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With Ads of the Weird, MSNBC.com takes a look at some of the oddest, most eye-catching, controversial and just plain interesting advertising out there today. Primary writer Allison Linn covers the retail and advertising industries for MSNBC.com. The Ads of the Weird team is always interested in hearing what ads have caught your attention, whether it's online, on television or in print.


Random acts of meanness

Posted: Tuesday, June 03, 2008 3:00 AM by Allison Linn
Filed Under:

We’ve heard a lot of talk lately about how young people in this country want to feel inspired. The makers of Cheetos apparently think that they want to be inspired to do mean things to other people.

The company’s ad campaign, dubbed Orange Underground, consists of a series of commercials in which a cartoon Cheetos mascot goads people to use the orange squiggly snack for evil.

In one commercial, an office worker passes by the desk of a "neat freak," and smashes Cheetos into his computer and ear phones. In another, a woman upset by another patron at a Laundromat drops some Cheetos into her load of whites. In yet another, a woman sticks Cheetos up the nose of a snoring seatmate on an airplane.

Cheetos

There are lots of examples of slightly malevolent high jinks being used for legitimate laughs, but usually those jokes work because the viewer – and even the target – knows they are meant to be in good fun. These commercials show people being so blatantly mean, and with little or no provocation, that it just leaves a bad taste in your mouth.

What’s more, the random acts of meanness aren’t even original. Messing up someone’s desk? Putting something up someone’s nose? It sounds like the type of things a third grader would come up with.

The makers of Cheetos apparently also thought it would be funny if the public engaged in similar pranks. A Web site offers tips for how to use Cheetos to spread some real-life badwill, as part of a campaign dubbed "Random Acts of Cheetos." Suggestions include dumping Cheetos in your boss’s car and making "itching powder" out of Cheetos and other ingredients. Instead of coming off as edgy and funny, the whole thing smacks of middle-aged marketers trying too hard to appeal to the "Grand Theft Auto" demographic.

Another link encourages people to post their own Cheetos-related videos, which some users have done. Sure, that makes for free publicity, but sometimes you get what you pay for.

Click here to go to the site and see the ads.

 

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Comments

I should qualify my previous post by saying I don't own a TV. I mostly find the concept of television today to be akin to running a hose from the public sewer into your living room, gathering the family around the outlet nozzle, and turning on the pump. Thus, I have not, and probably will not, ever see the terribly offensive Cheetos commercials.
The web site is terribly funny, tho...

mahrkitn ginuos (Sent Tuesday, June 03, 2008 7:26 PM)

These spots are hilarious. It doesn't take a Masters to figure out they're a joke, either. Maybe Cheeto's marketing department gave their viewers the benefit of the doubt, thinking they had common sense.

In my opinion, the people offended by the so-called "Cheeto Violence" (give me a break, it's puffed corn) are also the epitome of our soft, whiney, self-entitled, I'm-gonna-find-any-reason-to-get-offended-I'm-a-little-prince/princess society.

This is coming from a hard working, fully employed, mother of 4 who is raising her children to be real, hard working, selfless people... oh, with a good sense of humor too!

EyeRoller, Anchorage, AK (Sent Tuesday, June 03, 2008 7:31 PM)

Isn't the real prank on the ones who eat thoses things? I mean really, what are they? A fried "something" with some quote unquote "cheese dust" on them?"
I'll stick to tater chips.

Free_toe lay_me (Sent Tuesday, June 03, 2008 8:10 PM)

Isn't the real prank on the ones who eat thoses things? I mean really, what are they? A fried "something" with some quote unquote "cheese dust" on them?"
I'll stick to tater chips.

Free_toe lay_me (Sent Tuesday, June 03, 2008 8:10 PM)

All you people complaining about how "this isn't journalism" or how "their are bigger evils in the world to report on", I have to say you are plain stupid. Their are hundreds of articles on the same issues in the world every day, one reporter not reporting on them makes you people stupid. Second this is journalism and she is reporting on something that encourages people to do destructive and malicious things. I havent seen any other articles about these terrible commercials so I say thank you. I feel the same way, I watch the commercials saying if somebody did that to me I would... (well I have anger management problems), do something not good in return. Again to the critics your points are as worthless as you're University of Phoenix degree's.

John, AZ (Sent Tuesday, June 03, 2008 8:16 PM)

I've seen these commercials and they don't make any sense.  I just don't get it - what are they trying to say?  Vandalism and meanness are cool? It's ridiculous - they aren't funny, they aren't anything.

Carol, Calif (Sent Tuesday, June 03, 2008 8:20 PM)

I suspect that this commercial is subliminally suggestive that cheeto consumers respond with a hostility to anything that could be seen to reflect negatively on them..

Bob Dog, Boondocks, NC (Sent Tuesday, June 03, 2008 8:20 PM)

humm, even e-coli was good advertising for Jack in the Box.  All the ruckus ABOUT the commercials is really the best advertising Frito Lay could ask for... I'm sure Chester thanks both sides of the argument for the free publicity.

Jane Doe (Sent Tuesday, June 03, 2008 8:25 PM)

"Yes.. parents should/could have better control on the matter... IF they were at home more and not struggling to make ends meet by having BOTH parents at work (if the children are lucky enough to have both at home). "

Ya just had to pull the "both parents at work" card, didn't ya?  I work because I CHOOSE to work.  My son has both parents intact, as well as extended family and a great church family.  

Just becasue I work doens't mean I can't or don't put just a much effort into governng what my child hears/sees/reads as a stay home mom.  I know plenty of kids at my son's school (where I volunteer 1 day a week-even though I work-do you?) with stay home moms who are completely out of control.  Working or not working has nothing to do with being a diligent parent and neither does being single or married.  As a parent I do what I have to do to make sure my son is healthy, happy, educated, kind, moral and not watching junk tv or listening to junk music.  You make time for what is important, period.

Oh, yeah, I don't like the Cheetos ads either.

nail diva (Sent Tuesday, June 03, 2008 8:41 PM)

There aren't too many worse things you can put in your mouth than Cheetos, and no commercial is going to make intelligent people with serious respect for their own bodies eat such valueless swill. If they fed that crap to animals, they'd be prosecuted for abuse and sent to jail. People who actually watch and enjoy commercials of any kind are basically tools.

Eeboo Varquahr (Sent Tuesday, June 03, 2008 9:13 PM)

I think that the point of these commecials aren't about the acts of malevolence as much as it is about getting the product to stick in your mind.

The commercials have odd, strange overtones to it. And I think they want it to be like that because it will supposedly make you remember it more. It "stands out" from the other commercials in a different way.

It's somewhat similar to those skittles ads.

Either way, I'm kind of indifferent to it.
I don't eat a lot of cheetos and snack foods.

J-Cid TN (Sent Tuesday, June 03, 2008 9:59 PM)

Who Cares! You gotta be kidding me.

Greg White (Sent Tuesday, June 03, 2008 10:20 PM)

cheetos beard and cheetos up the nose = funny.  no harm done.  cheetos in some poor stiff's laundry = not funny.  sorry, property destruction is just not funny.

cassandra (Sent Tuesday, June 03, 2008 10:26 PM)

Does Frito Lay want me to have images of Cheetos up noses and in other yucky places when I see a bag of their product?  This doesn't make them very appealing to me....  yuck....

T. Redfield (Sent Tuesday, June 03, 2008 10:40 PM)

The ads remind me of my hick neighbor. His idea of a vacation is to sit in his garage and stare meanly at passerbys. I have more of a life and I hope you do to.

OnionHead, Las Vegas, NV (Sent Tuesday, June 03, 2008 10:43 PM)

Sounds like they tried to one up the Messin' with Sasquatch commercials but failed horribly.

Ryan, San Jose, CA (Sent Tuesday, June 03, 2008 10:54 PM)

One comment above was why attack the commercials when there's "real  evil" in the world. Most of us have to deal with the small evils every day, and these commercials glamorize behavior that actually hurts people. Certainly society coarsens over time, but like the guys who think it's funny to beat up homeless people, or their rivals at school, there is a limit. Most people of any age would put that limit at property damage and actual emotional pain. Who could that possibly be funny to?

Dave C, Houston, TX (Sent Tuesday, June 03, 2008 10:59 PM)

I'm amazed at how determined some people are to live in a sterile world of total political correctness. Live people!  

BT, Austin, TX (Sent Wednesday, June 04, 2008 12:23 AM)

Thank you for letting me know who to sue when these snacks are used to vandalize my property.

Tom, Lexingon, KY (Sent Wednesday, June 04, 2008 2:11 AM)

wow, everyone needs to put down that wagging finger and relax! Maybe its not your kind of humor, but you're treating this as some sort of conspiracy against good. A commercial sells the product, not morals.

Joanna, Sugar Land, TX (Sent Wednesday, June 04, 2008 2:16 AM)

I GUESS SOME PEOPLE CANT TAKE JOKES TO MUCH SERIOUSNESS COME ON LIGHTEN UP ITS ALL IN GOOD FUN EVERYBODY IS ALWAYS LOOKING FOR SOMEONE TO BLAME THERE PROBLEMS THESE COMMERCIALS ARE HILARIOUS

Travis Carr Korea (Sent Wednesday, June 04, 2008 4:28 AM)

and its not always about maturity its about how your raised if your parents raise you right youll know right from wrong, again we need to stop blaming everybody else for our problems.... excuse me your problems

travis carr korea (Sent Wednesday, June 04, 2008 4:31 AM)

I think it's absolutely hilarious. Lighten up people. If you're going to watch a commercial and suddenly feel the urge to copy it and be mean, then you're a tool. end of story.
peace!

Gena, Montreal, Canada (Sent Wednesday, June 04, 2008 9:37 AM)

Lady I'd probably cry about it if I were you. Call me crazy, but the last time I checked Chester Cheeto isn't going cause an epidemic of 'evil' across the U.S. You totally miss the point, and Chester hates you for it.

Devon J., Pittsburgh, PA (Sent Wednesday, June 04, 2008 9:41 AM)

Why can't we discuss these articles without attacking each other? We're all entitled to our opinions. If all one can do is hurl insults at another writer, perhaps it would be wiser to leave real criticism to those who have something constructive to say.  (And why are those comments being posted at all? MSNBC's rules state: "We will only approve comments that are ...  not attacking the comments of others.)

Ann Archison, San Francisco (Sent Wednesday, June 04, 2008 9:49 AM)

markuting jeanus is out of his mynde! What indication have you ever seen that the general public is in any way sophisticated in its thinking and critically evaluates the comedic styling of advertising? They numbly gaze at the phosphorescence and have their behavior and attitudes subtly modified by the messages they (choose to) receive. Any communicated idea that is not debunked, refuted, or rebutted is ACCEPTED. While the advertisers are paid to make an impression that will influence the snack-buying public to purchase a particular product, the method they choose also teaches and reinforces lessons on acceptable actions, attitudes, and behaviors, and a lot of what is currently being taight as acceptable (because no one speaks out against it) IS NOT!!!

Yet another symptom of out degenerating society and our trending away from civility (which is NOT a bad word, by the way).

John Doe (Sent Wednesday, June 04, 2008 10:33 AM)

I think that these commercials are teaching children that it is okay to be mean and pull mean pranks on others.  These commercials are going against what most parents want.  We are trying to teach our children that it is wrong to be mean and hateful to others.

Heather, Florida (Sent Wednesday, June 04, 2008 10:59 AM)

Hope they are ready for lawsuits when kids start getting out of control and actually hurt someone.

My son is highly contact allergic to dairy and thereby cheetos cheetos up his nose could literally kill him.  Thanks frito lay for helping the millions of american families with Life threatening food allergies.

angry mama (Sent Wednesday, June 04, 2008 11:22 AM)

The ads are not funny and is leading to the ruining of America.  I am glad you reported on this.  I am going to start a boycott of Cheetos.

Chris Kovac (Sent Wednesday, June 04, 2008 11:22 AM)

Junk food, junk ad, junk ethics, junk morals.  Perfect combination!  This whould be why I am NOT a cheat-oh's consumer.  

Cherryl, Collegeville, PA (Sent Wednesday, June 04, 2008 11:23 AM)

My family finds the Cheetohs ads either silly or hilarious - the same way we find old "Tom and Jerry", "Road Runner" and Warner Brothers cartoons funny. (and then there were the Three Stooges. . .)Those old shows didn't make us run out in the 50's and 60's and do to others what the cartoon characters were doing to each other - simply because we understood it WAS A CARTOON DESIGNED TO MAKE US LAUGH!!  Of course, the 70's and 80's came along, and the emergence of politically correct sappy non-violent cartoons . . .  and a corresponding rising rate of violent acts perpetrated by young folk over time. Hmmmmmm. Seems to me it's the parenting skills that have fallen by the wayside here. Personally, I (and my kids, who are in their teens) are WAAAAY more offended by the sexual content of MANY commercials these days. That said, I am one of those people that has never bought anything as a result of a commercial I saw. Advertising dollars are lost on me, and I'm usually one to turn off the TV in frustration because of the proliferation of ads interrupting something I'm trying to watch. . . .

Rebecca, Nottingham, PA (Sent Wednesday, June 04, 2008 11:49 AM)

I am in shock of how many people want to comment on Cheetos adds! Too funny.

Melissa (Sent Wednesday, June 04, 2008 12:12 PM)

Gimme a break !  Some of you people are taking this way to far.  Lawsuits against Frito Lay for some kids being mean!  Wake up! Kids are mean in general you may think your kid does no wrong but don't we all do alittle wrong every now and then without the influence of Chester !  These commercials are fantastic !  They give me a good laugh and I think that is what they are supposed to do.. I am not gonna go stick a Cheeto up your nose unless you give me a reason to..like snoring too loud I am sure many of you lay in bed next to your significate other and wish they would stop snoring.. I know I have  many times and even thought about the Cheeto thing just haven't done it YET !  Also stop critizing people for thinking a commercial is funny or not.. This is America land of the free where all of us are entitled to our opinion and it doens't make us bad people because we eat cheetos instead of apples for a snack  Or because I think something is funny and you don't ..just chill out, take a minute to think before you go ranting and raving about something like a Cheetos commerical.  Don't we as a society  have alot more to worry about then a commerical !  and if you don't like it change the channel..again we live in America where you have that right ! (also if you boycott cheetos u should boycott Pepsi products, Pizza Hut and KFC  their all owned by the same corporation.)

Tonya Cheetoville USA (Sent Wednesday, June 04, 2008 1:18 PM)

Cheetos wins.  They gots us talking and thinking about Cheetos.

Rob (Sent Wednesday, June 04, 2008 1:30 PM)

I AGREE, IT'S NOT FUNNY, AND PROMOTING MEAN
IS WRONG..I'M BOYCOTTING CHEETOS..IT'S WRONG

SUE MENICI (Sent Wednesday, June 04, 2008 1:33 PM)

You know what is juvenile?  Adults swearing off a product, junk food by the way, because they saw a commercial of a CARTOON character influencing "meaness".  Who are you, Mr Rogers?  Go put on a PBS special and you won't have to look at the commercials anymore.  And don't forget to let your child out of his/her secluded box in the basement.

Anonymous (Sent Wednesday, June 04, 2008 1:43 PM)

this cheetos advertisement is not what is wrong with society - it is the tree-hugging, put our kids on a baseball team that when they play games no one actually wins - everyone wins, suing a bully's parents, coddling, liberal, living green but driving an SUV, soccer mom, stay at home dad, *explicitive deleted* who think the world should bow at their feet and the world should try not to offend them because being offended is so terrible.  these type of people are making the world a terrible, humorless, pot stinking joke! way to go cheetos!

carl - hudson ohio (Sent Wednesday, June 04, 2008 1:55 PM)

Someone puts cheetos in a dryer and someones laptop, and everyone freaks. Forget about the different body spray and wash commericials. I dont get the urge to slam my head against the wall after I shower with the body wash. My girlfriend and her friends dont feel the need to jump on me after I spray my Axe.

The commercials just show what EVERYONE wants to do in the situation, in these cases with Cheetos.

George, Matawan, NJ (Sent Wednesday, June 04, 2008 2:35 PM)

Oh great just what we need...more idiotic commericals played ad nueaseum day and night. I've seen the commericals, with two teen-boys it hard not to have them shoved in my face. However, both my sons thought they were stupid even though they did make buy Cheetos because of them.

Linda92595 (Sent Wednesday, June 04, 2008 2:36 PM)

People, People, People.

This is not something new for the company that presented us with the iconic Mexican Hero -- The Frito Bandito. We have, of course, reconciled that issue 30+ years later. NOT.

Marketing is driven by several things; finanical reward, brand recognition and cost effective publicity. The movement of product is an essential element in acheiving those ends. What better way to move mass quantities of a food product made from corn, than to dump it into an open car 39 gallons at a time.

The unforseen consequence of such activities is our becoming desensitized to their impact on the greater psyche.  Marketing, at its best, is informative. At its worst, marketing becomes pernicious and the insidious propaganda of hidden agendas.

Mean is Mean.

War? What war? I was in Switzerland

John Doe, Irving,TX (Sent Wednesday, June 04, 2008 3:30 PM)

I'm going to go buy some stock in Kleenex because there sure is a lot of crying on here about a 26 second Cheetos commercial.

a 25 year old, Dallas, TX (Sent Wednesday, June 04, 2008 3:49 PM)

Just as Nell Carter said, "Give me a break"!!!

Keri, Mesa AZ (Sent Wednesday, June 04, 2008 4:43 PM)

the guy who puts uses his Cheetos to upset the OCD guy is reeeeeally hot.

Tim (Sent Wednesday, June 04, 2008 4:45 PM)

Let's face it, some people think Adam Sandler is funny and Mad Magazine and Jerry Seinfield...I cannot stand any of these "funnies".  I guess it's the same with Cheetos...I've got better things to do with my time than to watch or care about about inane snack food commercials.  But they might cheer someone up who otherwise might be SAD...or something!!!???  Oh, God, I'm responding to a CHEETOS BLOG!  Help someone, drag me away from the keyboard...dumb commercials are on the tube every 2.1 seconds..mean and otherwise and Cheetos certainly doesn't have the market on idiotic ad campaigns!

Laurie Fraser (Sent Wednesday, June 04, 2008 5:24 PM)

Comedy is like any addictive drug, the limits must be continually stretched to give the same high.  

Somebody in DC (Sent Wednesday, June 04, 2008 6:04 PM)

I'm sure that the folks over at Cheetos are really concerned about losing a couple of uptight customers with no sense of humor. If your delicate sensibilities are actually offended by these ads, you need psychiatric help, and a Valium. Stop watching TV after 7pm, that's when all the grownup shows/ads come on.

ART San Diego (Sent Wednesday, June 04, 2008 7:06 PM)

Just my opinion.  But the pranks that are portrayed are way older than any gen-x, or gen-y idea. these are pranks that they have sold in joke shops and have been cartoonized in the newyorker. Everyone has seen the wash-one-red-item-in-a-load-of-whites=pink joke used in movies and slap-stick comedy and you can't tell me you've never had a vengeful prank idea at a sleep-over party as a kid. Where did you get those ideas from, odds are from an adult story of pranks played by them on others or that others had played on them in harmless fun.  

2nd of 3 brothers, Minnesota (Sent Wednesday, June 04, 2008 7:41 PM)

I happen to have lived in run-down area before and had to use a nasty old laundromat and I have seen how Cheetos can ruin your white clothes in a dryer--greasy-cheezy stains...Not cool~~I would sue Frito-Lay if it happened to me again....Besides the fact with all the bullying in schools these days~Cheetos are promoting more than silly pranks with these commercials..No more Cheetos in my house.....

Shashenka, Iowa (Sent Wednesday, June 04, 2008 7:57 PM)

She didn't even mention the best part: Chester giving hot chicks massages while he delivers the "mean" instructions. That's easily the best part. He's been a cartoony kid-friendly character forever, now he's a sly British cat with an eye for stacked women. Gotta love it.

But yeah the pranks are pretty stupid and don't have anything to do with Cheetos. Kudos for the article.

CODY, santa barbara, CA (Sent Wednesday, June 04, 2008 8:34 PM)

Hey, tampons are a necessary and expensive evil for all females and therefore should not be considered a "gross" commercial, even for children who someday will grow up to use them.  I happen to like the herpes commercial where the couples are shiny happy people, biking and hiking, beaching and rafting to upbeat music.  Makes herpes more attractive the Cheetos!!

Jane Doe, Columbus, OH (Sent Thursday, June 05, 2008 2:58 AM)



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