MC Hammer literally can’t touch this. This Sunday, the hip hop legend will appear in a Super Bowl ad spot for Cheetos that plays on the snack food’s famous messiness.
The commercial features a man with cheese-dusted fingers avoiding chores like moving a couch or doing paperwork to the tune of Hammer’s hit single “U Can’t Touch This.”
Hammer himself pops up throughout the 30-second spot to sing his famous hook, including once as a mustachioed, sunglasses-wearing baby that the protagonist refuses to hold.
Given that this is the first Super Bowl spot for Cheetos in 11 years, the Frito-Lay-owned brand appears to have taken the go-big-or-go-home approach to Super Bowl marketing. No mere hired gun, Hammer waxed poetic to Cheddar about the beautiful bond between music and Cheetos.
“I think Cheetos and music go hand in hand because all of us as kids ate Cheetos,” he said. “You take the memory of food, the memory of music, combine them together, and you got something great.”
He also commented on the enduring appeal of “U Can’t Touch This”, which marked its 30th anniversary this year.
“It lives on because it still stimulates. Kids see it for the first time right now, and they start dancing. It’s a special gift that’s built inside the song,” he said.
When asked if the music industry would continue to produce lasting hits like his own, Hammer expressed confidence that it would. How they produce them is the question, he said.
“We don’t know the platform. We don’t know if it’s a new AI algorithm that drives engagement and the sharing of music. We don’t know if it’s all going to be by suggestion,” Hammer said.
The most likely scenario, according to the rapper, is that artificial intelligence will produce the hit singles of the future.
“If machines can learn from machines, they could easily learn how to compose,” Hammer said. “They’re already doing it, but it’s going to get better and better. In the near future, you’ll have songs that are completely produced by AI.”
Nvidia on Wednesday became the first public company to reach a market capitalization of $5 trillion. The ravenous appetite for the Silicon Valley company’s chips is the main reason that the company’s stock price has increased so rapidly since early 2023.
Chris Williamson, Chief Business Economist at S&P Global, breaks down September’s CPI print and inflation trends, explaining what it means for markets.
A big-screen adaptation of the anime “Chainsaw Man” has topped the North American box office, beating a Springsteen biopic and “Black Phone 2.” The movie earned $17.25 million in the U.S. and Canada this weekend. “Black Phone 2” fell to second place with $13 million. Two new releases, the rom-com “Regretting You” and “Springsteen — Deliver Me From Nowhere,” earned $12.85 million and $9.1 million, respectively. “Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc” is based on the manga series about a demon hunter. It's another win for Sony-owned Crunchyroll, which also released a “Demon Slayer” film last month that debuted to a record $70 million.
The Federal Aviation Administration says flights departing for Los Angeles International Airport were halted briefly due to a staffing shortage at a Southern California air traffic facility. The FAA issued a temporary ground stop at one of the world’s busiest airports on Sunday morning soon after U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy predicted that travelers would see more flights delayed as the nation’s air traffic controllers work without pay during the federal government shutdown. The hold on planes taking off for LAX lasted an hour and 45 minutes and didn't appear to cause continued problems. The FAA said staffing shortages also delayed planes headed to Washington, Chicago and Newark, New Jersey on Sunday.
Boeing workers at three Midwest plants where military aircraft and weapons are developed have voted to reject the company’s latest contract offer and to continue a strike that started almost three months ago. The strike by about 3,200 machinists at the plants in the Missouri cities of St. Louis and St. Charles, and in Mascoutah, Illinois, is smaller in scale than a walkout last year by 33,000 Boeing workers who assemble commercial jetliners. The president of the International Association of Machinists says Sunday's outcome shows Boeing hasn't adequately addressed wages and retirement benefits. Boeing says Sunday's vote was close with 51% of union members opposing the revised offer.
