LOS ANGELES – Grammy Award winner Bad Bunny appeared in Ritz’s debut Super Bowl ad in 2025. But on the Universal Studios soundstage where the 2026 commercial is filming, there’s no sign of the Super Bowl halftime show performer.
‘I’m still not convinced he’s not gonna be here,’ actor and No. 1 Bad Bunny fan Jon Hamm jokes. ‘I’m waiting to see if there’s a surprise.’
‘Wait, he’s not here?’ actress Scarlett Johansson asks. She then looks at Hamm, turns to her other costar in the commercial, actor Bowen Yang, and throws her hands up in dismay and begins to leave the set.
Spoiler alert: Bad Bunny is not in this year’s spot. And Johansson only made it a step or two before returning. Mondelez International, Ritz’s parent company, invited USA TODAY to get a behind-the-scenes look at the brand’s Super Bowl commercial entitled ‘Ritz Island’ and speak exclusively with the ad’s three stars.
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The trio of celebrities are far from strangers: They were all in Studio 8H when Hamm, 54, hosted ‘SNL’ in April 2025. The ‘Mad Men’ star appeared in a sketch with Johansson, who is married to ‘Weekend Update’ coanchor Colin Jost. Their bit was a spoof on ‘The White Lotus’ called ‘The White POTUS.’ And Yang reveals that he was originally supposed to join the actors in the sketch but got cut.
‘It just didn’t play,’ Yang, 35, laments. He was set to portray Vice President JD Vance, an impression that the actor jokes ‘America clamored for weekly.’
‘I remember Colin came into my dressing room, he was like, ‘Hey, we might have to cut you,” Yang recalls, referencing Jost. ‘I was like, ‘Please. No problem.”
‘Why?’ Johansson, 41, asks. ‘It’s our favorite. You were born to play (Vance).’
All three laugh. And Yang immediately predicts this will be the headline of the interview.
Ritz explains why it’s back in the Super Bowl with big star power
Mondelez brought its Oreo brand into the big game for the first time in 2024 with an ad starring Kris Jenner. In 2025, it was Ritz’s turn with ‘Ritz Salty Club,’ a commercial that featured Aubrey Plaza and Michael Shannon, who played up their famously ‘salty’ personas. Bad Bunny made a cameo at the end of the spot.
Now for 2026, Ritz returns with arguably Bad Bunny’s most recognizable fan in America. Hamm, who shares a birthday with the music artist, is so well known as a supporter of the Puerto Rican star that he received the nickname ‘Juan Jamón (Spanish for ham).’
‘The strategy is about reminding people that Ritz is for everyone,’ says Steven Saenen, head of savory snacking for Mondelez. ‘The ‘Salty Club’ with the salty trio that we had (in 2025) was perfect to establish the saltiness platform. Now we want to really double down and dial up the energy and impact and come with something that’s a little bit more fun and celebratory.’
On ‘Ritz Island,’ Hamm and Yang look from afar and wonder why they weren’t invited to yet another Ritz party. The two agree that they should go, but Yang will only leave their perch if his feet don’t touch the sand.
Enter Johansson, who rides in on a ski jet. Yang quickly ditches Hamm and heads in.
‘We were looking for talent that was first, culturally super-relevant,’ Saenen says of the casting. ‘Second, just creative powerhouses, at the top of their game. And then three, amazing chemistry between them.’
The chemistry is evident during the interview. When a viral video of Hamm dancing at Bad Bunny’s Puerto Rican residency is brought up, the actor won’t confirm or deny that he was ‘lit’ (Bad Bunny’s words, not ours). Yang immediately chimes in with an ‘exclusive.’
‘Jon was trying to rally some people to go (to the concert), and you did reach out to confirm,’ Yang alleges.
‘Wait, where was my… I don’t remember that,’ Johansson interjects.
‘Colin said you didn’t want to go,’ Hamm replies. ‘Colin was like, ‘Nah, she doesn’t want to go.”
Johansson gets up to leave… again.
Hamm, Yang and ScarJo all dish on how they eat their Ritz
Saenen notes that Ritz saw an increase in market share in both February and the first quarter of 2025 with its inaugural Super Bowl campaign.
‘We recruited 1 million new households in the first half of the year,’ the marketing executive continues. ‘And we’re starting to shift brand perception, which is a really important part of why we’re doing this in the first place. We’re casting the brand in a much more modern light.’
All three of the commercial’s stars enjoy the snack. Hamm eats Ritz crackers with and without toppings. Johansson likes to add ‘a little square of cheddar.’ And Yang notes that whenever he’s on a group vacation, he usually orders Ritz for the house.
‘This is the easiest day of work I’ve had in a long time,’ Yang adds, eliciting laughter from his costars. ‘Because it’s with them.’
