The mock Cheez-It debate of 2012! Which Election Candidate is Your Favorite? Mine is White Cheddar!
If you enjoy this article or Facebook game, please like it at the top of the website and share it on Facebook and Twitter, I’d greatly appreciate it! And leave a comment if you’re so inclined. :)
The 8 candidates are:
Colby – Who is the “everyman” – Slogan: “The People’s Cheese”
Italian Four-Cheese – The Mob-boss type. Slogan: “Italian Four Cheese It Is”
Cheddar Jack – The Cowboy – Slogan: “It’s Snack Time In America Again”
Mozzarella – The only female of the group – Slogan: “The Cheese For Change”
Pepper Jack – The Experienced Old Man, flat-top and monocle-wearing – Slogan: “Are You Better Off Than You Were A Box Ago?”
Baby Swiss – The, err, baby of the group. Literally. – Slogan: “For Young, For Old, For Real”
Hot & Spicy – The only Hispanic of the group – Slogan: “For A Hotter, Spicier Tomorrow”
and
White Cheddar – The “Prime and Proper” One – Slogan: “Let Cheese Be Cheese Again”
Visitors to the Cheez-It Facebook page and the website and App can vote for their favorite candidate, and the Candidate with the most votes by April will win. Once inside the App, you can even go to the “Leaderboard” to see which cheese flavor is winning in your state! I’m in-tune with “my people”, because White Cheddar is my favorite flavor, is the flavor that is in the lead nationally with over 2 million votes, and is the favorite flavor of my homestate of Arizona! Huzzah!
The asthetic of the App is pretty cool. Everything is in mock-election style, so you can start a “Grassroots Movement” by inviting your Facebook friends to the join the App and vote for a candidate, you can unlock campaign badges (or, essentially, Achievements) by reaching certain criteria, you can watch a mock “debate” video between the candidates (which is pretty lame, I was disappointed :P), you can view each candidates Bio along with their Campaign Video giving their point of view, and you can view the “attack ads” on their opponents in the “Campaign Ads” section. You can also print out coupons to save money on Cheez-It crackers and can even “Flip-Flop” to a different candidate.
The meat and potatoes of the App though comes from the Game Room and how you earn points, or “votes”, for your candidate. Interacting with the site earns you “votes” for the candidate you have voted for (and thus sided with), and these votes will eventually help you to become the Grand Prize winner of the contest, whose Grand Prize offers 4 straight years of free Cheez-Its and yourself turned into a Cheez-It character! There are also 7 runners-up. You can win votes by viewing the Bios and each section of the site each day, and for watching the debate each day. But the most votes can be won by playing the three minigames on offer in the “Game Room”.
The main and most exciting aspect of the Cheez-It Facebook App is definitely the games. The games are all pretty simple, but also addictive and will earn you tons of votes. An added bonus is that each game features it’s own Leaderboard with the top-ten players, so do well enough and you can get your name on the leaderboard (and, I imagine, a better chance at winning the Grand Prize).
The funnest game by far in my humble opinion is called “Scandal Squisher”. It is a whack-a-mole style game where you must click the right icons as they pop out of pipes, while avoiding the Cheese. If you click the cheese or miss clicking an icon, you get a miss. Get several misses and you will lose your balloons, lose them all and you are out. Each proper click earns you points, and occasionally balloons will pop up that allow you to earn those lives back and keep yourself from Game Over. There are 7 rounds and the game gets faster and faster which each. My current top-score is 35,135. The lowest highscore on the Leaderboard is 35,290 points! I’M ALMOST THERE! I’m determined to get on that leaderboard!
Update: I MADE IT TO THE LEADERBOARD! 7TH PLACE! Whoohoo!
Play one of three games in the Cheez-It Election Facebook App
Then you have an interesting game called “Campaign FundRacer”. Here, you are required to use your mouse to circle the proper line-up of Cheez-It Candidates as they randomly fall from the sky. Doing so successfully or in the right combo or in one try will earn you Coins, which will shoot from the sides of the screen. Hover over them to collect the Coins and add them to your Campaign Bus at the bottom of the screen. Each round is timed with the goal of collecting enough Coins to get the bus to the end of the screen. As you complete rounds, more varying and difficult patterns to encircle will appear and more and more groups of random Candidates will fall from the sky. They will also be closer bunched together, making it harder to circle the proper allocation. This is the most interesting game.
The last game is called “Ballot Bowling” and this is basically those amusement park skeeball games or whatever they are called where you roll the ball up the lane and into the holes. You gain points not only depending on the hole, but certain holes will light up and you’ll occassionally have Blue or Red balls, each of which give you different net benefits.
As mentioned above, there are several awesome Achievements to earn, such as staying on the site for one whole hour, or earning 10,000 Points in a single day! Here is the list of Achievements and how to get them, I’m currently three away from having them all.
Earn badges in the Facebook Cheez-It App. Here I unlocked Vote-A-Saurus Rex Achievement for earning 10,000 Points in one day.
I Voted Badge – Given to users who visit the app and cast their first vote.
Fence Sitter Badge – For interacting with all pages and not voting for any candidate or flip flop 8 times also can unlock later in the process.
Friends of Cheese Badge – For Accruing 25,000 number of votes for a specific cheese.
Flip Flopper Badge – Awarded for the switching votes from one cheese to another.
Poll Pro Badge – Given for any user who spend more than an hour in the app.
Campaign Manager Badge – Given to users who “campaign” for their cheese through posters, sharing, etc.
Maverick Badge – Given for inviting friends to join your candidate’s campaign.
Ballot Buster L1 Badge – Accrue 1,000 votes through onsite activities.
Ballot Buster L2 Badge – Accrue 5,000 votes through onsite activities.
Ballot Buster L3 Badge – Accrue 10,000 votes through onsite activities.
Vote-a-Saurus Rex Badge – Accrue 10,000 votes on a single day.
Weekend Warrior Badge – Awarded to any user who votes on a weekend.
Fund Racer Badge – Awarded for scoring points playing onsite game.
Scandal Squasher Badge – Awarded for scoring points playing onsite game.
Ballot Bowler Badge – Awarded for scoring points playing onsite game.
Interact with the Cheez-It Facebook Election App and unlock Achievements. View them in your Badge Wall!
Here are the official contest rules.
PROMOTION DESCRIPTION: The Cheez-It™ Vote for the Top Cheese Contest (“Contest”) is an online-only Contest that begins on 2/1/12 at 12:00:00 PM (ET) and ends on 4/5/12 at 11:59:59 AM (ET) (“Promotion Period”).
HOW TO ENTER: To enter the Contest, go to http://www.Facebook.com/CheezIt (“Website”), allow the Contest application and then follow the directions to complete the online Contest registration. You must be a registered Facebook member and you must complete the Contest registration in order to enter the Contest. Facebook registration, allowing the Contest application and Contest registration is free. You are limited to one (1) entry per person/per Facebook account. Your “entry” consists of the total accumulated number of votes earned by participating on the Contest application on Facebook. To earn votes, you must participate in one or more of the Vote for the Top Cheese (“VTC”) activities on the Vote Top Cheese 2012 tab at Facebook.com/CheezIt which will be translated to votes towards the cheese you have selected. Votes as part of this Contest may only be earned through the Contest application tab on Facebook. No other methods of voting will count towards Contest participation. Only activity conducted during the Promotion Period will count towards Contest participation. Visit the Facebook Contest application to view the activities and the number of votes you can earn for each activity. An eligible entrant must be registered in Contest prior to the end of the Promotion Period in order for any accumulated votes to count towards the entrant’s vote total for prize consideration purposes.
In the event of a dispute regarding the identity of the person submitting an entry, an entry will be deemed to have been submitted by the Authorized Account Holder of the Facebook account submitted at the time of entry, provided that person meets all eligibility requirements set forth in these Official Rules. “Authorized Account Holder” means the natural person who is assigned a Facebook account by Facebook. Entrants may not participate with multiple e-mail addresses and/or Facebook accounts, nor may entrants use any device to enter as multiple persons. Any person who attempts to enter with multiple e-mail addresses, multiple Facebook accounts and/or under multiple identities will be disqualified from participation in the Contest and all entries submitted by that person will be void.
Sponsor reserves the right to disqualify entrants, as determined in its sole discretion, for tampering with the entry and/or voting process or operation of the Contest and/or undermining the Contest. Sponsor is not responsible for any change of email address, mailing address and/or phone number of entrants.
No automated voting devices, bots and/or other programs and/or software are permitted. Activity point swapping activities are prohibited in this Contest. Sponsor is not responsible for lost, late, illegible, incomplete, invalid, unintelligible, misdirected, technically corrupted or garbled entries/votes, which will be disqualified, or for problems of any kind, whether mechanical, human or electronic. Only fully completed entries are eligible.
ELIGIBILITY: Open to legal residents of the fifty (50) United States and District of Columbia who are 18 years of age or older as of 2/1/12. Employees of Kellogg North America Company, its affiliates, subsidiaries, advertising and promotion agencies (collectively “Promotion Entities”) and their immediate family members and/or those living in the same household of each are not eligible to participate. Void where prohibited.
WINNER DETERMINATION: On or about 4/30/12, Sponsor will determine the Top Cheese for 2012, based on public votes from all voting mechanisms combined. Winners will be determined on or about 4/30/12 by Sponsor or its designee, the judges in this Contest whose decisions are final and binding. The entrant who earns the most votes for the cheese selected as Top Cheese for 2012 will be the Grand Prize winner – subject to verification. The seven (7) entrants who earn the most votes for each of the remaining seven (7) cheese flavors will be the Runner-Up Prize winners – subject to verification. In the unlikely event of a tie at any prize level, the winner at that level will be the entrant who registered earliest for the Contest as determined by date/time stamp by Sponsor’s computer server. Winners will be notified via the email address provided during their registration in the Contest.
PRIZES AND APPROXIMATE RETAIL VALUES (ARV): One (1) Grand Prize – A Four-Year Supply of Cheez-It® crackers (ARV $1,900). In addition, Grand Prize winner may also have the opportunity to have his/her image and/or likeness appear on a box of Cheez-It® crackers, in the sole discretion of the Sponsor. Four-year supply of Cheez-It® crackers will be awarded as one (1) case (twelve (12) 13.7 oz. boxes) of Cheez-It® crackers per month for forty-eight (48) months. Seven (7) Runner-Up Prizes – A One-Year Supply of Cheez-It® crackers (ARV $475 ea. winner). One-year supply of Cheez-It® crackers is calculated as one (1) case (twelve (12) 13.7 oz. boxes) of Cheez-It® crackers per month for twelve (12) months. For all winners – flavor of Cheez-It® crackers to be awarded each month is at winner’s choice. Cheez-It® cracker flavors are subject to availability; and product box sizes will range from 7.5 oz. – 13.7 oz. depending on flavor selected. Winners will receive a monthly email from Sponsor’s fulfillment provider to confirm his/her choice of Cheez-It® cracker flavor to be awarded. Sponsor’s fulfillment provider must be contacted by winner in the event he/she changes his/her address, email address, and/or telephone number. In the event that Sponsor’s fulfillment provider is unable to confirm winner’s choice of monthly flavor within the time period stated in the monthly email, winner will receive a Cheez-It® cracker flavor for that month to be selected by Sponsor in its sole discretion. Total ARV of all prizes $5,225. All applicable federal, state, and local taxes on prize are the sole responsibility of the prize winners. Limit one (1) prize per household.
GENERAL: Potential prize winners will be required to sign and return a notarized Affidavit of Eligibility/Liability Release (for Grand Prize winner only – including the recording of their social security number for tax reporting purposes – as required by law) and, where permitted by law, Publicity Release within fourteen (14) days after first notification attempt. If prize notification or prize is returned as non-deliverable, prize may be forfeited and an alternate winner may be selected as provided in these Official Rules. No cash equivalents, substitutions or transfer of prize permitted except that Sponsor reserves the right to substitute a prize of equal or greater value in the event that an offered prize is unavailable. Sponsor is not responsible for any prize that is non-deliverable. No correspondence will be acknowledged. Subject to all federal, state and local laws/regulations. Neither Promotion Entities, their respective subsidiaries, affiliates, nor their employees will have any liability whatsoever for any injuries, losses or damages of any kind caused by any prize or resulting from acceptance, possession, use and/or misuse of any prize or participation in the Contest or any prize-related activities. Acceptance of a prize shall be construed as and signify the winner’s agreement and consent that Sponsor may use the winner’s name, voice, address, likeness and/or prize information, without limitation, for promotional purposes without further consideration, review, approval or payment, where allowed by law. By participating in this Contest, entrants agree to be bound by the Official Rules and the decisions of the judges, which are final and binding in all respects. Sponsor is not responsible for any typographical or other error in the printing of the offer, administration of the Contest or in the announcement of the prize.
INTERNET: Entries/votes are deemed to be received at the time of receipt by the Sponsor, not at the time of transmission by the entrant. Sponsor is not responsible for lost, late, incomplete, misdirected or illegible entries nor for electronic transmission errors resulting in omission, interruption, deletion, defect, delay in operations or transmission, theft or destruction or unauthorized access to or alterations of entry materials, or for technical, network, telephone equipment, electronic, computer, hardware or software malfunctions or limitations of any kind, or inaccurate transmissions of or failure to receive entry information by Sponsor or presenter on account of technical problems or traffic congestion on the Internet or at any website or any combination thereof. If for any reason this Contest is not capable of running as planned, including but not limited to infection by computer virus, bugs, tampering, unauthorized intervention, fraud, technical failures, or any other causes beyond the reasonable control of Sponsor which corrupt or affect the administration, security, fairness, integrity, or proper conduct of this Contest, Sponsor reserves the right at its sole discretion, to disqualify any individual who tampers with the entry process, and to cancel, terminate, modify or suspend the Contest and determine the winners as provided for herein from among all eligible entries received up to the point of the action taken by the Sponsor provided that a sufficient number of eligible entries have been received. Caution: Any attempt by an individual to deliberately damage any website or undermine the legitimate operation of the Contest is a violation of criminal and civil laws and should such an attempt be made, Sponsors reserve the right to seek damages from any such individual to the fullest extent of the law.
CONFIDENTIALITY: For information about how the Sponsor uses your personal information, please see its privacy policy, located at http://www.kelloggcompany.com/privacy.aspx.
WINNER’S LIST: For names of winners, to be available after 5/15/12, send a stamped, self‑addressed envelope to: Cheez-It™ Vote for the Top CheeseContest, Attn: Winner’s List, P.O. Box 7273, Kalamazoo, MI 49003-7273. Winner’s list requests must be received by 7/15/12.
SPONSOR: Kellogg North America Company, One Kellogg Square, Battle Creek, MI 49016.
®, ™, © 2012 Kellogg NA Co.
This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with Facebook. You understand that you are providing your information to Kellogg Company and not to Facebook. The information you provide will be used as fully set forth in the Sponsor’s privacy policy found at http://www.kelloggcompany.com/privacy.aspx.
There are lots of ways to earn votes for your cheese and your chance to become a Top Supporter.
Below are online activities you can do, how often and how many votes you’ll earn for completing each.
Online Activity: How Often: Votes Earned:
Register Now/Enter to Win Once 1
Vote Once 1
Meet the Candidates Page Once 1
Visit a Candidate Bio Page Once per Day 1
Watch Cheeselinging Video Once Per Day 15
Watch Candidate’s Video Once per Day 15
Visit Debat Page Once 1
Watch Full Debate video Once per Day 100
Answer Poll question after video Once per Question 5
Using Banners Once 1
Playing a game Per Play See individual game
Invite a Friend (navigation) Once 1
Invite a Friend(s) Per Friend App Installation 250
Post Item(s) to FB wall/timeline Per Friend App Installation
