Carrie Bradshaw ordered a beer and Walter White became a pharmacist, sorta

If you haven't watched Breaking Bad, it's about a quiet chemistry teacher named Walter White. He discovers he has terminal cancer, so he teams up with a drug-dealing student to begin manufacturing and selling meth to secure his family's financial future. Over the course of the series, the soft-spoken Walter White turns into a vicious drug lord. As show creator Vince Gilligan once said, Walter White goes from Mr. Chips to Scarface.

So it was interesting that E-surance chose to create a 2015 Super Bowl commercial using the meth-dealing Walter White character.

The commercial takes place in a pharmacy, where a woman asks for her prescription, and instead of her regular pharmacist, a menacing Walter White pops up – in his full yellow, meth-making outfit:

You don't see that a lot in commercials.

An amusing ad based on a deadly serious show.

A few years later, TV teamed up with the movies in another Super Bowl commercial. Carrie Bradshaw, from Sex in the City, also known as Sarah Jessica Parker, made an ad for a beer brand.

As fans may know, Bradshaw's favourite drink in the TV show was a Cosmopolitan. But when she sits down in her favourite fancy restaurant, she orders something different. No one there can believe their ears – the restaurant screeches to a halt. Carrie Bradshaw is actually having a Stella Artois.

Then someone else walks into the restaurant. It's the Dude from the movie The Big Lebowski – also known as Jeff Bridges. In the film, the Dude's favourite drink is a White Russian – but not tonight. Again – everyone in the restaurant stops dead – as nobody can believe that The Dude has ordered a beer. Specifically, a Stella Artois or "Ar-toe."

He sits at a table across from Carrie Bradshaw.

The campaign was titled "Change Up the Usual" – the strategy was to convince people to change up their usual beverage order – and have a Stella Artois instead.

The world of marketing often asks actors to stay in character. That's when commercials are created where actors are asked to endorse products, not as themselves, but as their movie or TV character.

Sometimes, staying in character makes sense for the product. Often times, it's tongue-in-cheek. And sometimes, it bends the time/space continuum.

For more stories about Fictional Characters Who Endorse Real Products, click or tap the play button above to hear the full episode of Under the Influence. Find more episodes on the CBC Listen app or subscribe to the podcast.