the kid aired on
NBC on November 15, 1981, as part of the network's ''Project Peacock'' series which featured family-based specials and programming. In the film, the team temporarily adopts a 9-year-old boy where Greene takes on a fatherly role as he teaches the boy some valuable lessons.
Parodies and homages
* In 1981, a ''
Sesame Street
''Sesame Street'' is an American educational television, educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation, and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Worksh ...
'' segment featured
Roscoe Orman (Gordon) as football player Big Murray, giving a young fan a towel bearing the number seven, as a way to show the number seven as the number of the day.
* In 1983, the television show ''
Newhart'' paid homage to the commercial in the first-season episode "A View from the Bench" when a limping Celtics player throws his basketball shoes to Bob Newhart on his way to the locker room.
* In 1993, Coca-Cola's longtime rival
Pepsi
Pepsi is a Carbonated water, carbonated soft drink with a cola flavor, manufactured by PepsiCo which serves as its flagship product. In 2023, Pepsi was the second most valuable soft drink brand worldwide behind Coca-Cola; the two share a long ...
did their own modern spoof of the commercial. After finding an empty courtside cooler,
Shaquille O'Neal
Shaquille Rashaun O'Neal ( ; born March 6, 1972), commonly known as Shaq ( ), is an American former professional basketball player who is a sports analyst on the television program ''Inside the NBA''. He is a and Center (basketball), center ...
sees a young admirer for his soda only to be rebuffed by saying "
Don't even think about it!".
* In 1994, ''
The Simpsons
''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening, James L. Brooks and Sam Simon for the Fox Broadcasting Company. It is a Satire (film and television), satirical depiction of American life ...
'' episode "
Bart Gets Famous" features
Krusty yelling "Hey Kid!" as he throws his towel to
Bart.
* In 1999, a ''
Family Guy
''Family Guy'' is an American animated sitcom created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series premiered on January 31, 1999, following Super Bowl XXXIII, with the rest of the first season airing from April 11, 1999. Th ...
'' episode "
Peter, Peter, Caviar Eater" features a cutaway gag with Mean Joe tossing all of his clothes to Peter. He makes another appearance in the 2008 episode "
Road to Germany," tossing a container of uranium to Stewie.
* A 2001 Pepsi ad with
David Beckham closely follows the original plot until the boy wipes the rim of the can Beckham had borrowed with the shirt he had gifted.
* In 2001, as part of
Cartoon Network's annual marathon called ''The Big Game XXIV: Bugs vs. Daffy'', a parody of this commercial features
Johnny Bravo & Morocco Mole from ''
Secret Squirrel''. In this commercial, Bravo confuses Mole for being a dog.
* The ending of the ''
Futurama'' episode from 2002 called "
A Leela of Her Own" (the episode title is a parody of the 1992 film ''
A League of Their Own'') parodies this, with
Leela, as a blernsball (a futuristic version of baseball) pitcher, throwing her jockstrap, unsuccessfully, to professional blernsball player, Jackie Anderson.
* In the 2003 episode "
Some Assembly Required" of the television show ''
Frasier'', the character Niles gives a child a handkerchief in a similar manner after a good performance at an elementary-school assembly about the importance of cleanliness.
* During
Super Bowl XLIII in 2009, Coca-Cola aired a parody to the ad to promote its
Coca-Cola Zero brand, starring then-current Steelers player
Troy Polamalu in Greene's role. Continuing an ongoing theme in promotion for the beverage, the ad is interrupted by Coca-Cola "brand managers" who accuse Polamalu of "stealing" their commercial, prompting the
safety
Safety is the state of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk.
Meanings
The word 'safety' entered the English language in the 1 ...
to tackle one of them and give the child their shirt.
Much like the original commercial airing during Super Bowl XIV, Super Bowl XLIII also featured the Steelers, who defeated the
Arizona Cardinals
The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Cardinals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West division. The ...
27–23 for their record sixth
Vince Lombardi Trophy.
* In January 2011, an episode of ''
SportsNation'' on
ESPN2
ESPN2 is an American multinational pay television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between the Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the remaining 20%).
ESPN2 was initially ...
briefly parodied this commercial which featured sportscaster
Michelle Beadle in Greene's role. In the commercial, after finishing the soda, instead of the jersey, she "accidentally" throws the empty soda bottle back to the kid as it breaks on the wall at the end and then apologizes after that "mishap". In addition, the commercial tried to look like the late 1970s/early 1980s font titles with the words "Facebook.com/SportsNation" and "Have Some ''"SportsNation"'' and a smile" and "Sports is Life".
* In February 2011, an advertisement for the
Fox television drama series ''
House
A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air c ...
'', first aired during
Super Bowl XLV, parodies the original commercial with a similar scene in which Dr. Gregory House, played by
Hugh Laurie, throws his cane to a young fan played by
Preston Bailey.
* In 2012, Greene reprised his role in a
Downy Unstopables ad for
Super Bowl XLVI entitled "Stinky", where
Amy Sedaris rejects Greene's jersey because it smelled.
* In January 2016, forward-center for the
Sacramento Kings
The Sacramento Kings are an American professional basketball team based in Sacramento, California. The Kings compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division (NBA), Pacific Division of the Western Confere ...
DeMarcus Cousins did a recreation of the classic commercial in order to promote the 2016 All-Star Voting process.
* In February 2016, Pennsylvania politician
John Fetterman recreated the commercial for a campaign ad during his Senate campaign.
References
External links
Hey Kid, Catch!on
YouTube
YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
{{Super Bowl commercials
1979 in American television
1979 quotations
1979 works
1970s television commercials
Promotional campaigns by Coca-Cola
Quotations from sports
Super Bowl commercials