The Chicago Cubs finished the 1985 season with a 77–84 record, good enough for fourth in the National League East. A thoroughly unremarkable 114th season for the historic franchise. So why, exactly, did the Cubs just launch a Stranger Things tie-in for its new season set in 1985, a Snapchat AR filter that turns Wrigley into some sort of Upside Downville? Chicago’s within a day’s drive of just about anywhere in Indiana, where Stranger Things is set, but that’s a stretch. What connection could there possibly be to Stranger Things?

Other than naked commercial ambition, that is.

We’re mere days away from the Stranger Things season three debut, and it feels like we’ve already hit Peak Brand Tie-In for the show, culminating in this senseless Cubs business. It’s actually a pleasant surprise the team didn’t go full Nostalgia Things and reissue 1985 caps and shirts, since just about every other brand has been using the 1985-ness of it all as the foundation of the entire marketing exercise. Throwback Mongoose BMX bike? Check. Nike Hawkins High School sweats? Check. New Coke? Big time check.

Perhaps it was inevitable. A show that trades on its throwback bona fides as much as its thriller chops, that becomes as pop culturally popular as this is bound to be an advertising magnet.

But the branded over-farming of 1985 nostalgia risks diluting our enjoyment of the actual show in the process. It’s got to the point where if you see any logo in the show, your first thought will be, “Is this another brand tie-in?” before, “Oh, cool, I forgot all about Swatch and Vuarnets.” While it’s not a show tie-in, I wonder what the odds are that Eleven wears Chucks? Let’s think about it while we watch this ’80s-style Lego tie-in ad:

Even for the marketers themselves, overkill is a problem. When Coke made its New Coke tie-in announcement back in May, it was an earned media win. A solid gimmick, with an authentic connection to the show. Win-win. But two months later, when we get to Baskin Robbins’s Demogorgon Sundae, we’re deep in eye roll territory. Havaianas flip-flops? Stranger Things‘ Levi’s sweatshirt? Yawn. Worse still than eye rolls or yawns is complete indifference.