Chris Hemsworth’s Amazon Super Bowl stunt lands awkwardly, sparks employee backlash and controversy amid layoffs

Super Bowl week always brings strange side stories, but this one didn’t come from a commercial teaser or a celebrity tweet. It surfaced quietly inside a company system, where employees noticed something unusual just days before the championship game. Actor Chris Hemsworth had briefly appeared on an internal organizational chart of Amazon, complete with a flashy title and a company email address. With the Super Bowl approaching and ad campaigns rolling out at full speed, the appearance was clearly tied to one of the game’s high-profile commercials. But inside the company, the reaction wasn’t laughter or excitement. It was confusion, frustration, and, for some, anger.

The moment a Super Bowl promotion struck the wrong nerve

Chris Hemsworth was listed as “Chief Heartthrob,” attached to a team connected to the technology featured in a Super Bowl ad. He was also labeled a bar raiser, a real internal designation usually reserved for employees involved in hiring decisions. The listing included a jokey quote attributed to him, as reported in Reuters. “When I’m not starring in movies, I enjoy spending time with my family, campaigning for Ad Meter votes, snake wrangling, bear wrestling, hammer throwing and a nice cinnamon scrub,” it read.
The placement was part of a stunt tied to a Super Bowl commercial built around artificial intelligence. In the ad, Hemsworth imagines increasingly ridiculous scenarios involving an AI assistant, including being crushed by a garage door, drowning in his pool, and wrestling a bear sent after him. By the end, the assistant reassures him that it is ultimately a force for good. On television, it plays as dark humor. Inside the company, it landed differently.
The moment came against a difficult backdrop. Recent layoffs at the company had affected thousands of corporate employees, including teams connected to the same technology being promoted in the ad. A disappointing earnings report had already shaken morale. For many employees, seeing a Hollywood star inserted into the org chart felt a bit out of touch.
One employee wrote on an internal social platform, as per Reuters, “This definitely makes up for the hollow feeling of cleaning out my peer’s desk and meeting him out front with his boxes given he was laid off last week.” Another added, “It’s less of a joke than it is an insult to the rest of us.”
By late Thursday, the moment was over. Hemsworth’s mock role was removed, and his profile was updated to report under a standard department head.


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