With modernity and the obsession with adolescent health, we have gained many things (such as, for example, life expectancy), but in exchange, we have lost our greasy food mascots. A few still survive in cereal boxes, like Tony the Tiger, Coco the Monkey, or the Smacks frog, but they are disappearing more and more, especially in the European and Latin American markets. However, there is someone recognizable worldwide who, in some way, has managed to survive: a always modern and eternally cool cheetah who was the star, for years, of the Cheetos commercials and packaging. However, do we really know who Chester Cheetah is and where the hell he came from? Come, because his story is much more incredible than it seems.
Where is Poochie?
Before Chester arrived at the brand’s packaging and advertising, the brand had another mascot: the Cheetos Mouse, which lasted throughout the 1970s and starred in all the marketing machinery until its gradual retirement. Interestingly, there are countries that resisted him. For example, in Spain, copying and modernizing his aesthetic, they created the Masqueseros, four mice who acted as musketeers: Torciditos, Bolitas, Ricitos, and the unfortunate Tubitos, who disappeared quickly (in addition to other characters like Count Drakis or the Gang). However, everything changed when the command center decided to standardize all the packaging in the world with the same mascot.
Chester was born in 1986, and was created by Brad Morgan (illustrator) and Stephen Kane (scriptwriter for the ads). In his first appearance, Chester was presented as a laid-back guy until he smelled a bag of Cheetos, because he had no choice but to do all kinds of crazy things to get it. “It’s not easy being cheesy“, he would conclude after giving himself a bump on the head. It was such a hit that it sparked a little “Chester-mania”: he totally matched the tone of the mid-80s and early 90s: he wore sunglasses, rode a skateboard, and did everything he could to be the coolest of all mascots.
At that time, Chester, drawn in 2D, was scheming all sorts of ways to get his hands on Cheetos, in the style of the Coyote trying to catch the Road Runner, and his success was so great that in 1992 he was about to star in his own television show for Fox Kids, Yo! It’s the Chester Cheetah Show!. Obviously, it was canceled before airing for an obvious reason: it was advertising. “It’s not a debate about quality. Any cartoon is fine, it’s legal, as long as it’s not an ad”, said television activist Peggy Carren at the time. In the series, Chester would have new friends, like a funky monkey, a rock dog, and a rapping hippo. However, as far as we know, it never got past the storyboard phase (although maybe someday, like good lost media, it will come to light).
What it did have were two video games: Chester Cheetah: Too Cool to Fool and Chester Cheetah: Wild Wild Quest. It may seem normal if you’re a kid from the 90s, when everything was basically an advertisement, but right now it’s absolutely crazy to make video games about advertising mascots… and to make kids pay for them! But well, it was Chester, the mascot that managed to survive even the transition to CGI, making him the protagonist and finally allowing him to eat Cheetos at the end of the commercials. How could he not be allowed to do everything? He even had a crossover with Sonic in the blue hedgehog’s comics, acting as a film director. What? I already told you that Chester-mania went much further than anyone expected.
Moreover: just as famous characters now appear in Fortnite and Roblox, Chester appeared in Plants vs Zombies (adding the characters Chester Chomper and Dr. Chester) and even in Angry Birds, with several promotional games where the Cheetos mascot helped the birds recover their snack bags. There were a few free levels, but sufficient to make it clear that the Frito-Lay mascot was here to stay. And here we are: 40 years after his arrival and still having to see him everywhere every time you want to skip your diet. Yes, times are not good for fans of the Cheetos Mouse, I’m afraid.