What Is The Song In Airbnb's Mashed Potato Time Commercial?
The latest ad campaign for the vacation homestay company Airbnb focuses on the numerous categories you can choose from while booking a stay. A few of the more unique options include Castles, Caves, Containers, and even one titled "OMG!," which brings you to some of the company's more eccentric houses — including one inside of a giant potato.
This peculiar tuber-themed home is at the center of Airbnb's "Mashed Potato Time" commercial, which shows a woman named Keewah and her daughter escaping the city life of Chicago for a short, cozy vacation in a massive potato. Unlike the terrifying Airbnb recently featured in Zach Cregger's "Barbarian," this homestay exudes an atmosphere of warmth and fun. The ad flashes through various snapshots of their trip, showing the enormous potato from the outside (where it rests beside a small farm) as well as its surprisingly well-furnished interior.
Over this entire slideshow, a song about mashed potatoes plays in the background. Although it certainly fits with the eccentric theme of the house, no doubt there are plenty of viewers out there wondering where exactly this catchy, potato-themed bit of music comes from.
The commercial uses Dee Dee Sharp's Mashed Potato Time
The song featured in Airbnb's "Mashed Potato Time" commercial is (as you might have guessed) "Mashed Potato Time" by Dee Dee Sharp. Although some viewers may have never heard this catchy pop tune before, it was extremely popular upon its release in 1962, peaking at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 during May of that same year (via Billboard Database).
"Mashed Potato Time" was inspired by a popular dance move at the time called "the mashed potato," which you can still find tutorials for on YouTube. Outside of music charts, the song is well-known for its appearances in movies, including "Desperately Seeking Susan," "Troop Beverly Hills," and 1988's "Hairspray," when Edna Turnblad (Divine) asks her daughter to turn down the TV, on which several young dancers are seen performing the aforementioned mashed potato dance (via YouTube).
Although this extremely popular song certainly has quite the history outside of this small commercial, there's no question that it was the perfect choice for Airbnb's latest advertising campaign. "Mashed Potato Time" sets the tone for this eccentric, potato-themed home in a fun and memorable way.