Frito-Lay and Megan Thee Stallion Create Fictional University for 'FU' Merchandise

Celebrity food endorsements have left the drive-thru and entered the convenience store, as snack food brands are continuing to partner with noteworthy names for branded campaigns.

Frito-Lay just announced a partnership with Megan Thee Stallion, centered around a fictional "Flamin' Hot University."

In a funny video, Megan walks around the campus, wearing Cheetos-themed red and yellow (which double as the school's colors), and exchanges greetings of "FU" to other students.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-9i66Wg2Nk

The commercial doesn't actually advertise anything in particular, just Flamin' Hot Cheetos. But a prompt at the end tells you to visit "flaminhotuniversity.com," which redirects you to snacks.com site where you can buy items like limited edition packaged Flamin' Hot Cheetos and Doritos, watch videos relating to the brand, and buy all sorts of merchandise relating to Flamin' Hot Cheetos, Megan Thee Stallion, and more.

It's all very modern in its design. Tennis skirts with flame motifs, a sweater that says "Hot Girl Club," a stallion varsity jacket (for $200), athletic shorts, and even jewelry.

This is the nature of a modern food promotion capsule: Small amounts of products that all fit into one theme, very fashion-forward designs to appeal to young audiences beyond a one-size-fits-all idea, and higher price tags. The products were designed by Melody Ehsani, too, which is another example of these brands enlisting designers with recognizable names to create even more appeal.

The "FU" part of this is incidental. There's no real event happening, there's no real school, it's just a funny tagline that Frito-Lay can use to pull in a famous musical artist and then sell merchandise.

But guess what: It works.

Remember that with your own promotions. A theme, even if it's not tied to a real holiday or a real event, can be fun. It can be the glue that holds a promotion together. From there, you have a road map of ideas that you can use for product design and rollout.