For this week’s AdMiration feature, we looked at consumer response to Wonderful Pistachios’ “Cover Yourself” ad. This is the latest chapter of “The Don’t Hold Back Snack,” the campaign we first covered with “Lilliputians” last year.
Read on to get our 3-2-1 snapshot of the ad (3 facts, 2 learnings and 1 reflection) and learn how their ad was received based on our data.
The ad opens in a locker room, where Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen is casually snacking on Wonderful Pistachios. Beside him is a teammate who has stuck himself inside a padded tackle sled, with a towel tied around the middle. The sled hides his arms and legs completely, which is his plan for keeping himself away from snacks.
Josh offers him some pistachios anyway, and the teammate can’t resist. With his arms trapped inside the sled, he lets Josh pour some straight from the bag into his mouth. When Josh explains that he knows they’re tasty and healthy because he owns a pistachio farm, the teammate can’t quite believe it. An on-screen subtitle confirms it’s true and in that moment his towel drops to reveal his underwear. The ad closes on a pack shot and the campaign tagline: “The Don’t Hold Back Snack.”
Back up your product claim with someone who has expertise. Josh explains he knows pistachios are tasty and healthy because he owns a pistachio farm. An on-screen subtitle confirms it’s true and not just part of the funny situation set up in the ad. It’s a small touch but it goes a long way: it not only gets a laugh by playing off the teammate’s disbelief but also makes sure no one misses that the claim comes from someone who knows what he’s talking about. So people come away believing the message that Wonderful Pistachios are a delicious, nutritious snack you can enjoy without holding back (Key Message Believability: 4.3 vs. 4.1 norm). As one respondent put it, they liked that “QB Josh Allen doesn’t just eat pistachios, he grows them as well. And they’re a healthy snack you don’t have to hold back.”
Dramatize the problem and make your product the solution. Most of us know the feeling of trying to talk ourselves out of a snack. “Cover Yourself” takes that guilt to an absurd extreme, with a teammate sealing himself inside a tackle sled so he can’t snack at all. Josh offers a better option: a snack that’s tasty and healthy so there’s nothing to feel bad about. That exaggeration not only makes the ad funny (Laughter: 18% vs 7% norm) but also helps the product benefit land. Viewers take away both sides of the promise, with “delicious” (58%) and “guilt-free snacking” (42%) among the top attributes they associate with the brand after watching. As one viewer put it: “It was very funny to watch and it definitely convinced me to go and buy some.”
Is your campaign versatile enough to work in different situations?
For many people, pistachios and football already go together. According to the brand, one in three people who snack on Wonderful Pistachios do so while watching sports, and football is the most popular. So when “The Don’t Hold Back Snack” moved into the locker room with Josh Allen, it went straight to a moment the product already belongs in.
And it works because it brings the brand’s long-term idea into this situation. The set-ups keep changing across the campaign, from a teammate frozen in ice last season to one sealed inside a tackle sled this season, but the promise stays the same: this is the snack you don’t need to hold back from. That consistency lets each ad build on the last, while each new set-up keeps it fresh.
It shows that “the don’t back snack” big idea is versatile enough to use in different situations, including making it relevant to the NFL season.
So the question is: do you know the moments your product fits into, and are you showing up in them with a consistent idea?
“Cover Yourself” is part of Wonderful Pistachios’ second season with Josh Allen, and one of a new set of locker-room spots developed in-house by The Wonderful Agency. The campaign debuted in October, during Monday Night Football’s Buffalo Bills vs. Los Angeles Rams game, and runs through the rest of the NFL season.
The spots extend “The Don’t Hold Back Snack,” the satirical platform Wonderful Pistachios launched in May 2025, which takes aim at convenient junk food and positions pistachios as the snack you don’t need to resist.
Allen joined in October 2025, moving the joke into the locker room. He grew up in California’s Central Valley, where Wonderful Pistachios are grown, and his family’s orchards help supply the brand.
Around the ads, the brand has launched a limited-edition Josh Allen pack, renewed a scholarship for first-generation students in Allen’s hometown and handed out free pistachios at Bills Backers bars on launch night.
“Cover Yourself” lands in the top 30% of US ads for its ability to drive short-term sales and in line with the average US ad for building long-term brand equity (Sales Impact: 71, Brand Impact: 63).
The ad does a great job of cutting through. It stands out from other salty snack ads, grabs attention and makes Wonderful Pistachios feel different from its competitors, beating the norm on all four distinctiveness measures (Ad Distinctiveness: 4.0 vs. 3.7 norm, Claimed Attention: 4.1 vs. 3.9 norm, Uniqueness of Brand Impressions: 4.0 vs. 3.9 norm, Brand Distinctiveness: 3.9 vs. 3.7 norm).
The football locker room and a teammate wedged into a tackle sled set it apart from the salty snack ads we are used to:
That unexpected set-up is also what makes people laugh. Laughter comes in at nearly three times the norm (Laughter: 18% vs. 7% norm). “Funny” is also the most common theme in what viewers like about the ad.
This echoes our State of Creative Effectiveness report which found absurd humor is the most distinctive kind of comedy: social video ads that use it are 2.9 times more likely to rank in the top 20% for distinctiveness, compared with 1.1 times for a classic joke.
The player in his tackle sled is the image that stays with people:
The laughs build as the story unfolds and is at its highest in the second half when Josh mentions his pistachio farm and, seconds later, the towel falls.
Small moments of surprise also run alongside the laughter so each new twist keeps viewers hooked.
Josh is key to the deadpan humor and adds credibility to the overall story. While his teammate goes to extremes, he stays calm and matter-of-fact.
He’s also the right person to deliver the message: as a real-life pistachio farmer, he has every reason to talk up the snack. As one person said: “It was different and funny. Cool that the guy actually owns a pistachio farm.”
Viewers also find the ad relevant to them and come away feeling Wonderful Pistachios delivers what they need from a salty snack (Relevance: 3.8 vs. 3.7 norm, Brand Meets Needs: 4.2 vs. 4.1 norm).
It taps into something most people want from a snack — something that tastes good and is good for you:
People buy into that promise too. The message that Wonderful Pistachios are a delicious, nutritious snack you can enjoy without holding back scores above the norm for believability (Key Message Believability: 4.3 vs. 4.1 norm).
Of everything the ad promises, taste comes through strongest. Delicious is the attribute viewers most associate with Wonderful Pistachios after watching the ad (58%), followed by natural (44%) and guilt-free snacking (42%). This makes sense, considering the whole idea of the ad is that Wonderful Pistachios are an irresistible snack you don’t have to feel guilty about eating.
Delicious also came out on top when we looked at “Lilliputians” last year, a sign of how consistently the campaign delivers its core promise from one ad to the next.
Ultimately, the ad gives Wonderful Pistachios a big boost in consideration. Before watching the ad, 16% would have chosen Wonderful Pistachios the next time they were buying nuts. After watching, that rises to almost half, at 46% (Purchase Uplift: 29% vs. 22% norm).
What a fun return to the locker room from Wonderful Pistachios! Two seasons in, “The Don’t Hold Back Snack” is still finding new ways to make people laugh while making the most of the football season — showing that the campaign can stay fresh while keeping the consistency of what makes the idea work.
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