Chester Cheetah is a fictional character

Fictional character

A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...

 and the official mascot

Mascot

The term mascot – defined as a term for any person, animal, or object thought to bring luck – colloquially includes anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name...

 for Cheetos

Cheetos

Cheetos is a brand of cheese-flavored cornmeal snack 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 initial success of Cheetos was a contributing factor to the merger between The Frito Company...

 brand snacks and Chester's Puffcorn. According to an article in The New York Times

The New York Times

The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

, DDB Needham Worldwide

DDB Worldwide

DDB Worldwide Communications Group Inc., known internationally as DDB, is a worldwide marketing communications network. It is owned by Omnicom Group Inc, one of the world's largest advertising holding companies...

 is responsible for the creation of Chester; however, an episode of Unwrapped

Unwrapped

Unwrapped is an American television program on Food Network that reveals the origins of foods. It first aired in June 2001 and is hosted by Marc Summers. The show leads viewers on tours of factories and other food-related locations. Popular subjects include candy, breakfast cereal, snacks, and TV...

claims that the mascot was created by Hawley Pratt

Hawley Pratt

Hawley Pratt was an American film director, animator, and illustrator. He is best known for his work during the heyday of Warner Bros. Cartoons and as the right-hand man of director Friz Freleng as a layout artist and later as a director...

, the same man behind The Pink Panther.

1980s-1990s

Cheetos' original mascot was the Cheetos Mouse, who debuted in 1971 and disappeared in the late '70s. In 1986, Chester Cheetah first appeared in television commercials as an animated cartoon character. After Chester's introduction, the sly, smooth voiced cheetah began starring in more commercials and eventually became Cheetos’ official mascot. He used the slogan "It ain't easy bein' cheesy." in the late 1980s/early 1990s, then “The cheese that goes crunch!” until 1996 when it became “Dangerously cheesy!”

Throughout the '80s and '90s, TV ads consistently featured a theme where Chester Cheetah desperately attempts to eat other people’s Cheetos. The self-described "hip kitty" was often seen sneaking up on an unsuspecting stranger at a beach or public park. The result would always involve cartoon violence

Cartoon physics

Cartoon physics is a jocular system of laws of physics that supersedes the normal laws, used in animation for humorous effect. Normal physical laws are referential , but cartoon physics are preferential ....

 sometimes in the vein of the great traditional animation of Tex Avery, Bob Clampett and Chuck Jones as when directed by Keith Van Allen when he co-produced a series of spots for the South American market (Chesterator, a la Terminator; Chester Piro as a wrestler; and Chester Bungee, as a bungee jumper from the highest peak imaginable). These spots for the first time brought Chester's design back toward the classic '40s and '50s style, as well as combining hand drawn animation with computer generated backgrounds. Antics include 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. Despite this, Chester did star in two video games for the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo

Super Nintendo Entertainment System

The Super Nintendo Entertainment System is a 16-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America, Europe, Australasia , and South America between 1990 and 1993. In Japan and Southeast Asia, the system is called the , or SFC for short...

 systems, "Chester Cheetah: Wild Wild Quest

Chester Cheetah: Wild Wild Quest

Chester Cheetah: Wild Wild Quest is a 1990s video game that starred Cheetos mascot Chester Cheetah. It is the sequel to Chester Cheetah: Too Cool to Fool. The game is designed much like Super Mario World in which the player navigates through levels in a map, and the game is also a platformer....

" and "Chester Cheetah: Too Cool to Fool

Chester Cheetah: Too Cool to Fool

Chester Cheetah: Too Cool to Fool was a 1992 video game that starred Cheetos mascot Chester Cheetah, only released in North America.The instruction manual contains a popular Engrish that is recognized by many gamers, "As is Chester Cheetah way, is one-person play." The Engrish spawned due to bad...

," released that same year. Chester Cheetah makes a cameo appearance in Archie Comics

Archie Comics

Archie Comics is an American comic book publisher headquartered in the Village of Mamaroneck, Town of Mamaroneck, New York, known for its many series featuring the fictional teenagers Archie Andrews, Betty Cooper, Veronica Lodge, Reggie Mantle and Jughead Jones. The characters were created by...

' "Sonic the Hedgehog

Sonic the Hedgehog (comics)

Sonic the Hedgehog is an ongoing series of American comic books published by Archie Comics, featuring Sega's mascot video game character of the same name. The comic book series debuted in the United States as a 4 part mini-series published between November 1992 and February 1993...

" series.

2000s

In the 2000s, Chester Cheetah, also referred to as Chester Cheetoh, became rendered as a computer generated

Computer-generated imagery

Computer-generated imagery is the application of the field of computer graphics or, more specifically, 3D computer graphics to special effects in art, video games, films, television programs, commercials, simulators and simulation generally, and printed media...

 character in the United States, while he continues to appear in his old animation style in other countries. Contemporary TV ads have begun portraying him in a less antagonist

Antagonist

An antagonist is a character, group of characters, or institution, that represents the opposition against which the protagonist must contend...

ic manner. 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 Twisted McGee, Flamin’ Hot Fiona, and Cruncher. This is linked to an interactive Internet site. Upon confrontation with Chef Pierre, Agent X signaled all the agents to appear and Pierre and his minions were apprehended.

As of 2007, Cheetos has taken aim at an adult demographic with a recent series of ads featuring the mascot in promotion of OrangeUnderground.com. In this incarnation, Chester is physically a puppet, 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

Cubicle

Тhe cubicle, cubicle desk, office cubicle or cubicle workstation is a partially enclosed workspace, separated from neighboring workspaces by partitions that are usually tall...

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