'90s Pop Icons Make Rare Appearance In Pizza Hut Ad

Pizza Hut has been tapping into '90s nostalgia since 2019, when it reverted back to its classic '90s logo. This Valentine's Day, the iconic pizza chain is leaning in even harder, teaming up with an equally iconic '90s boy band: the Backstreet Boys.

Backstreet's Back With Heart-Shaped Pizza

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A new social media ad for Pizza Hut's limited-edition heart-shaped pizzas — available through Feb. 22 starting at $11.99 — features two of the Backstreet Boys: Nick Carter and Howie Dorough (whose name coincidentally looks like it says "dough").

In the ad, Carter and Dorough come to blows over the proper way to make a heart with your hand. Do you use all your fingers, or do you only use your thumb and index finger? Apparently, Gen Z is more dexterous than past generations, and has decided that the gesture shall henceforth only be done with the thumb and forefinger. Dorough agrees. Carter does not. The disagreement leads Carter to leave in a huff, just as the two were about to indulge in a heart-shaped pepperoni pizza.

Luckily, Dorough manages to woo Carter back, saying, "Let me show you the shape of my heart." For anyone under 30 reading this, this is a reference to the Backstreet Boys' 2000 song, "Shape of My Heart." In the next shot, both men enjoy slices of the heart-shaped pie. The pizza appears to be cut in triangular slices like a traditional round pizza, though, which surely will lead to arguments between couples when they get to the uneven slices near the heart's top indent.

Per the press release, this collab also comes at a special time for the Backstreet Boys. In addition to their recently-extended Las Vegas residency "Into the Millennium," they celebrated the 25th anniversary of their album Millennium, which spawned famed hits like "I Want It That Way" and "Larger Than Life." Were it not for Millennium, we would've never gotten "Weird Al" Yankovic's "Ebay."