‘He’s got smaht pahk’: New Super Bowl commercial shot in the South End nods at Boston accent

BOSTON — If you’re wondering how much accent Boston can fit in one, 60-second commercial, you may want to start counting.

The star-studded cast of native Massachusetts actors in the new Hyundai Sonata ad definitely doesn’t hold back on dropping those hard “R’s”.

Sudbury native Chris Evans, Newton-born John Krasinski, former SNL star Rachel Dratch, originally from Lexington, and even an appearance from Papi himself make up the most Massachusetts Super Bowl ad this season.

With their over-the-top accents, the cast is showing off the new 2020 Hyundai Sonata’s remote smart parking assist feature in the ad set to air during the first quarter of this Sunday’s Super Bowl game.

“It was a trip. They were right here on our street, it was such a shock," said Sarah Pingree, who lives in the South End.

Julie Cappellano, the general manager at Formaggio Kitchen South End, remembers the cold, rainy day in November when Shawmut Ave closed to traffic, transforming the street for filming.

“We heard them yelling all those things back and forth but couldn’t quite piece it together," said Cappellano. “It was really dark and cloudy so they had gigantic lights everywhere that lit up the whole street and made it look like daytime.”

The appearance of storefronts was also slightly changed and for that one day, the shut-down portion Shawmut had perpendicular street parking instead of parallel.

The biggest surprise, however, came from the second story when David Ortiz poked his head out of a window after the wicked local lingo and chatter over “ghost” car capabilities caught the attention of the Red Sox legend.

“People associate us, Boston, with football whether or not we’re in the Super Bowl cause we usually are," said Emma Payne, of the South End.

If you didn’t catch it, the ad also closes with a pop of the “Dirty Water” song, iconic to Boston sports fans.

But, the local representation goes beyond that. The driver and passenger in the first car seen in the commercial are Bob and Arthur Wahlberg, two of the lesser-known Wahlberg brothers.

The ad was directed by Swampscott native Bryan Buckley, who’s directed over 60 Super Bowl ads.

In a statement to Boston 25 News, a spokesperson for Hyundai said it would have been serendipitous if the Patriots had made it to the Super Bowl but the spot has national appeal and “wasn’t created with any particular team needing to be in the game.”

"The spot highlights Hyundai Sonata’s Remote Smart Parking Assist technology. The full feature name is difficult to say and remember, but a truncated ‘Smaht Pahk’ caught on when one of our creatives said it in a Boston accent. We thought it was a fun, charming and memorable way to tell people about this incredible new technology using one of America’s most-recognized and beloved regional accents.

Also, while Hyundai might be globally-headquartered in Korea, we are very proud of our deep roots in the U.S. We’ve been selling cars in the U.S. since 1986 (we sold 710,000 vehicles in 2019 alone) and have more than 830 dealerships around the country, including many in Boston. We employee thousands of Americans and make nearly half the cars we sell here at our manufacturing facility in Alabama. In fact, the Sonata that is featured in the Super Bowl ad is made right here in the U.S."

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