Cheetos wants to encourage people to 'pause and think what political discourse has come to' by running its cheetah brand ambassador for mayor in Montana
Of course, there's a slight technicality - as a cat, Chester can't really register to run for mayor. But the brand is launching a full-blown marketing effort behind his "campaign."
A multi-media ad campaign - including videos, interviews, and billboards - created by ad agency Goodby Silverstein & Partners, launched Wednesday and shows Chester and his "Orange Party" aiming to unseat the actual mayor of Chester, Noel Walston.
Here's his campaign announcement video:
Speaking to Business Insider, Frito-Lay chief marketing officer Ram Krishnan, said the brand wants to "create a lot of mischief" at a time when political campaigns are dominating the news agenda.
He added: "We want people to pause and think about what political discourse has come to in this country and get people to laugh."
Asked whether he was worried that the campaign could mislead voters into thinking they could actually vote for Chester in the Chester, Montana polling station, he replied: "We do hope the electorate of this country are sophisticated enough to realize that this is tongue in cheek."
Chester's campaign website can be found here.