Kraft-Heinz Is Giving Its Employees The Day Off Instead Of Doing A Super Bowl Ad

Forget the actual big game; when it comes to the Super Bowl, everyone wants to catch the funniest and most heartwarming commercials. But this year, Kraft-Heinz is opting out of a $5 million Super Bowl advertising spot. Instead, if the company gets enough signatures on this petition, it'll spend that money on a company-wide holiday for all employees the day after the Super Bowl.

The genius idea is getting so much publicity that it might have been a smarter and cheaper move than whatever the next "puppy-monkey-baby" gimmick would be.

"We wanted to get behind an initiative that we know people feel strongly about," said Nicole Kulwicki, a marketing executive at Kraft-Heinz, told Bloomberg. Kraft-Heinz makes such iconic brands as Heinz ketchup, Easy Mac, Oscar Mayer, and Jell-O, and it employs 42,000 people.

Last year, Kraft-Heinz's big commercial featured dachshunds dressed as hot dogs running in a meadow.

This isn't the first time a company has forsaken ad revenue in favor of employee benefits. Every year, Hershey runs the same holiday commercial and instead spends the advertising money on Christmas bonuses.