Smokey and the Bandit petroleum company Mobil 1 produced television commercials, featuring NASCAR star Tony Stewart, closely based on the film. Called "Smoke is the Bandit" playing on Stewart's nickname, the commercials featured him as the Bandit opposite Darrell Waltrip who played Snowman and Jeff Hammond as Buford T. Justice. The story replaced the Coors beer with Mobil 1 products. The adverts poked fun at the film and even featured a Pontiac Trans Am and a cover version of the song "East Bound and Down". The commercials were produced after Stewart mentioned that the movie was one of his favorites. When "Smokey and the
Smokey and the Bandit reviews. American Film Institute Lists After the debut of the film the Trans Am became wildly popular with sales almost doubling in two years of the film's release, to the delight of General Motors; in fact, it outsold its Chevrolet Camaro counterpart for the first time ever. Reynolds was given the 1977 vehicle used during promotion of the film as a gift, though the car itself never actually appeared in the film. Because of the popularity of the movie and the sales success of the Trans Am, then President of Pontiac Alex Mair promised to supply Reynolds with a Trans