It’s easy to mindlessly chow down on the addictive savory snack that is a bag of Cheetos. But hold up: you might want to be paying closer attention to each individual Cheeto you consume. Because if that Cheeto is in an unusual shape, it just might be worth photographing, submitting to the Cheetos Museum for inspection, and — potentially — saving for display in the real-life exhibit of odd-shaped cheesy puffs.
Both Flamin’ Hot and traditional Cheesy Cheetos are eligible for the competition, organized by the snack company. Anyone can submit their discovery to the official Cheetos Museum website, where the images are proudly saved and displayed in all their amateur glory, but only one submission per week takes home a $5,000 prize.
[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]The competition, which started at the end of May and runs through August 6, will then put the weekly winners head-to-head for the ultimate prize of $50,000. That’s not bad for a bag of puffs that runs a couple bucks. (Interested consumers can also submit photos on Twitter or Instagram, although those payouts are less lucrative.)
From a Cheeto in the shape of a neon, monochrome pineapple to orange snacks that bear an uncanny resemblance to dinosaurs, people are finding all kinds of unexpected object comparisons in their food. Many of the best are already on display in New York City, at the Ripley’s Believe It or Not! in Times Square. This year’s winner will join that glorified exhibition in the future, too.