Cheetos Invites Consumers to Vote for Their Favorite 'Big Cheese'

PLANO, Texas -- Cheetos today unveiled one-of-a-kind portraits depicting the likenesses of the two presidential candidates -- Barack Obama and Mitt Romney -- made entirely from more than 2,000 individual bags of the cheese snacks.

Chester Cheetah, Cheetos spokescat, invited consumers to visit the company's Facebook page to vote for their favorite portrait -- or candidate -- and be entered for a chance to win the 3-foot-by-four-foot likenesses of the nominees.

Consumers are invited to visit www.facebook.com/cheetos -- starting today at noon Eastern time and concluding on Oct. 16 at noon Eastern time -- and select whom they think should be the next "big cheese." Results of the completely unscientific poll will be released in advance of the actual November presidential election.

"During the presidential campaign season, Americans constantly turn to the polls to find out how their favorite candidate is stacking up along the way," said Ram Krishnan, vice president of marketing for Frito-Lay North America. "We decided to get in on the action by providing our fans with a truly cheesy way to add to the polling data. We know our fans are just as passionate about Cheetos as they are about America, so we can't wait to see who they'll pick as the next 'Commander in Cheese.'"

The Cheetos presidential portraits were created by Jason Baalman, who worked a combined 100 hours sorting and gluing each individual Cheetos snack into place. Baalman previously immortalized Conan O'Brien, Rachael Ray and CeeLo Green in the orange snack.

Cheetos is one of the billion-dollar brands incorporated under the Frito-Lay North America division of Purchase, N.Y.-based PepsiCo.