For years, social media has been ablaze with fans suggesting that Cheetos cheese sticks resemble something, be it Jesus, Justin Bieber or themselves. A Cheeto that looked like the gorilla Harambe (tragically killed in 2016 at the Cincinnati Zoo) sold for nearly $100,000 on eBay last year.
Now, parent company Pepsi Frito-Lay and agency Goodby Silverstein & Partners are using this fan-driven craze to form the "What Do You See in Your Cheetos?” campaign.
For the next 10 weeks, fans will look for unique and interesting shapes in their bags of Cheetos, snap a photo and then submit to CheetosWinWhatYouSee.com along with their imaginative description of what the Cheetos shape most resembles.
For instance, the shape of a lobster is likely to win a trip to Hawaii for a lobster feast.
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Eight winners will each get their own custom prize package inspired by their submission.
A total of $100,000 in prizes, experiences and merchandise will be awarded. An agency spokesperson also suggests the brand's mascot Chester "has a few mischievous prizes up his sleeve, to keep things interesting."
In addition, the contest is supported with TV ads and social media.
For the past two years, Cheetos has also hosted the pop-up Cheetos Museum, most recently in New York's Times Square, to display the more than 200,000 fan-submitted
designs.
Samples of work related to the campaign can be seen here and here.