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Western-Themed Blake Griffin Kia Commercial Promotes “Kiiii-AAA Optima!”

Look out, evildoers: it’s Sheriff Blake, the rootinest, tootinest, shootinest power forward in the wild, wild Western Conference.

NBA (or, as one Old West character calls it, “peach basket”) All-Star Blake Griffin is starring in a new Kia ad series to promote the brand’s best-selling Optima midsize sedan. Entitled “Showdown,” the first Blake Griffin Kia commercial portrays the athlete as an actor in a western film who makes the executive decision to have his character ride an Optima rather than a horse (or, as the official YouTube description puts it, a “Kiiii-AAA Optima!) Check it out for yourself:

[TRIGGER WARNING: This video may conjure up repressed memories of Seth McFarlane’s A Million Ways to Die in the West.]

Blake Griffin Kia Commercial – “The Showdown”

This first commercial will debut on television this Christmas Day, and will be followed by more installments in the promotional campaign, titled, “Blake Griffin in, The Optima.” The ad series will continue with the theme of Griffin using an anachronistic Optima in various genre films, from a Western, to a sword-and-sandals epic, to what will probably be a Top Gun parody. Per Kia:

“Continuing the signature, satirical comedy of previous efforts, Griffin is cast in the lead role for several big-budget action movies set in the Old West, ancient Rome and an aircraft carrier in the series of three 60-and 30-second spots. Much to the concern of his directors, Griffin begins improvising and replaces his scripted mode of transport – be it horse, chariot or fighter jet – arriving instead in the Kia Optima, and making each movie better if he does so say himself.”

“The Showdown” seems like a pretty good start. The one thing the ad lacks, though, is an over-the-top evil villain – but with any luck, we’ll get one in the next commercial. Say, what’s Donald Sterling up to these days?