‘Crash the Super Bowl’ Contest Leads to Dream of 3D Printing Doritos

The possibility of combining Doritos with 3D printing may actually be the lifelong fantasy of a significant number of people. Don’t get too excited yet, though. The Dorito 3D printer isn’t actually a reality. Instead, it was thought up by RUS Architects/Renderers, Inc. a Chicago-based architecture firm, and submitted as an idea to the Doritos ‘Crash the Super Bowl’ contest.

The call from Doritos is for the submission of 30-second video advertisements that would air during the upcoming Super Bowl. Super Bowl commercials are a breed of their own, with companies vying with each other to produce memorable commercials that are entertainment in and of themselves. With an audience that is often the largest of any American broadcast, there’s good reason for businesses to invest $4 million for a 30-second advertisement.

For the past eight years, Doritos has been issuing a call for submissions to be considered for Super Bowl airtime. This year, those submitting can console themselves from the shock of finding out that the Dorito printer can’t be had with the hope that they can win a grand prize that might be (almost) as good:

• Semi-finalists receive $1,000
• Finalists receive $25,000 and a trip to watch the Super Bowl live
• First Prize winner will see their commercial aired during the Super Bowl broadcast and receive $50,000 as well as a trip to the game
• Grand Prize, awarded to the Finalist who receives the most votes, will also have a trip to the Super Bowl and the pleasure of seeing their commercial aired during the broadcast. In addition, they will receive a $1 million cash prize and an invitation to work as an independent contractor on a creative project with Universal Pictures.

Submissions must be entered before 11:59 pm on November 9, 2014 and the 10 submissions that are chosen as finalists will be announced on our around January 15, 2015.

A gallery of submissions is up on the contest website where you can see the fantasy of the Dorito printer in action. It plays as a fantasy within a fantasy in which a man, inspired by a football-shaped Dorito chip, begins to imagine the possibilities that would be present if only he could print on demand. For the props in the commercial, RUS had to create a mockup of a 3D Dorito printer and actually 3D printed the faux-3D printed Doritos… almost like Inception with a corn chip.

The chiptree featured in the video was an original design by Stuart Marsh that was 3D printed at his shop, Edgewater Workbench. RUS Architects/Renderers’ founder Rus Blemker described the Dorito Printer prop’s creation:

“The printer is all original! As you can imagine, copyright issues would not allow us to use current products. It is inspired by old Makerbots. A local community 3D print club partnered on laser cutting plex panels, the ‘guts’ are flea market finds… total Chicago independent film at its finest. Each chip is printed individually with tab, armature, and blister texture.”

If you are anything like me, you may have already stopped reading because you are fantasizing about print-on-demand snacks. Or possibly you are dreaming up the next Super Bowl ad that will launch your career. All I ask in return is that you remember the little people…

What do you think about the feasibility of something like this?  What do you think about commercial in general?  Discuss in the 3D Dorito Printer forum thread on 3DPB.com.