Megan Thee Stallion and Nickelback Team Up for the Most Unexpected Cheetos Ad of the Year
The spicy-pickle snack trend has its own music video now. And the marketing playbook behind it says a lot about where brand culture is heading.
Frito-Lay is bringing back Cheetos Flamin’ Hot Dill Pickle flavored snacks and launching a new Cheetos Flamin’ Hot Dill Pickle Puffs variety.
If you missed the first run, you weren’t alone in wanting them: the original spicy dill-pickle Cheetos were first introduced as a limited-edition flavor in February of last year, sold out quickly and were resold on eBay for $60 a bag.
That kind of demand got the PepsiCo unit’s attention. This time, the relaunch comes with a full-blown music video pairing rapper Megan Thee Stallion with Nickelback.
The Song Everyone Knows the Words To
The music video, called “Pickle’s Back,” is a remake of Nickelback’s 2001 hit “How You Remind Me” with new lyrics developed with input from Megan Thee Stallion.
It was released on YouTube on March 26.
The pairing was intentionally offbeat, which made both Megan Thee Stallion and Nickelback quick to agree. Nickelback took over writing duties after Frito-Lay staff first attempted their own parody version.
The video features a high-tech heist, a high-speed truck chase and a large explosion of Cheetos dust. Both a full-length version and shorter cutdowns were produced.
The Nickelback connection runs on pure nostalgia — something Megan Thee Stallion alluded to in an interview with Billboard.
“I feel like growing up listening to a song like ‘How You Remind Me,’ it’s just in your brain,” she said of the classic hit.
“You hear it on the radio all the time, you hear it in TV shows, you just know the song. You know the words, without ever having really learned the words. I feel like it’s just very nostalgic,” she added.
Why Megan Thee Stallion Was the Obvious Choice
This wasn’t a cold-call endorsement deal. Megan Thee Stallion is a genuine fan of the product — she was publicly spotted combining Flamin’ Hot Cheetos with actual pickles before any brand partnership existed.
“Everybody knows that I love pickles. Everybody knows that I love Flamin’ Hot Cheetos,” Megan Thee Stallion said in an interview with Delish.
“And I feel like it was very obvious to come get me to be the face of this launch, because, yeah, I was gonna eat this anyway,” she added.
She also shared her own recipe that has plenty of fans buzzing.
“You use the pickle as the bread, and then you put pepper jack cheese on the inside, and then you put the Flamin’ Hot Cheetos on the inside of that, and eat it like a little sandwich,” she told Delish.
“And if you really want to get crazy, put a little tahini on it,” she added.
This article was created by content specialists using various tools, including AI.
