Consumer Behavior Change Circular Economy Marketing & Communications

Mayo x Mayo:
Hellmann’s, Jerod Mayo Team Up During the Big Game to Tackle Food Waste

In Hellman’s newest Super Bowl spot, former football player and current coach, Jerod Mayo, shows would-be home food-wasters how they can ‘make taste, not waste.’

Published 2 years ago | About a 4 minute read

Image: Hellmann's

This year, for its Super Bowl ad spot, Hellmann’s is teaming up with another mayo — retired linebacker turned professional football coach Jerod Mayo — to continue driving awareness around the important and often-avoidable issue of food waste at home. To educate and inspire people to take action and “make taste, not waste,” Hellmann’s and Jerod Mayo have established the Mayo x Mayo food waste-tackling team.

The Big Game has become one of the US’s largest food holidays, with people often overbuying food — resulting in significant food waste. But this isn’t the only time of year when Americans waste food. Approximately 40 percent of all food in the US is wasted each year and approximately 40 percent of that food waste happens at home. Through the ongoing “make taste, not waste” campaign (last year’s installment featured Amy Schumer as a “Fairy Godmayo”) and its continued efforts to combat food waste, Hellmann’s hopes to inspire people to change behaviors and make a positive impact.

“As a long-time fan and fellow ‘mayo,’ I’m thrilled to have this opportunity to partner with Hellmann’s to raise awareness for such an important issue,” Mayo said. “Food waste in the US is something we must tackle together. At home, my wife Chantel and I always try to use leftover ingredients in our pantry or fridge to reduce food waste; and we hope this spot encourages people to do the same.”

The new spot pays homage to the iconic Office Linebacker character known as “Terry Tate” — embodied by actor, producer, director and former football pro Lester Speight — as portrayed and depicted in the 2002 short film and commercial video series, “Terry Tate: Office Linebacker.” This year’s ad features Mayo playfully “tackling” food waste by offering would-be home food-wasters suggestions for creative ways to ‘make taste, not waste’ with ingredients they have on hand. Writer, actor and comedian Pete Davidson — and his mom — also make an appearance in the ad.

Another way Hellmann’s is educating people on reducing food waste is through the new behavior change program called Fridge Night — a four-week program and accompanying app (available for US consumers on iOS and Android) that is scientifically proven to help people reduce their food waste at home. The program is designed to inspire and guide people on being more resourceful with food at home, and provides tangible solutions such as ‘Flexipes’ — flexible recipes to turn left-behind ingredients into easy-to-prepare meals. Chantel Mayo and recipe creator and chef Andy Hay serve as hosts to help incentivize users to think about meal creation differently.

“We can all relate to the moment when we look inside our fridge or pantry, unsure of what to do with the ingredients we have on hand and instead of thinking creatively, we just throw them away,” said Ben Crook, Senior Marketing Director for Hellmann’s North America. “It’s because of this behavior that we see 40 percent of food waste happening at-home and why it’s so important to continue bringing awareness to the issue of food waste. Through this campaign and teaming up with Jerod Mayo and Pete Davidson, we hope we can show people how they can tackle food waste at home, provide inspiration to get creative in the kitchen with food we already have at home, and make a positive impact and lasting change.”

Hellmann’s goal is to inspire and enable 100 million people around the world every year to be more resourceful with their food, so they waste less. This is part of the brand’s support of the UN Sustainable Development Goal of reducing food waste by 50 percent by 2030. In this effort, Hellmann’s is working with Harvard Law School’s Food Law and Policy Clinic to help enact policy change at a federal level. This includes legislative policy for the standardization and clarity of food date labels, including a bicameral and bipartisan bill introduction in early December 2021.

Hellmann’s is also helping to provide 500,000 meals to Feeding America and is working to secure an additional 5,000 meals for every in-game tackle, with the goal of doubling the amount to provide a total of one million meals^2^.

/^2^For each in-game tackle and defensive sack that occurs on February 13, 2022 during Super Bowl LVI, Unilever will donate the monetary equivalent of 5,000 meals ($500.00) to Feeding America®. Guaranteed minimum donation of $50,000. Maximum donation of $100,000. $1 helps provide at least 10 meals secured by Feeding America on behalf of local member food banks.