It's a Tide Ad

About

It's a Tide Ad refers to series of jokes and memes based on and using imagery from Tide's 2018 Super Bowl advertisement. The advertisement features Stranger Things star David Harbour parodying various other commercials, before revealing that the viewer is watching a commercial for Tide laundry detergent.

Origin

On February 4th, 2018, during Super Bowl LII, Tide released a series of commercials in which actor David Harbour parodies other commercials, such as beer and car advertisements, before revealing that "it's a Tide ad." Since being uploaded to YouTube,^[1] the video (shown below) received more than 3.3 million views in 48 hours.

Spread

The following day, the commercial was shared on the /r/video subreddit by Redditor^[2] SuperFreakonomics. The post received more 49,000 points (74% upvoted) and 1,900 comments in 24 hours.

That day, Redditor JerrysMindlowers posted a mock tweet by Tide that featured Harbour's head photoshopped on the body of LuckyLuciano17k from the You Know I Had To Do It To 'Em meme in the /r/dankmemes subreddit. ^[3] The post (shown below, left) received more than 830 points (97% upvoted) in 24 hours.

Additionally, Redditor^[4] Alukarulz posted a side-by-side comparison of the product mascot Mr. Clean and Harbour in the /r/ExpectationVsReality subreddit. The post (shown below, center) received more than 13,000 points (88% upvoted) and 190 comments in 24 hours.

The following day, Redditor^[5] JannsCo posted a variation in which Harbour is photoshopped into the video game "Minecraft." The image includes the caption "You see how clean this minecraft server is? It's a tide ad," referencing the Swearing on a Christian Minecraft Server meme. The post (shown below, right) received more than 26,000 points (87% upvoted) and 220 comments in 24 hours.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References