Having your latest commercial in a long-running campaign dubbed "too hot for network TV" can only be a good thing. So, congrats to Paramount Farms' Wonderful Pistachios for its cheeky collaboration with the artist and stoner formerly known as Snoop Dogg. (He's Snoop Lion now, right? Or does he revert to the prior mammal for product endorsements?) True to form, the smooth West Coast rapper sits on a throne, taps nuts into his hand from a medicine bottle and cracks them "habitually" in the new spot. Broadcast censors didn't cotton to the overt drug reference, even if it came with a prescription, and turned down the ad. It's airing on cable and online instead. Snoop joins a long line of D-listers like Snooki, Khloe Kardashian and the Winklevoss twins who've hawked pistachios under the "Get crackin'" tagline. At least he was high while he did it (just guessing here) and probably appreciated the snacks. Aside from this spot, the marketer has been busy lately on the digital front, launching a contest on Twitter offering a $10,000 prize for unscrambling a 140-character video puzzle and a Google-themed ad that found 73,600 search results for "how to crack a pistachio." Part of the fun with this campaign is waiting to see what pop-culture or news reference comes up next. Paula Broadwell? Too soon?
