A filmmaker said in a recent TikTok video that a Doritos commercial he directed more than a decade ago has become the center of a strange online mystery. Chris Grieder, who posts under the name Aspiring Alchemist, explained that he shared the old spot earlier this year and that the response left him searching for any record of it ever airing.
He described how thousands of people insisted they recognized the commercial as a well-known 2015 Super Bowl ad even though he said he could find no evidence it had ever been broadcast. Grieder said he directed the commercial for a Super Bowl contest at the end of 2013.
He stated that the entry did not win, did not finalize, and never aired as far as he or anyone else could determine. He uploaded the finished commercial to his YouTube channel on November 25, 2013, and said he shared it again in February 2026 simply as an old project he was proud of that never received recognition at the time.
Viewers describe detailed memories while no broadcast record surfaces
In the TikTok video, Grieder said the post went “insanely viral.” He claimed that tens of thousands of people told him the commercial was extremely famous and that many swore it had aired during the Super Bowl.
He added that the reaction was widespread enough that it felt like a large portion of viewers remembered the ad as a classic, even though he said no broadcast record existed. Super Bowl commercials usually get heavy buildup, with outlets publishing previews of the Super Bowl ads before kickoff.
Grieder said he spent months trying to find any proof the commercial had been used or aired anywhere. He explained that the only version anyone could locate was his original YouTube upload from 2013. He described the situation as becoming almost metaphysical, with people insisting they had personal connections to the ad that they could no longer produce.
He said some viewers claimed they had recorded the commercial during the Super Bowl but later could not find the recording. Others told him they had reenacted the spot for a high school project and then discovered the file was gone from their hard drive. Grieder said he eventually stopped looking after repeated searches turned up nothing beyond his own upload.
Comments under the original 2013 YouTube upload of the commercial show how firmly some viewers believe they saw it years ago. One person linked the ad to other absurdist spots from the same period and wrote, “I definitely remember seeing this ad before. It ran around the same time as the skittles touch the rainbow internet ad campaign, right? They’re from the same era of absurdist commercials that were all the rage in the 2010’s.”
Another commenter described an even earlier memory and stated, “I live in the US. I promise, and swear, this aired on Cartoon Network. From the 1996-2008, I watched both CN and Nickelodeon, and this commercial aired. Its a vivid memory.”
The Doritos commercial that aired during the 2015 Super Bowl had a similar theme to Grieder’s video from a year ago. In the ad, a child asks a man for a Dorito. The man replies, “Sure, if pigs fly!” referencing the familiar English idiom. The child takes him literally, attaches a rocket to a pig, and sends it soaring into the sky.
In Grieder’s version, a boy asks his friend for a Dorito. The friend starts responding that he would share if pigs could fly, only to notice winged pigs already flying around. He then adds another condition, saying he would share if pigs could shoot lasers. A pig immediately fires laser beams from its eyes and blows up a car. Many believe the resemblance is no coincidence.
Under the video of the 2015 Doritos Super Bowl ad, one person wrote, “Justice for Aspiring Alchemist!!!” Another said, “Doritos–you owe Aspiring Alchemist a commercial.” The comments imply that the creators of the Doritos ad may have watched Grieder’s video before developing their own commercial. However, there is no evidence to support that claim. Viewers curious how the spots that did air compare can revisit the best Super Bowl ads of 2022.
Grieder revealed a new tip that arrived the night before he posted. He said someone messaged him that they had been at a gas station in Virginia and saw his commercial playing on a pump screen. The person reportedly sent a video of the screen and gave him the station’s location. Grieder said the sender planned to return later in the week to confirm the exact pump number so he could try to investigate further.
He questioned why the only new evidence anyone had offered came from a gas station pump in November 2026. Grieder noted that he made the commercial at the end of 2013 for the 2014 Super Bowl contest and that this was the period when people claimed to remember it airing. He said he remained curious about how the spot appeared on a pump screen more than twelve years later with no earlier record of any broadcast.
Viewers responding to the TikTok video shared theories about why no official record of the commercial seemed to exist. One person claimed the ad had been deliberately removed and wrote, “They scrubbed the internet of it so they don’t have to pay you. I absolutely saw this ad.” Another focused on compensation and said, “Doritos owes you a FAT cheque.”
A third suggested the company may have begun using the spot after the recent attention and wrote, “Perhaps Doritos saw it going viral and decided to air it without informing you.” Grieder said in the TikTok video that he would keep viewers updated as he tried to learn more about the gas station sighting.
As of writing, Doritos did not publicly address Grieder’s video.
Published: Nov 11, 2026 10:00 am