You wouldn’t imagine saying Indiana Jones and Diet Coke in the same sentence, but here we are. Ahead of June 30, the release date for Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, a commercial from the late ’80s has gone viral – almost 35 years later. Why, you ask? Well, before Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade landed in theaters in 1989, Paramount Pictures was looking to partner with large corporations to give the third installment in the franchise and sequel to Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) a shot at a successful marketing campaign.
Among several video games, tie-in novels, and fashion items, Paramount Pictures collaborated with Coca-Cola to create a commercial promoting both Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and Diet Coke. Ahead of the latest release, which will be Ford’s last outing in the role, the commercial has resurfaced on social media. As several Twitter users have pointed out, the commercial was featured on the VHS tape for Last Crusade and played before the movie started.
In the commercial, which is roughly a minute and a half long, a couple are seen watching Raiders of the Lost Ark on TV. The female goes to the kitchen, presumably to get a beverage, and finds herself whisked into an adventure with Indiana, who helps her avoid booby traps to get to the fridge, where the coveted treasure, a Diet Coke, awaits. As soon as the woman grabs the Diet Coke, the whole room starts shaking and breaking apart to replicate the many collapsing temples and structures that Indiana Jones has needed to escape throughout the franchise.
In the end, the woman jumps across a gap in the kitchen floor to safety, though not without the help of Indiana Jones. She sits on the couch, exhausted, and hands the Diet Coke off to her partner, who takes a refreshing sip. It’s so cheesy, but so perfectly ’80s, and a lot of Twitter comments mention how the commercial is “burned” into their brains and they “remember it like it was yesterday.”
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is a sequel to 2008’s Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and will act as the fifth and final installment in the Indiana Jones franchise. Of course, Ford returns as Indiana, but he’s joined this time by Phoebe Waller-Bridge, the star of Fleabag and writer of Killing Eve, as well as Mads Mikkelsen, our very own Hannibal Lecter and James Bond villain Le Chiffre. Waller-Bridge will portray Helena Shaw, Jones’ goddaughter, and Mikkelsen is Jürgen Voller, a former Nazi and the movie’s antagonist.
From what we’ve seen of Dial of Destiny, all the marketing has been trailers and TV spots, but no collaborations. They just don’t make them like they used to. Alas, we’re excited to see how Ford and Waller-Bridge close out a groundbreaking action-adventure franchise.
