The internet is obsessed with South American beer ads that were sneakily edited into Star Wars movies in the early 2000s, and has started sticking the beverage’s infectious jingle into other famous films. If you’ve been wondering why your timeline is covered in Cerveza Cristal jokes, here’s why.
Over the March 2 weekend, someone shared a clip from a Chilean TV broadcast of the original Star Wars on Twitter. Originally broadcast in 2003 or thereabouts, the clip showed the famous moment when Obi-Wan presented Luke Skywalker with his father’s lightsaber. But when Obi-Wan reaches into his pack to grab the laser sword, something very different happens: the camera cuts to show him grabbing a frosty beer out of an ice-filled cooler as an announcer loudly and proudly sings the drink’s name: Cerveza Cristal! Many thought this was fake. But it’s real, and has set off a firestorm of online memes and jokes.
As seen in the 14-year-old YouTube video above, the Star Wars: Cerveza Cristal Edition isn’t some new phenomenon created by online trolls or AI. In fact, these ads—which cleverly spliced in newly recorded footage right after specific moments in the films—have been documented before. You can find Star Wars nerds chatting about them back in 2004 on forums. However, they weren’t something your average fan or internet user was talking about, and in 2024 all it took was a few tweets and these hilarious, two-decade-old beer ads featuring Obi-Wan and The Emperor cracking open cold ones went viral in less than 12 parsecs.
The parodies that have since emerged come in both video and image form, but they all do the same basic thing: A famous scene or moment from a movie is interrupted by a character pulling out a cold Cerveza Cristal beer.
While the image-based parodies of the Cerveza Cristal meme are good, I strongly prefer the videos people are making, mainly because I love singing the little jingle each time the beer appears. Plus, trying to predict when the moment will occur can make for a fun little game. Like in this Raiders clip above.
Funnily enough, in reality, after the Star Wars beer ads aired and proved extremely successful—keeping people on the channel instead of flipping away to skip the ads—the agency worked with Cerveza Cristal and other companies to splice similar product spots into other movies, including Gladiator and American Beauty. It’s reported that Lucasfilm complained about the ads, though specific information on when or exactly what happened isn’t readily available.
Even if that did happen, it didn’t stop the ads from winning big at the Cannes International Advertising Festival in 2004. Ad agency OMD Santiago’s spliced Star Wars beer ads were hailed as “genius” by the judges. And I have to agree with them. In fact, now I want more movies to include random Cerveza Cristal ads.
Also, is anybody else really thirsty now? I wonder what I should drink. Maybe a water? Or maybe a…. CERVEZA CRISTAL!
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