Doritos Surprises Super Bowl Television Audience Airing Two Consumer-Created Commercials; 'Live the Flavor' and 'Check Out Girl'

The Doritos brand today aired both "Live the Flavor" and "Check Out Girl" as its Super Bowl XLI spots, marking the first time ever for consumer-created Doritos tortilla chip ads to air as shot by consumers. The top-voted ad by consumers was "Live the Flavor" created by Wes Phillips (age 22) and Dale Backus (age 21) of Cary, N.C. Separated by only a few hundred votes was "Check Out Girl," created by Kristin Dehnert (age 37) of Pacific Palisades, Calif.

"Doritos made the decision to air both 'Live the Flavor' and 'Check Out Girl' because of very close results of the online consumer vote and the quality of the two spots," said Ann Mukherjee, vice president, marketing, Frito-Lay. "The goal of this program was to give consumers an opportunity to express themselves and showing both of these ads showcases the enormous talent that stepped up for Doritos."

The brand also announced that these two Super Bowl ads officially kicked- off the first-ever consumer-created Doritos television ad campaign, in which all five of the Doritos "Crash the Super Bowl" finalists' ads will air on national television through March. In addition to "Live the Flavor" and "Check Out Girl," the other finalists' ads will be at the center of Doritos' new campaign for the next two months. Those ads are: "A Chip Lover's Dream" by Jared Cicon of Claremont, Calif.; "Duct Tape" by Joe Herbert and Dave Herbert of Batesville, Ind.; and "Mouse Trap" by Billy Federighi of Beverly Hills, Calif.

"All five 'Crash the Super Bowl' finalists celebrated the Doritos brand and expressed their creativity in such unique ways," added Mukherjee. "We would have been proud to air any of the finalists' Doritos commercials during the Super Bowl. So, we decided to continue our commitment to putting our fans in control, and air each of the ads on national television."

"Live the Flavor" and "Check Out Girl" were two of the five top ads selected by the Doritos brand from more than 1,000 submissions uploaded to Yahoo! Video and Jumpcut, and voted on by consumers to air during the Super Bowl as part of the Doritos "Crash the Super Bowl" contest. Thousands of fans voted at http://www.crashthesuperbowl.com between Jan. 5 and Jan. 19 to determine the winners, giving them a sweet taste of Super Bowl-sized success.

"We're still enjoying the excitement and attention of being selected as a finalist," explained ad co-creator Wes Phillips. "But, to think that 'Live the Flavor' aired tonight during the Super Bowl, is unbelievable." Wes' co- creator, Dale Backus, added, "We love the fact that this Doritos commercial is going to give us our time in the spotlight. Not many people can say they made a Super Bowl ad for Doritos on a $12 budget. Who knows what's next, but we're hoping this will open more doors and provide opportunities for us in the future."

With the words "spicy," "cheesy," "crunchy" and "bold" exploding on the screen between scenes, Backus and Phillips truly delivered for Doritos in "Live the Flavor." The youngest team of the five finalists, the creative duo developed the winning ad without a traditional multi-million dollar Super Bowl ad budget and professional film equipment. Instead, the creators turned to Backus' wife, Cori, and friend, Nick Dimondi, to star in the 30-second romantic spoof and used in-line skates in place of a professional camera dolly.

"To see 'Check Out Girl' air on what I consider to be the biggest and best stage, is absolutely amazing," said creator Kristen Dehnert. "This is a once in a lifetime opportunity not just for me, but for our entire 'Check Out Girl' team."

Up and coming actors Stephanie Lesh-Farrell and George Reddick steal the show in this ad that captures a flirty and humorous exchange at a supermarket check-out line between the animated 'check out' girl and gentleman purchasing his favorite flavors of Doritos chips.

The Doritos "Crash the Super Bowl" challenge is just the first of many unexpected programs that will put consumers in control of celebrating what they love about Doritos tortilla chips. Next up is Doritos "Fight for the Flavor" program. This time, the Doritos brand will introduce two new flavors in store -- Doritos Smokin' Cheddar BBQ tortilla chips and Doritos Wild White Nacho tortilla chips -- and let consumers determine which flavor survives on store shelves and which one eventually gets pulled out. The two new flavors will hit stores in March, and consumers can log onto http://www.snackstrongproductions.com, the brand's newly launched Web site, to select the flavor of their choice.

Program partner Yahoo! Video, a leading destination for video on the Web, provided participants an engaging environment to upload and share their Doritos Super Bowl ads, as well as discover the widest selection of video on the web.

Doritos, which translated means "little bits of gold," is made from ground corn, corn oil, and seasoning. Originally launched in 1966, the brand has since grown into one of America's leading snack brands with more than $1.5 billion in annual U.S. sales. Doritos tortilla chip flavors include Doritos Nacho Cheese, Doritos Cool Ranch, Doritos Spicy Nacho, Doritos Fiery Habanero, and new Doritos Blazin' Buffalo & Ranch, along with Baked! Doritos, Natural Doritos, and Doritos Light tortilla chips.

Frito-Lay North America is the $10 billion convenient foods division of PepsiCo, which is headquartered in Purchase, NY. In addition to Frito-Lay, PepsiCo divisions include Pepsi-Cola, Quaker Foods, Gatorade, and Tropicana.