‘I Thought It Was Genius’: Ben Affleck And Matt Damon Revealed A Scrapped Dunkin’ Ad That I Really Wish Made It To Air

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Ben Affleck has had a successful career with many films and even two Oscars, but he’s become widely known for his friendship with Matt Damon and his love of Dunkin’ Donuts. The two recently shared a funny story about a Dunkin’ commercial idea that never aired – apparently, it didn’t feature his usual orange Dunkin’ uniform! Based on their description, it sounds hilarious, and I wish we’d gotten to see a behind-the-scenes clip, like the one from his 2023 Super Bowl ad.

Matt Damon and a friend discussed Ben Affleck’s popular Dunkin’ Donuts commercials with Capital UK, noting they’ve been very profitable for him – even beyond the fun publicity. Damon revealed a commercial Affleck filmed where he played a drive-through worker, but it’s probably something we’ll never see.

He once did a hilarious bit for a show that couldn’t be broadcast. He pretended to tell customers at the Dunkin’ Donuts drive-thru that the store was out of coffee.

While Dunkin’ Donuts is known for its donuts, many customers actually visit for coffee. Imagine the surprise, especially early in the morning, if the person taking your order was Ben Affleck, the star of Batman v Superman! It was a confusing situation, and Affleck later explained where he was when he started turning people away from their coffee.

We were in Bedford, Massachusetts and telling people, ‘We don’t have coffee.’

It makes sense Ben Affleck was shooting commercials in Massachusetts – it’s where both he and Matt Damon grew up, and where the company originated. Interestingly, Massachusetts has a remarkably high number of Dunkin’ locations compared to its population. There are about 7.1 million residents and 1,032 Dunkin’ stores. For comparison, New York has 1,453 locations serving a population of 19.9 million.

Just to give you some perspective, there are about 6,900 people for every Dunkin’ location in Massachusetts, compared to almost 13,700 people per Dunkin’ in New York. Looking at the specific town of Bedford, Massachusetts – where the star and director of Argo visited – the ratio is even lower, with around 5,000 people per Dunkin’. Bedford has a population of just under 15,000 and only three Dunkin’ locations.

Matt Damon then explained that Ben Affleck’s excuse – saying the store in Bedford, Massachusetts didn’t serve coffee – didn’t convince the company.

These workers were heading to a job, and when they found out there was no coffee, they were really upset – it was pretty amusing to watch. However, Dunkin’ didn’t want it publicly known that they were out of coffee.

After being at a Boston train station surrounded by Dunkin’ shops – there were four within a very short distance of each other! – I wasn’t surprised to learn the commercial was filmed in Massachusetts. I even started calculating the odds, thinking like Matt Damon’s character in Good Will Hunting. Affleck himself said he thought the idea was “genius,” and then continued:

“You don’t have any coffee?” “No, we’re completely out.” “What about bagels?” “Nope, no bagels either.” “So, what do you have?” “Just water.” [Laughs] “I wasn’t sticking around for water!”

We probably won’t see a video of Ben Affleck turning away Dunkin’ customers anytime soon, but he’s likely to appear in another Dunkin’ ad in the near future. Reports suggest a new Super Bowl commercial is being filmed, and it could feature stars like Jennifer Aniston, Matt LeBlanc, Jason Alexander, and Tom Brady.

I remember the Dunkin’ ads from the past few years much better than the Super Bowl games themselves, so it wouldn’t even surprise me if Ben Affleck showed up in a commercial trying to sell me donuts and coffee this year.

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2026-01-21 16:09