Chester Cheetah is a fictional

character Character or Characters may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''Character'' (novel), a 1936 Dutch novel by Ferdinand Bordewijk * ''Characters'' (Theophrastus), a classical Greek set of character sketches attributed to The ...

and the official mascot for

Frito-Lay Frito-Lay is an American subsidiary of PepsiCo that manufactures, markets, and sells corn chips, potato chips, and other snack foods. The primary snack food brands produced under the Frito-Lay name include Fritos corn chips, Cheetos cheese-flavor ...

Cheetos Cheetos (formerly styled as Chee-tos until 1998) is a crunchy corn puff snack brand made by Frito-Lay, a subsidiary of PepsiCo. Fritos creator Charles Elmer Doolin invented Cheetos in 1948, and began national distribution in the U.S. The initia ...

brand snacks as well as Chester's Snacks which consists of flavored fries, popcorn and puffcorn.

History

1985–2003: Traditional animation

Cheetos' original mascot was the Cheetos Mouse, who debuted in 1971 and disappeared around 1979. In 1985, Chester Cheetah was created by Brad Morgan, who art directed the commercials and designed the character, and Stephen Kane who wrote the original scripts for

television commercials A television advertisement (also called a television commercial, TV commercial, commercial, spot, television spot, TV spot, advert, television advert, TV advert, television ad, TV ad or simply an ad) is a span of television programming produce ...

. The original 24-

frame A frame is often a structural system that supports other components of a physical construction and/or steel frame that limits the construction's extent. Frame and FRAME may also refer to: Physical objects In building construction *Framing (co ...

animation was done by Richard Williams. After Chester's introduction, the sly, smooth voiced cheetah began starring in more commercials and eventually became Cheetos' official mascot. He used the slogans "It's not easy being cheesy" and "The cheese that goes crunch!" from 1985 to 1997", until it became "Dangerously cheesy!" from 1997 onward. From the mid-1980s to early 2000s, television adverts often featured Chester's desperate attempts to eat other people's Cheetos. The self-described "hip kitty" would often speak in

rhyme A rhyme is a repetition of similar sounds (usually, the exact same phonemes) in the final stressed syllables and any following syllables of two or more words. Most often, this kind of perfect rhyming is consciously used for a musical or aesthetic ...

and sneak up on an unsuspecting stranger at a beach or public park. The result would always involve

cartoon violence Cartoon violence is the representation of violent actions involving animated characters and situations. This may include violence where a character is unharmed after the action has been inflicted. Animated violence is sometimes partitioned into c ...

in the vein of '' Looney Tunes'', such as Chester riding a motorcycle off a bridge, getting thrown to the top of a coliseum, or plunging miles through the air to unwittingly grab a hang-gliding bodacious babe, only to cast her aside in favor of Cheetos. These spots were first directed by Keith Van Allen and later by ''

Cow and Chicken ''Cow and Chicken'' is an American animated comedy television series created by David Feiss for Cartoon Network and distributed by Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution. It is the third of the network's Cartoon Cartoons. It follows the sur ...

'' creator

David Feiss David Feiss (born 1959) is an American animator, writer, director, and storyboard artist.Lenburg, Jeff, ''Who's Who in Animated Cartoons: An International Guide to Film & Television'' (Applause Theater & Cinema Books, 2006), 80. Feiss began his ca ...

. In 1992, Chester's own television program called ''Yo! It's the Chester Cheetah Show!'' was under development for the

Fox Kids Fox Kids (originally known as Fox Children's Network and later as the Fox Kids Network; stylized as FOX KIDS) was an American children's programming block and branding for a slate of international children's television channels. Originally a jo ...

Saturday morning fall lineup. However, an ethics debate erupted over Chester's status as an advertising character, and likely due to the protests of Action for Children's Television, the show was prevented from airing. Their petition marked the first time that the organization protested something before it actually became a program. In 2019 a petition appeared on

change.org Change.org is a worldwide nonprofit petition website, based in California, US, operated by the San Francisco-based company of the same name, which has over 400 million users and offers the public the ability to promote the petitions they care ab ...

for someone to make the series happen sometime for

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its networks division's Kids and Family Group. Its ...

. Chester's character underwent slight revamping in 1997. With the introduction of the "Dangerously cheesy!" slogan and Pete Stacker replacing Joel Murray as his voice actor. Chester began appearing in live-action/animated hybrid advertisements where he entered the real world. During this time, the ads began portraying him in a less antagonistic manner; he went from being bumbling to suave and cool, and he actually managed to eat Cheetos unlike in the older commercials.

2003–2009: Jump to CGI

In the United States in 2003, Chester was rendered as a computer generated character, but he continued to appear in his old animation style in other countries. One particular commercial series in 2006 had Chester defeating rival Chef Pierre in a baking contest to create Baked Cheetos. This led to an advertising campaign titled ''Chester Goes Undercover'', in which Pierre, disguised in silhouette, steals the Baked Cheetos recipe, and Chester gives chase by finding clues that lead him to Pierre's minions: Twisty McGee, Flamin' Hot Fiona, and The Cruncher. Upon confrontation with Chef Pierre, Chester signaled his agents to appear and apprehend Pierre and his minions, recovering the stolen recipe. These commercials were linked to an interactive online campaign.

2008–present: OrangeUnderground redesign

By 2008, Cheetos took aim at an adult demographic with a series of ads featuring the mascot in promotion of OrangeUnderground.com. In this incarnation, Chester (originally a puppet) is computer generated, but now with photorealistic textures/detail; he speaks with a mid-Atlantic accent and encourages people to use their Cheetos in acts of revenge or to solve problems (e.g. plug the nostrils of a snoring man or dirty the

cubicle A cubicle is a partially enclosed office workspace that is separated from neighboring workspaces by partitions that are usually tall. Its purpose is to isolate office workers and managers from the sights and noises of an open workspace so that ...

of a neat freak), sometimes referring to himself as "Papa Chester". In this incarnation, Chester is voiced by Adam Leadbeater.

Merchandise

Chester starred in two video games produced by Kaneko for the

Sega Genesis The Sega Genesis, known as the outside North America, is a 16-bit Fourth generation of video game consoles, fourth generation home video game console developed and sold by Sega. It was Sega's third console and the successor to the Master Syst ...

and Super NES: ''Chester Cheetah: Too Cool to Fool'' in 1992 and ''Chester Cheetah: Wild Wild Quest'' in 1993. Chester Cheetah makes a cameo appearance in

Archie Comics Archie Comic Publications, Inc., is an American comic book publisher headquartered in Pelham, New York.Sonic the Hedgehog'' series. 2 Angry Birds Facebook games were released in 2012 & 2013 titled Angry Birds Cheetos and Angry Birds Cheetos 2. The games are very similar to other titles in the Angry Birds series except a new Cheetos bag power up is added in both games. The first game adds a regular Cheetos bag that acts like the Blue bird and will split into multiple Cheetos & the sequel adds a flaming hot Cheetos bag that acts like the Bomb bird and will explode on impact A promotional plush doll was produced, featuring dark sunglasses and lace-up shoes. It was 18" tall. A 10" doll is still available today.

Video games

''Chester Cheetah: Too Cool to Fool''

''Chester Cheetah: Too Cool to Fool'' is a 1992 video game that starred Cheetos mascot Chester Cheetah, only released in North America. The game is composed of simple side-scrolling platform levels. On each level there is a hidden "scooter" part. In game, Chester can dash and stun enemies by jumping on their heads. The instruction manual contains a popular

Engrish ''Engrish'' is a slang term for the inaccurate, nonsensical or ungrammatical use of the English language by native speakers of Japanese, as well as Chinese and other Asian languages. The word itself relates to Japanese speakers' tendency to ...

recognized by many gamers: "As is Chester Cheetah way, is one-person play." The Engrish spawned due to bad translations and an attempt to rhyme in

anapestic tetrameter Anapestic tetrameter is a poetic meter that has four anapestic metrical feet per line. Each foot has two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed syllable. It is sometimes referred to as a "reverse dactyl", and shares the rapid, driving pace ...

like Dr. Seuss. No actual mention of the Cheetos snack food is made in the game, but Chester's health points are represented as Cheetos Paws.

''Chester Cheetah: Wild Wild Quest''

''Chester Cheetah: Wild Wild Quest'' is a 1993 video game by Kaneko for the Super NES and

. The game stars Cheetos mascot Chester Cheetah and is the sequel to ''Chester Cheetah: Too Cool to Fool''. The player dies in one hit unless they have a cheese puff on hand. Collecting 100 paws per level results in a new continue, and there are three difficulty levels. Some stages involve controlling vehicles, like a car or a motorcycle. The game was shown at the

Consumer Electronics Show CES (; formerly an initialism for Consumer Electronics Show) is an annual trade show organized by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA). Held in January at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Winchester, Nevada, United States, the event typi ...

in Las Vegas in 1994. After breaking out of a zoo, Chester Cheetah is going to Hip City when Mean Eugene tears up his map into 10 pieces and scatters it across the United States. Chester Cheetah must then travel across America to recover the map. Chester visits fictional cities in states such as Nebraska, California, Florida,

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage la ...

, and

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...

. The game was released only in America. Both the Genesis and SNES versions of the game received mixed reviews. ''

Electronic Gaming Monthly ''Electronic Gaming Monthly'' (often abbreviated to ''EGM'') is a monthly American video game magazine. It offers video game news, coverage of industry events, interviews with gaming figures, editorial content and product reviews. History The ...

'' reviewed both the versions. They gave the SNES version a score of 28 out of 50, and the Genesis version 24 out of 40. The reviewers praised the graphics and animations but cited poor control as a negative. '' Sega Visions'' gave it a score of 12 out of 20, and gave it strong score for sound and music. '' Nintendo Power'' reviewed the SNES version and stated it had stiff controls, low challenge, but had good audio and graphics. They gave it an average score of 3.3/5. ''

GamePro Gamepro.com is an international multiplatform video game magazine media company that covers the video game industry, video game hardware and video game software in countries such as Germany and France. The publication, GamePro, was originally la ...

'' magazine called it "High on the list of unnecessary sequels" and said "like the cheese puffs themselves, Chester might sound like a tempting idea, but you'll get no nourishment and you'll soon be hungry again".

''Just Dance 4''

Chester Cheetah made a cameo appearance in the background of the redeemable version of the song " You Make Me Feel..." featured on the ''

Just Dance 4 ''Just Dance 4'' is a 2012 music rhythm game developed and published by Ubisoft as the fourth main installment of the ''Just Dance'' series. Announced at E3 2012 by Flo Rida and Aisha Tyler, it was released on the Wii, the Wii U, the PlayStatio ...

'' video game. The track could be unlocked with a code found in a

bag, having exclusive traits on its background like a throne, and Chester Cheetah appearing sometimes on the back pillars and dancing along with the coach. Since the offer expired, the map it became available as a downloadable track for all consoles in all regions, however, without the special characteristics, equivalent to following games said map is featured in, such as ''

Just Dance Now ''Just Dance Now'' is a video game in the ''Just Dance'' series developed and published by Ubisoft. It was released on September 25, 2014, in both the App Store and Google Play. The trailer for the game was revealed at E3 2014 on June 9, 2014 as ...

'' and '' Just Dance Unlimited''. Along with the redeemable version, a commercial was released to promote it.

References

{{PepsiCo Cheetah, Chester Feline mascots Cheetah, Chester Fictional cheetahs Food advertising characters Frito-Lay Cheetah, Chester Mascots introduced in 1986