For Toyota’s return to the Super Bowl, the company cast female football pioneer Antoinette “Toni” Harris in this empowering spot for its RAV4 hybrid SUV. 

The second-quarter ad puts the spotlight on Harris’ journey that led her to play football on an all-male team, overcoming naysayers who said she was too small, too slow and too weak. “People have made a lot of assumptions about Toni Harris,” the narrator says, before cutting to a shot of the RAV4. “But I’ve never been a big fan of assumptions,” she replies from behind the wheel.

Harris is the first female football player who does not play a specialist position such as kicker to be offered post-secondary football scholarships in the U.S. She currently plays as a defensive back for East Los Angeles College.

This 60-second ad from Burrell Communications is directed by Joe Pytka, who has directed more than 80 Super Bowl commercials, and narrated by Jim Nantz, who called the game for CBS. 

While “Toni” was originally slated to be Toyota’s only Super Bowl commercial in 2019, the Japanese automaker made a last-minute ad buy for another 60-second slot at halftime. That spot, from Toyota’s lead agency Saatchi & Saatchi, hypes the return of the company’s long-discontinued Supra sports car.

BRAND: Toyota

YEAR: 2019

AGENCY: Burrell Communications

SUPER BOWL: LIII

QUARTER AIRED: Q2