George Baker Selection’s ‘Little Green Bag’ Makes A Comeback In Planet Fitness Super Bowl Commercial

Ahead of the 2022 Super Bowl on February 13, Planet Fitness released a star-studded new commercial, which uses “Little Green Bag” by George Baker Selection as the soundtrack. The ad stars Lindsay Lohan, who first appears while running on a treadmill at the gym, as narrator William Shatner asks, “What’s gotten into Lindsay?” 

From there, the audience witnesses Lohan’s daily activities: from appearing on Jeopardy! alongside basketball star Dennis Rodman and bedazzling Danny Trejo’s ankle bracelet, to making the paparazzi cry. While the commercial is set to air during the big game, a preview is currently available on YouTube.

Backing the Planet Fitness commercial is a snappy instrumental from 1969’s “Little Green Bag,” a song which has an interesting history. Originally titled “Little Greenback,” the vocal track was written as an ode to the US dollar by the Dutch musicians George Baker and Jan Visser. Due to a printing error, however, the band’s debut single was released as “Little Green Bag,” leading many listeners to assume that the song was about marijuana. Nevertheless, the song made a big splash on both sides of the Atlantic – landing at No.3 in Belgium, No.9 on the Dutch Top 40, and No.21 on the US pop charts.

Over the years, “Little Green Bag” has continued to be a staple in commercial and film soundtracks, most notably in Quentin Tarantino’s 1992 classic, “Reservoir Dogs.” 

“I wrote the song together with my bass player on a rehearsal night. The guys from the band wanted to make a record,” recalled Baker in a 2005 interview with FaceCulture. “That was the beginning of ‘Little Green Bag.’ A few weeks after that, we made a demo in a small studio. The guy from the studio liked the song very much. He went to a record company in Holland, Negram, and they liked the song as well.” And the rest, as they say, is history.

Listen to “Little Green Bag” by George Baker Selection here.