The 2011-2012 installment of Doritos’ Crash the Super Bowl contest was kind of weird.  When it was launched last fall, Frito-Lay dubbed it the “Hollywood Edition” of the Crash because the guys from The Lonely Island (Akiva Schaffer, Jorma Taccone, and Andy Samberg) were going to create a Doritos commercial that would compete with a consumer-made ad during the Superbowl.  If the non-pro scored a top spot on the USA Today ad meter poll they’d receive $400K for 3rd place, $600K for 2nd or a million bucks for 1st.  But if the Lonely Island spot made the top 3, Frito-Lay would donate their bonus money to charity.  So basically it was going to be an average joes vs. comedy superstars type of thing.

But after the finalists were revealed, Frito-Lay announced that The Lonely Island would NOT be shooting a Crash the Superbowl commercial.  Apparently the guys decided to give up their Superbowl slot so one of the other consumer-made contest ads could air during the big game.  I thought that was a great idea since the whole “Hollywood Edition” kind of rubbed me the wrong way from the very start.  It just seemed kind of unfair to make non-pros compete with some of the hottest comedians in the country.  I know the Lonely Island would have made a great ad and I bet they would even done it in a low-budget, DIY style.  But those guys are so popular and so well liked that I think preexisting good will would have given them an unfair advantage in the focus group polls.

For giving up their Super Bowl time, Doritos promised to donate $250,000 to any charity that the Lonely Island guys wanted.  They wound up choosing the Berkeley Unified School District and Frito-lay made the donation last month.  Here’s a little bit of a press release from Pepsico:

The Doritos brand and The Lonely Island today announced a donation of $250,000 to the Berkeley Unified School District (BUSD) as a part of their collaboration on the annual Doritos Crash the Super Bowl contest.  One of the hottest entertainment teams in the industry today, the award-winning trio of Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone that make up The Lonely Island, designated BUSD as the donation recipient because of the group’s hometown ties to the region — all three members attended school there and Samberg’s mother is a longtime educator in the district.

BUSD and The Lonely Island have designated the funds for improvements to the Berkeley Community Theater, which is located on the Berkeley High School campus and used by district students for music and theater performances. The theater has been an important part of the Berkeley community for more than 60 years.

So that’s nice.  of the presentation of the giant check but it’s not especially exciting.  The guys couldn’t go to the actual ceremony but their moms showed up which was a cute little touch.

And now, because this post was pretty boring, I’ll end with a video from Lonely Island’s pre-fame days.  This one’s from 2001 so the guys would have been out of high school for just a few years when they shot this.  If they hadn’t blown up, Akiva Schaffer, Jorma Taccone, and Andy Samberg would probably be dominating the world of video contests right now.  Hell, I bet they could have even managed to make the finals of the Crash the Superbowl contest. Lonely Island is still supposed to shoot a doritos commercial (directed by the 2012 CTSB winner) this year and I’ll post it as soon as its released. I’m sure it will be a very enjoyable piece of weirdness.