Cheetos Ethnography

Ethnography of Tweens and Gatekeepers

June, 2005

BBDO NEW YORK STRATEGIC SERVICES

Objectives

• What is Tween life about today? – Developmental issues that pertain

to snacking behavior • What does Cheetos represent to

kids? – What separates Cheetos from other

macrosnacks? – What is it about Cheetos they love?

• What is the value of Chester to Tweens?

• How do moms think about snacks?

• What is the value of Cheetos to moms?

What we Did

• 6 ethnographic interviews of Tweens with buddy

• 6 interviews with Moms/gatekeepers

• Two geographic locales – OC, California – Baltimore, MD

• Homework assignment – Day in life of me, what

Cheetos is and is not • Tour of room, pantry,

cupboards, outdoor activities

Tweens psycho-social stage

Key developmental phase creates tension Leaving childhood, beginning adolescence

!!

!– Separating from parents – Attaching to friends – Demonstrating skills to succeed in life

Individuality group affiliation

Parental attachment

Tweens psycho-social stage

• Stage is characterized by – Fantasy/imagination vs. real

world limits – Learning individual skills and

expressing “likes” vs. accept what is given to them

– Peer group affiliation vs. alone/family

• Clinical name: Individuation and Industry

• “Being Industrious and expressing likes involve doing things with others who share similar interests and skills”

(Erik Erikson)

Industry

• Building Mastery in life • Characterized as world of learning

appropriate skills • Not only physical but psychological

– Testing physical limits => expanding boundaries of self

– Testing limits in videogames (violence, excessive force, “smashing things”)

– in sports – skateboarding, dirt bikes, biking, football

– in food choices, ways of eating foods

Individuation

• Tweens build a ‘separate’ life – Separate skills and likes apart from parents,

siblings – Doing things at school parents don’t know

about – Enjoying music outside of parents tastes – Eating snacks that mom may find unappealing

• For tweens, snacks are their choices, while food equals meals under parental control – Parents want you to eat your vegetables – Compared to freedom of snacking behavior – Cool food = snacks – Not cool food = meals (because of parental

associations)

Attaching to Friends

• Tension between wanting to be like others and wanting to be yourself – Normal part of early adolescence

• ‘Sameness’ is important – Safe to be like others

• Who eats Cheetos? Tweens say ‘our friends’, ‘kids like us’, ‘kids, not old people like our grandparents’

• Yet, there is desire to prove oneself against peers – Assert uniqueness

• E.g., who is stronger at arm wrestling, who can run the fastest, who can do more tricks on a basketball court

Individuation and Industry

• Friends = people like me • Shared physical and social skills

– Do the same things, share the same interests

• Specific sports, music, clothes, food, etc. – Like same things, share same values

• ‘You can tell a friend and keep a secret.’ (female tween)

• ‘A friend is always there, goes through things with you.’ (male tween)

• Authenticity = ‘sameness,’ apart from parents – ‘Cool’ is what I like and what my friends

like • ‘If everybody thinks it’s cool, then it is. You

ask your friends and people who are cool.’ • ‘Snacks that our friends like are usually

the same as us, but it’s what they like.’

Snacks in the Tween world

• Tweens differentiate snacks by functional categories – Snacks that require preparation vs. ready to eat

• E.g., Grilled cheese sandwich, Soup at Hand, Bagel Bites vs. chips, cookies, ice pops

• Also means snacks mom makes vs. snacks I get myself

– By time of day eaten • Mostly determined by Time bound factors

– E.g., Pop-tarts for breakfast – Jello, chips, Twix after school – Cookies, popcorn after supper


• Also differentiate snacks on sensory dimensions – Gushers = gumminess, slimy – Oreos = creamy middle – Popcorn = buttery, salty – Pudding = cold, smooth,

chocolaty • Salty vs. sweet are not

orienting categories – Tweens don’t divide snacks

into salty and sweet when choosing what to eat

– They choose by cravings • ‘What I feel like now’


• Tweens eat a wide variety of snacks – Seeing is a key motivator

• Go into kitchen, ‘check out what we have’

• See commercial on TV, see in store • Sight inspires desire

– Often crave specific brands • If craving for Cheetos and there are

none to be found, choose something else usually outside chip category

– E.g., ramen noodles, popcorn • Cheetos are not replaceable

– Cheetos are recognized as popular • Important to tweens • ‘Sameness’ in relation to friends (early

adolescent


• Snacks are world of tweens – Skill set they actively pursue and

share with peers • Always want to try new snacks

– Actively explore different snacks • Notice ads for new snacks on TV • Go to store with Mom and check snack

aisle • Observe/sample what other kids bring

to school • Look at newspaper for new snacks

– Experiment with new brands and flavors

• Typically once a month – Aware of new Cheetos flavors

• “News” they spread to friends, schoolmates

Why Tweens Like Cheetos

• Tweens perceive world of snacks as a sphere of independence

• Source of mastery, empowerment, “their turf” – Few parental rules about snacking – Free to snack on what they like at any time

• Snacks are perfect for demonstrating individuality and sociability

• Cheetos lets them demonstrate individual skills and collective “likes”

Cheetos: Testing Sensory Limits

• Tweens bring total sensory energies to Cheetos

• Eat through heightened sensory acuity • Taste

– Cheetos taste is catalyst for challenges • Extreme Cheesiness

– “Dangerously Cheesy” • Spicy, Flamin’ Hot

– Daring the other to hold out – Drinking with water so the fire inside

‘explodes’ • Inspires cravings

– ‘Tongue drooling for Cheetos’ – Boast in stories about quantity consumed

• Eating multiple bags at one time • Parents taking to doctor for eating too much


• Sight – Shapes and texture conjure imagination, fantasy

• ‘Cylinders with bumps’ • ‘Torpedoes’ • ‘Alien’

– Exploration and adventure in each Cheetos bag • Never know what shape is next • ‘Fat or skinny, they’re all different • ‘Look at this one, 2 are stuck together, weird shape.’

• Smell – Aroma evokes long distance acuity

• ‘If somebody opens a bag of Cheetos downstairs, I smell it.’ • smell = feeding frenzy

– ‘It’s like a shark attracted to blood.’


• Hear – Crunch sound is loud

• ‘It’s fun to make noise.’ – Emphasize crunch sound with eating patterns

• E.g., bite off small bits of a Cheetos rapidly ‘like a beaver’ • E.g., put in mouth and use teeth to crunch, crunch, crunch

• Touch – Gets messy

• ‘Cheesy fingers’, ‘fingers get red’ • ‘Lick ‘em’, ‘suck ‘em’ • ‘Gets all over you’ • ‘A lot on your fingers means you’ve eaten a lot of Cheetos.’

Eating Cheetos: Total Sensory experience

• Demands full absorption of self in the moment • Creates an experiential world, ‘right now’ activity

– Not a food you simply “graze” (e.g. chips) • Brings heightened awareness of self

– E.g., don’t eat Cheetos while doing homework but afterwards when relaxing

– Intensity of being in the moment – Authentic self – A moment apart from the everyday routine

Safe Danger: Power of Cheetos to Tweens

– Cheetos plays with boundaries through extremes -- (tastes, shapes, aromas, sounds) – It’s not a neat, in-the-box type of snack – but is loud, messy, odorous, irregularly shaped,

textured • This is attractive to kids, making it potentially

dangerous (in a safe way) – “Danger” (matter out of place) is power to kids – At least, kids think this, apart from mom

Chester as Tween Icon

• Chester is not just aspirational image or badge

• But extension of their selves – ‘Same as us’

• ‘He likes Cheetos, just like we do’ – ‘He does what we do’

• Rides bikes, skateboards, plays basketball, etc.

– Can imagine him interacting with friends, self

• ‘He’d jump on top of the school building and say watch this.’


• Shares their values, extremes, and behavior • ‘Cool’ because he’s… • Crazy/Wacky

– E.g., does skydiving and other Xtreme sports • Funny

– ‘The way he talks and acts on ads’ – ‘Ads with ice sculptures and he melts them with

hot Cheetos’ breath


• Imaginative – ‘Always invents a new flavor’

• Active, on-the-go – ‘Always doing something new, like changing

tongue color to green or purple’ • Authentic, genuine

– ‘Always acts who he is’ • High recall of Chester ads

– Enjoyment of humor – Topic of discussion among friends


• Moms like Chester too – Cute character – Age appropriate – Appealing personality

• ‘Not your average animated character’ • Funny • Active • Mingles with humans

– Recognize that kids identify with him • “He’s like the friend every kid wants to have in his

group”

Why Moms like Cheetos

• View Cheetos as a “good snack” – Potentially “healthy”

• Has ingredients they want their kids to eat

– Cheese – Corn – Complements milk or juice for “good

snack”

– Satisfying • Kid’s enjoyment of snack + ability to

‘fill you up’ • Other snacks (especially sweet

ones) don’t fill up kids, so not satisfying (for moms)

• Feel less guilty than serving other snacks


• View sugar as ‘bad’ element – Snacks with sugar are not valid

choices for moms • Worry about leaving kids

hyperactive • Worry about their teeth

– Sweets are not as substantial as snacks

• Not ‘filling’ like corn puffs, other snacks

• An ‘empty snack’ that leaves you hungry again in 10 minutes


• For Moms, it’s all about pleasing their kids – Buy what tweens want, what they will eat

• Tweens shop with Mom or put specific snacks on shopping list

– Stock a variety of snack items kids enjoy • Fruit, yogurt, string cheese, peanut butter crackers

– Cheetos shopping patterns vary by Mom • Some load up every week (3 bags) at supermarket • Others go to a club store, get a big box that lasts a

week • Others buy a 48 variety pack every week


• Reward for Mom – Giving pleasure

• ‘The kids are gonna be happy when I get home.’

– Satisfaction of watching the enjoyment • ‘I’m glad they’re happy.’

– Pleasure tied to their own enjoyment • Memories of eating Cheetos since

childhood • ‘My Mom used to pack tuna fish

sandwiches with Cheetos in the middle.’

• Sense of universal enjoyment: ‘everybody loves Cheetos’

– Variety of Cheetos flavors allows individuation

• “Everyone can have their favorite”

Video Ethnography of Tweens and Gatekeepers

Summary

• Snack is individuation activity, not just food – To be played with, not eaten

• No rules – “it’s me and my bag of Cheetos”

– Play fosters active imagination • Dimensionalizing who you are though product

– Adventure in every bag – Don’t know what to expect

• Sensory experience plays out for kids – Messy, loud, colorful, textural, odorous, = extending

boundaries to self, safe play with danger

Summary

• In snack world, Sugar is the villain – Strong role for Cheetos

• “Substantial” is key word in consumer lexicon – Filling, satisfying, guilt free

• Not sugar – Bad for teeth, hyperactivity

• An air of “Healthy” – Cheese, corn

• Mom becomes hero – Cheetos is the “right” snack – Kids are always satisfied – Fun food they enjoy

Implications

1. Keep Chester edgy – Chester is loved for doing slightly crazy things – Appealing to tweens in their ambiguous state

• Early adolescence, separating from parents, attaching to friends

2. Incorporate change as product benefit – Boredom comes quickly to tweens – Continue to invent new Cheetos flavors – Continue to use new advertising material – But retain Chester’s character – tweens identify

with Chester as ‘authentic’ character

Implications

3. Play on early adolescent identity theme, ‘different but same’

– Chester continuing to do typical tween things – ‘Sameness’ is important to tweens – Safe to be like others when in the process of

individuation 4. Incorporate total sensory experience of

Cheetos – Chester’s adventures in eating Cheetos – Challenges, surprises, like eating Cheetos

• “Never know what’s next”

Implications

5. Develop specific messages for ‘gatekeepers’ • Reinforce mom as hero • Cheetos: A “satisfying” snack

– Key word: satisfying, substantial, aura of healthy – Not sugar, which is viewed as unsubstantial, unhealthy – Doing a good job, feels good about her role, as kids are

happy, satisfied • Cheetos is the right choice

– In pantheon of snack options, it’s not Cheetos vs. other salty snacks (which is limiting)

– It’s Cheetos among entire macro-snack category

Cheetos Ethnography

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