John Cena in new “Hefty” ad campaign

By James Caldwell, PWTorch assistant editor

The Hefty brand is set to unveil three different TV ad spots featuring WWE star John Cena.

Cena, who is looking to expand his mainstream recognition, is pitching Hefty trash bags along with actor Rob Schneider.

Hefty brought back their classic “Hefty! Hefty! Hefty!” slogan as part of the new ad campaign. In one spot, Cena is positioned as the strong, tough trash bag opposite Schneider as the wimpy “other guys” trash bags.

In another spot, Cena does tricks with his pecs. A third spot includes interaction with a normal-looking family trying to relate the product to the average consumer. The spots were created by ad company Havas Chicago.

“More often than not, you see moms in the kitchen taking out the trash, or something equally as boring. Ultimately, our goal was to bring humor and a bit of nostalgia to a not-so-humorous category,” Havas Chicago CCO Jason Peterson said. “We also didn’t want only to target women. Everyone buys garbage bags, so we made sure to create a campaign that had mass, broad appeal.”

[ Background & Screenshots at FastCoCreate.com & AdWeek.com ]