Nick Offerman's Face Says: Don't Treat Soil Like Dirt

NICK OFFERMAN’S AGENT: For your next role, you’ll be playing worn-out topsoil.

NICK: I dig it!

The Parks and Recreation actor grows into the part for a spot from the Natural Resources Defense Council and director Morgan Sackett (Veep, Hacks, The Good Place).

For most of the :50, we watch Offerman’s smudged face—the rest of him remains buried in the ground. Dude talks up regenerative farming in an effort to help persuade Congress to pass the Cover Act. That legislation would provide savings on crop insurance for those who adopt more eco-friendly techniques.

He’s the face of the campaign!

“I am grateful to finally exploit my talents as a dirty man of the soil to encourage the use of cover crops in pursuit of restoring the health of our nation’s fields,” Offerman says in press materials. “We have a long way to go, and many more regenerative steps to take, but supporting this effort is a very good beginning.”

Nick comes from an Illinois farming family. That background and his rep as a straight-shooting DIY craftsman gives the pitch extra gravitas.

And, since you were wondering: Yes, they really did plant Nick in the ground.

“During the shoot, he was literally buried up to his neck in dirt and then soil for the full day,” AMP Agency executive creative director James Hough tells Muse. “He was on his back on top of a thin air mattress/pool float—then buried. A crane was used to get the shot. He never complained and was in high spirits until the very end when he danced his way across the screen in a dirt suit.”

AMP combined with Incredible Beast Omnimedia and Upshot to develop the campaign. Ads launch today, timed to Climate Week NYC, across social media platforms.