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New York
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What do Bad Bunny, Selena Gomez and Walton Goggins all have in common? It’s not a red carpet premiere, but major food companies are hoping their star power will inspire Americans to snack again.
Earnings from Mondelēz International, PepsiCo, General Mills, J.M. Smucker, and The Campbell’s Company in recent weeks have all showed sluggish sales in North America. Consumers continue to pull back spending on name brand products, opting to either to buy cheaper store labels or not buy snacks at all.
“It’s a difficult time because people are seeing their budgets get tighter, and as much as they enjoy snacking and snacking brands give them pleasure, it can be something to cut off their shopping lists,” said Jenny Zegler, director of Mintel Food and Drink, a consumer analysis firm. “Snacking is more of a fun purchase.”
So, companies are amping up the celebrity partnerships to lure eaters back.
Salty and sweet
Executives for Mondelēz, which makes numerous household staples like Ritz, Oreos and Wheat Thins, said on its July 29 earnings call that “consumer anxiety” and a “shift to essential items” hurt North American sales. The company reported a 3.5% decline in revenue.
A standout was Ritz, which generated $1.5 billion in sales last year. But even that brand is experiencing a “slowdown” in demand in recent months, according to Steven Saenen, the category president for savory snacks at Mondelēz, so it’s looking to modernize.
The 91-year-old salty cracker brand is introducing new flavors to attract Gen Z eaters, like a swicy-infleunced hot honey, offering value packs for cost-conscious consumers, and hiring superstar Bad Bunny.
Saenen hopes the Bad Bunny collaboration will spark sales with the growing Latino demographic. The singer starred in Ritz’s first-ever Super Bowl ad earlier this year, and the brand recently extended the partnership by sponsoring his sold-out residency in Puerto Rico.
“He’s a true cultural icon for multicultural and Hispanic audiences,” Saenen told CNN. “He’s also a self-professed lover of the Ritz brand himself, so we think it’s a perfect collaboration.”
Another Mondelēz brand, Oreo, also partnered with a multi-hyphenated Latin superstar, Selena Gomez, to create a cookie inspired by her love of horchata, a cold, sweetened drink often made from ground rice or nuts and flavored with cinnamon.
This follows the model of a successful Lady Gaga collaboration in 2020 and another with singer Post Malone in 2025. Celebrity-created flavors brought in new customers and helped grow its awareness among Gen Z.
Partnerships have “become even more important as consumers’ purse strings tighten and they don’t have a lot of disposable income to spend,” Michelle Deignan, vice president of Oreo US, previously told CNN. “What we’ve seen is bringing credible partnership, like Selena, makes it worth it for consumers to part with their hard-earned cash.”
A Mondelēz spokesperson said Gomez’s cookie was one of its top three biggest launches for Oreo, but noted it was too early to offer specific numbers.
Celeb collaborations help consumers justify a pricier purchase because they offer a “crossover between one or two things that I know and I already love,” said Mintel’s Zegler.
“Some of these brands are trying to stay relevant to consumers and remind them of the fun and the joy and the excitement that these brands can bring,” she added.
And a dash of spicy
Doritos, which recently released a new “Golden Sriracha” flavor, hopes to emulate the success of “Cool Ranch” and “Nacho Cheese.”
The PepsiCo-owned chip tapped Walton Goggins to help garner attention. “The White Lotus” actor stars in a cheeky ad that spoofs 1970s adult films, playing a plumber making a house call to a blond bombshell. Just as the innuendo-filled conversation reaches its climax, Goggins ruins the moment by describing the leak using actual plumbing terms.
“You think the film’s going to go in a ‘spicy direction,’ but Walton’s character comes in with a plot twist before things go too far,” said James Wade, senior marketing director for Doritos. “This idea is just like the chip — that it’s going to be spicy, but it’s really not.”
PepsiCo could use a poke in the side: Volumes for its company’s North American food division shrunk 1% in its most recent quarter. Category sales for corn chips, which Doritos sits in, also declined 1% for the year ending on July 26, according to NIQ.
Zegler doesn’t expect star collaborations to fade anytime soon, especially since the major food brands have an advantage over private labels: bigger ad budgets.
“Consumers rethinking how much they’re going to buy of some of these brands is going to remain a constant, so that’s where these limited edition releases or marketing campaigns might help keep a brand in the shopping cart,” she said. “These crossovers help with that relevancy.”
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