Comedian, by Maurizio Cattelan.
Photo: Courtesy of Sotheby's
Maurizio Cattelan’s Duct-taped Banana Takes Center Stage in Meta’s Super Bowl Ad
The company is betting big on the buzz generated by the infamous $6.2 million conceptual work
With fans from all walks of life tuned in to the Super Bowl on Sunday to watch the Kansas City Chiefs face off against the Philadelphia Eagles—or scan the crowd for Taylor Swift while waiting for Kendrick Lamar’s halftime performance—Meta is betting big on the art world with two ads promoting its Ray-Ban smart glasses. Led by Chris Pratt, Chris Hemsworth, and Kris Jenner, the spoof focuses on the latter’s personal art collection, featuring Maurizio Cattelan’s infamous $6.2 million banana duct-taped to the wall.
The ads see the two actors sporting the Ray-Ban Meta glasses while wandering around the reality TV maven’s gallery and asking the Meta AI system to identify various pieces of work and translate foreign words.
In one shot, Hemsworth asks Meta to play “gallery music,” while Pratt focuses on the banana duct-taped to the wall. Pratt asks “Hey Meta, what’s this?” prompting the answer, “This piece is called Comedian by Maurizio Cattelan, valued at $6.2 million.” While an awe-struck Pratt moves on to the next piece, Hemsworth walks up alongside him unknowingly munching on the viral banana.
The duo then races off to Jenner’s meticulously arranged refrigerator in search of a replacement banana, as she appears and asks Meta AI to call her lawyer. While Meta noted in an accompanying blog post that the banana in the Matthew Vaughn-directed ads is “probably not” the original artwork, the spoof is likely to generate buzz about the iconic work all over again.
The conceptual work by the Italian creative first made waves at Art Basel in Miami Beach in 2019 when it appeared in the booth of Perrotin gallery. At the time, three versions of the work sold for between $120,000 and $150,000.
Fast forward five years and the piece was all the rage all over again at Sotheby’s, where the rights to the artwork—including a certificate of authenticity granting authority to reproduce the banana and duct tape to the wall as an original artwork—sold for millions. And while that number may cause sticker shock for those unfamiliar with the piece, it’s still far less than what Meta and Ray-Ban likely shelled out to run the ads, with a few 30-second ad spots going for a record $8 million this year.
Cover: Comedian, by Maurizio Cattelan.
Photo: Courtesy of Sotheby's
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