It’s in the bag: Canadians show Doritos what flavour means

It’s Canadian Idol meets the munchies. That’s the idea behind Doritos’ Become the Guru competition—an irresistibly gimmicky, consumer-in-charge ad campaign that invites Canadians to name a new mystery chip flavour for the handsome reward of $25,000 cash, plus one per cent of the product’s Canadian sales. The price of victory? Somewhere between William Hung stardom and ritual humiliation. To cash in, contestants choose a name for the new incarnation of chip—suggestions range from the sedately descriptive “Hotcho Cheese” to the more outrageous “Louisiana Voodoo”—and make a 30-second TV ad to sell their concept. There’s no time like recession time to promise fame and fortune.

Starting last month, we noticed the buzz-generating white bags invading the junk aisles of Toronto supermarkets, each bearing a bling-y dollar sign. The contest has nearly 30,000 fans on Facebook and has attracted more than one million users to its three seamlessly linked sites, where they can browse entries by preferred persuasion. For those who don’t want to go the Scorsese route, Doritos invites the Eberts of the Internet to participate, as well. Amateur adverts have spurred countless pages of remarks from self-professed pundits, including one entry that’s earned upwards of 10,000 comments. While not all chip critics keep it clean, mud-slinging seems a requisite (and hilarious) part of a healthy race.

So far, over 1,000 submissions have been posted in the on-line viewing galleries. And in classic teen idol style, the results are, shall we say, uneven. From the motley collection of talent show tricks, voters and panel judges will pick five finalists. Baller Chris Bosh is one of the celebrity judges who will play Simon Cowell to misguided “gurus.” Once finalists are selected, it’s full-on idol mayhem as Canadians vote on their favourite ad. With the competition closing today, we had a look through some of the top-rated clips to put together our own pre-selection. While none are quite Oscar worthy, special mention goes out to a few clever and stylish basement productions. Bob Saget would be proud.

Fiery Frommage is true to its title—retro cheesy. These cops are Queen West ready, with badass indie ’staches. We love the Superbad style.

Eureka Paprika gets points for creativity. And historical fiction is so hot right now.

We thought that the chip bowl was supposed to alleviate social awkwardness, not cause it. Not so with Scream Cheese, but who doesn’t love a good cheese pun?