A man says his Doritos ad lost a 2014 Super Bowl contest, then someone sent him video of it playing on a Virginia gas pump in 2026

Earlier this year, Chris Greider (aspiring_alchemist), a music video and commercial director, found himself in a strange situation. He took to his socials to share a Doritos commercial he had directed for a competition 12 years ago. He hadn’t won the competition, and as far as he knew, it had never aired, but his viewers flooded the comments section to say they had seen the ad. However, he couldn’t find any record of the video airing. That is, until recently. 

In an Instagram and TikTok video that has reached over two million views, he provided a recap of the situation for new viewers, as well as the new update. Greider shared that he had originally uploaded the video to YouTube back in 2013 for a 2014 Super Bowl contest. Then this past February, after sharing the video, he said that commenters claimed the commercial was a classic that they remembered vividly. 

Some viewers supposedly even insisted they had recorded it during the Super Bowl or reenacted it in high school. In his update, Greider said that on Nov. 9, he received a message from a viewer who sent him a video of the commercial playing at a gas station in Virginia, which he edited in. Greider said he is now trying to get the pump number and confirm the sighting, though he remains baffled as to why the video would appear on a gas station screen in 2026.

Greider had begun to believe his video was a digital ghost

Between the lack of any record and his viewers’ testimonies, Greider said he began to believe that the video was a digital ghost and that he was experiencing the Mandela effect. According to Britannica, the Mandela effect is a phenomenon where a group of people collectively misremember facts or events in a consistent manner. It was popularized by paranormal researcher Fiona Broome, who found that many people shared a false memory of Nelson Mandela dying in prison during the 1980s. 

The theory suggests that these shared false memories might be caused by cognitive errors like confabulation, or in more fringe theories, the mixing of parallel realities or shifting timelines. Today created a list of examples that demonstrate this phenomenon, such as Mickey Mouse’s tail, lyrics, quotes like “Beam me up, Scotty,” and even the movie “Shazaam.”

Many users hopped into Greider’s comments to insist that the video is real. One user even alleged, “definitely sounds like dorito might have taken a bunch of the contest entries that quote unquote didn’t win and use them anyway in specific locations so it would be harder for the person who made them to know that it was being used at all.” Another user who identified as a marketing guy agreed, claiming that companies include fine print in many competitions.

They claimed, “they state they can and will use your materials even if you don’t win, that they retain ownership of the materials even if you don’t win and/or they can completely copy and remake your submission WITHOUT your approval or consent.” To that point, one lawyer wrote, “As a lawyer, you probably have a case. I hope you live in Ohio because this would be a fun one.”

Others simply enjoyed the mystery of the situation, with one user writing, “I think if I knew this lore and was at a gas station late at night and saw that play… I would actually s**** my pants in fear that I had jumped timelines.” 

Attack of the Fanboy was unable to independently verify Doritos’ side of the story, as this account originates solely from Greider’s Instagram and TikTok posts.