Alexander Alusheff

Lansing State Journal

LANSING – The next time you watch the Milky Way commercial with the “No Regerts” tattoo on TV, see if you can point out Lansing landmarks.

In the second scene, a car travels down a curvy bridge, navigating a crooked lane painted by a road worker who was eating a Milky Way. In the backdrop, you can see the Boji Tower behind the woman. To the left, you can make out the Grand Tower and, on the right, you can see AF Group’s colorful brick headquarters in the distinctive building that once housed the Ottawa Street Power Station.

Don’t blink when you watch it. Lansing’s skyline is shown for only three seconds.

While the commercial has been out for over a year, Lansing’s cameo was recently brought to public attention on the city’s page on Reddit.com, a social networking, news and entertainment website, by user Goregyle. The video has been viewed nearly 30,000 times on Milky Way's YouTube channel and is currently airing on television.

The commercial first appeared in March 2015 as part of the “Sorry, I was eating a Milky Way” campaign, said Jess Greco, brand public relations manager for Mars, Inc., which makes Milky Way.

Ad agency DDB Chicago filmed the commercial in Uruguay last year and used a CGI backdrop of Lansing for the three-second scene, Greco said. It is uncertain why Lansing's backdrop was chosen, however. A voicemail to a producer at DDB was not immediately returned.

"It is always great to see downtown Lansing featured nationally," said Layna Anderson, communications and marketing manager for Downtown Lansing, Inc., after seeing the commercial. "We can all take pride in national media exposure for our community."

The bridge in the commercial is not one on Michigan Avenue, of course. But some would consider it an accurate representation of Michigan's road planning and funding, minus a few potholes.

Contact Alexander Alusheff at (517) 388-5973 or aalusheff@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @alexalusheff.