Oscar Mayer Creates Beauty Advertising. Sort of

How long does Oscar Mayer smoke its bacon? Longer than its competitors … and long enough to hijack lipgloss and razor commercials.

To illustrate the 12-hour smoking process for its thick-cut bacon, the brand and agency Johannes Leonardo cooked up a pair of ads that begin as bacon ads do—with closeups of that sweet, smoky meat.

As the videos conclude, however, either a lip gloss spot or one for a men’s razors begin. Each spokesperson is distracted by the aroma of bacon smoking indoors.

“Yep, we’re still smokin’ that bacon” says the voiceover, informing viewers that they’re still watching Oscar Mayer messaging.

“All bacon ads are about bacon, but when your bacon is smoked longer than most, sometimes your bacon ad will run into a beauty ad, or a shaving ad.,” says Zack Roif, creative director at Johannes Leonardo. “When the regular 15-second media buy just isn’t enough time to demonstrate how long we smoke your bacon, we took aim at disrupting all the other ads to prove our point. We’re smoked longer.”

The ads are running in digital, social media and via streaming audio services like iHeart Radio and Twitch.

“While we could simply tell fans our bacon’s 12-hour smoking process is the only one that delivers the crispy, smoky flavors they crave, we opted to meat them in unexpected ways to challenge the traditional paid media mix—sparking smiles and bacon cravings across music, sports and gaming platforms nationwide,” says Shelby Max, brand communications manager for Oscar Mayer.