Gwyneth Paltrow and a toaster on wheels star in delightful ad for Ghetto Gastro’s toaster pastries

Ghetto Gastro, the Bronx-born culinary collective founded by the authors of the “Black Power Kitchen” cookbook, is unveiling a series of six spots—beginning with the one above—bringing retro humor and style to promote its new Brown Sugar and Sweet Potato toaster pastries, available at Target stores. The tone for the series is set right at the beginning, as Gwyneth Paltrow, a friend of Ghetto Gastro’s founders—artist Jon Gray and chefs Pierre Serrao and Lester Walker—is seen calling the Ghetto Gastro hotline (1-833-GHETTO-1) in a mild state of panic. “It happened again,” she says urgently. “Wait, another ski crash?” comes the reply. No, not another ski crash. She’s out of food and needs a fix. Thus begins an amusing two-minute adventure as a toaster on wheels navigates New York to deliver Ghetto Gastro’s toaster pastries to the actress. Also read: The biomechanical engineer from Gwyneth Paltrow’s trial did an ad for Betty Buzz Five more videos are on the way, featuring Michael Ealy, Siddiq Sanderson, Jerrie Johnson and rapper Maliibu Miitch. All were directed by Scottie Cameron, whom we recently saw direct the new Speedo campaign by Mirimar. Each short has a fun twist on retro advertising, which Gray told Ad Age was a key inspiration for the series. “Some of my favorite art is vintage advertisements, like the old Porsche advertising from the ’70s and ’80s,” Gray said in an interview. “It had a lot of chutzpah, a lot of personality. A lot of fun and thoughtfulness went into building this universe that creates this halo of desire. We just want to continue that narrative.” The campaign also includes the working 1-833-GHETTO-1 hotline (or “BOP Line, which is the overarching theme of the campaign”). Consumers can call the number to engage with the brand, win free merch and unlock special offers. The brand also made the self-rolling toaster for real and sent it around Target stores, capturing real-time customer reactions to it (see below). “We really just wanted an excuse to have some fun,” said Gray. “That’s the whole ethos of Ghetto Gastro and what we do, is finding good reasons to make the things we want and collaborate with our community of friends and superheroes.” Malcolm McNeil, marketing director at Ghetto Gastro, came up with the initial idea for the “BOP Line” campaign, and Gray immediately saw the possibilities. “I was like, oh, this could be our Budweiser frogs or our Geico lizard—a platform to tell everygreen, funny stories in perpetuity,” he said. “Lack of flavor is the problem people have in their lives. We have the convenient solution. And we like just like to smile and find the funny in the mundane.” More Creativity coverage from Ad Age: Sign up for our daily Creativity newsletter to see the best stories of the day.

Gwyneth Paltrow and a toaster on wheels star in delightful ad for Ghetto Gastro’s toaster pastries

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