The snack that roared

Credit: Goldin Auctions

Would you pay $88,000 for a Cheeto?

Through the mysteries of food production, a Flamin’ Hot Cheeto came out in the shape of the character Charizard from Pokémon. A guy named Paul Barlett bought the so-called Cheetozard off ebay for $350 in 2019. He used CAD software to build it a special storage case and then put it into storage.

This all sounds idiotic.  Except that Bartlett just sold it at auction for a tidy $88,000.

As the auction house put it, this was the perfect mix of two passionate fandoms – Pokémon and Cheetos. 

But according to Forbes contributor Stephanie Gravelese, there is something deeper here.  This isn’t the first such purchase like this. A Harambe-shaped Cheeto went for $99,000 in 2017.  Following the Rick and Morty McDonald’s Szechuan sauce “controversy,” someone sold a 24-year-old McD’s Szechuan sauce packet for almost $15,000.  A McNugget shaped like an “Among Us” character sold for $100,000.

Gravelese argues that the line between real life and meme life is growing blurry.  And food is becoming part of internet history and cultural history – and people want a piece of that.  That has changed the way we assign value to things. In some ways, the more ridiculous the cultural icon, the more valuable it is.

What do you think all this says, good or bad, about our culture and the implications for brands?