John Fetterman’s 2016 campaign advertisement for Pennsylvania Senate resurfaced Thursday, causing confusion among Twitter users about its homage to a 43-year-old ad featuring Pittsburgh Steelers Hall-of-Famer Charles Greene.
Fetterman, who unsuccessfully ran for Pennsylvania Senate in 2016, modeled his commercial and the “Mean John” Fetterman nickname after an iconic Coca-Cola advertisement featuring Greene, better known as “Mean” Joe Greene, who played 13 seasons with the Steelers and won four Super Bowl championships.
Pennsylvania’s current lieutenant governor is shown in the advertisement hobbling down a hallway when a young boy walks up behind him and asks if he needs any help.
“I’m running for the U.S. Senate, kid,” the Democrat tells the actor. “I need all the help I can get.”
After some exchange, the boy offers the candidate his drink, which is packaged in what looks like a classic glass soda bottle.
Getty Images/Mark Makela, Ross Lewis
In Greene’s original advertisement, which aired in 1979, the NFL player is also seen hobbling down a stadium tunnel and is followed by a young fan, who after telling the Hall-of-Famer that he thinks he’s the “best ever,” offers Greene his soda.
At the moment both Fetterman and Greene take a sip of the offered drink, an old Coca-Cola jingle starts to play in the background of the videos. A side-by-side comparison of the two advertisements was shared on Twitter by Azi Paybarah, a breaking politics reporter at The Washington Post.
Some Republicans in PA and elsewhere resurfaced a 6-year-old Fetterman ad, apparently not knowing it was an homage to a famous Coke ad from the 70s featuring “Mean” Joe Greene of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Here they are, side-by-side.
Fetterman’s is 90 seconds, Greene’s is 30. pic.twitter.com/aYraBD1pH6— Azi™️ (@Azi) November 4, 2022
Fetterman’s tribute started catching attention when the ad was reposted on Thursday by Kyle Martinsen, a rapid response director at the Republican National Convention in Washington, D.C. Martinsen tweeted along with the video, “WHAT ON EARTH is this Fetterman ad…”
Martinsen’s video, which received over 2 million views as of Friday evening, was later given context by readers connecting Fetterman’s ad to the original.
Fetterman’s old advertisement, while not intended to be used during his tight 2022 Senate run against Republican nominee Mehmet Oz, also received criticism from Oz’s senior communications advisor Rachel Tripp, who reposted the video saying that viewers “didn’t get” the reference.
Fetterman team: People will get the reference, right? Yeah, they’ll definitely get it! 👊🏼
*Narrator*: People didn’t get it. https://t.co/xbYeDUegUy
— Rachel Tripp (@retripp) November 4, 2022
Fellow Democrat Ted Lieu, a California congressman running for reelection, came to Fetterman’s aid and responded to Tripp’s tweet by saying he “loved” the ad.
“Of course New Jersey resident Dr. Oz and his staff didn’t get it,” Lieu added.
Fetterman’s current Senate race against Oz is one of the most closely watched across the country, with polling from FiveThirtyEight showing the candidates only 0.4 points away from each other as of Friday.
Fetterman, who was born in West Reading, Pennsylvania, has attempted to attack Oz in the past for not being from the commonwealth.
Oz, who is best known as a television star on The Dr. Oz Show, was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and lived for many decades in New Jersey.
“On November 8, we send Dr. Oz back to New Jersey for good,” Fetterman tweeted Friday night.
On November 8, we send Dr. Oz back to New Jersey for good 👋
— John Fetterman (@JohnFetterman) November 5, 2022
Newsweek reached out to Fetterman’s campaign for comment on the resurfaced ad.