Cheetos Are Now Illegal?
Find out why the joy of indulging in a bag of Cheetos may very be gone forever.
This article is more than 2 years old
Say it isn’t so. Cheetos illegal? Preposterous! Cheetos are beyond being well-beloved in the United States. In fact, in 2020, the average American consumed between one and 3 bags of Cheetos in a single month. A life lived without Cheetos would be a true travesty for many. Alas, you can relax. Cheetos are still perfectly legal to sell and consume in the United States. Unfortunately, that is not true everywhere. In Germany, Cheetos really are illegal.
The reason why Cheetos are prohibited from being sold in Germany comes down to semantics. Germany’s largest snack manufacturer, Intersnack, is the one calling the shots about whether or not Cheetos are street legal. Intersnack maintains that Cheetos, which are produced and distributed by Frito-Lay in the US, cannot be sold in Germany due to how close the name of the product is to one of their IPs, similarly titled Chitos. In order to protect their IP from being confused with the competition, Intersnack has consistently exercised its right to sue vendors who sell the snack.
Even though Intersnack has made its position regarding Cheetos’ place in Germany quite clear, some retailers have been taking advantage of a clever loophole in order to stock the product in their stores. Rachel Glassberg of the TakeOut recounted her personal experience regarding this very loophole. Glassberg detailed that while shopping at a store in Germany she noticed the familiar artwork of Chester the Cheetah, the Cheetos mascot, on some snack bags in the store. However, instead of seeing Cheetos plastered above Chester, there was a red sticker fully obscuring the name.
The owner of the store informed Glassberg that their shop was continuing to sell the forbidden snack under the authority of their lawyer who had provided them counsel on the matter. “Our lawyer told us that as long as the name isn’t visible, we should be okay,” said the shop owner. Unfortunately, though, the loophole is not foolproof. Hence, those who do choose to sell Cheetos in Germany are still doing so at their own risk. “Other stores have gotten letters saying they’d have to pay thousands of euros for violating the trademark,” revealed the store owner.
While Intersnack may seem well within its rights to defend one of its trademarks, there is another caveat to this whole Cheetos situation. Chitos, the snack that is causing all the commotion, doesn’t actually exist yet. Well, conceptually, it exists. However, The Takeout detailed that if one was to scour German grocery store shelves in search of the item their efforts would be in vain. Intersnack has yet to actually develop and distribute their Chitos snack. Essentially, Instersnack is protecting a product that they don’t even sell and it’s unclear if they ever intend to. Although an official spokesperson did relay to The Takeout that a product line is in the works.
For now, barring any change of heart on Intersnack’s part, Cheetos are still sadly illegal to sell in Germany. The good news is, is that some brave souls with shops scattered about the country are willing to risk the consequences so they can imbue the joys of the processed corn snack on the poor souls who have never experienced the utter bliss of indulging in the addictively delicious orange powder-laced treat.
