Cardi B is, as usual, irresistible and hilarious in new sponcon for Zevia

Dear Gossips,

Celebrity advertisements, or sponcon I guess in today’s vocabulary, is usually met with derision. It’s people who already have a lot of money grabbing more money – and there’s often not much creativity or brand synergy. Once in a while, though, the creative and the celebrity and the commercialism come together to produce a thing that actually works. It’s the perfect marriage of good ideas with exactly the right star doing exactly what made them a star. And when that happens, the capitalism goes down a little easier. This is what Cardi B has achieved.

First of all, on the money grab of the situation, it’s not like Cardi has ever fronted like she’s above it. If anything, Cardi has always been straight up about the fact that she’s out to secure her bag, that she has children to raise, an entourage to pay, a lifestyle to fun – and persistently annoying exes who also cost her. Plus frivolous lawsuits. When a cash opportunity comes up, Cardi will take it. And it’s never held against her because she’s been so forthcoming about her intentions.

But also… she does it with so much personality. Cardi is one of the funniest celebrities in the ecosystem. Sure she’s messy, sure she often makes bad decisions, says stupid sh-t but she’s irresistible because she’s hilarious. And this ad is f-cking hilarious. Her timing, her delivery, her expressions, the snatchedness of her waist, the way she sips from that straw, that stanky sniff – I love her, I can’t stop loving her. But it’s also just great work. Cardi sounds like herself, like even if she wasn’t getting paid for it, this would be a conversation that you could imagine her having organically.

I could watch hours of this without stopping. I’ve already watched this three times. And that’s exactly why the brand is writing her that cheque, she’s well worth the money.