While a bag of Cheetos and a roll of duct tape would probably cost you around $10, an art piece crafted with those same products has sold for thousands.
Last week, Cheetos auctioned off a Cheeto Puff stuck to a wall by duct tape on eBay and ultimately sold for $20,000 Thursday. The snack brand has not revealed the identity of the highest bidder, who will receive a supply of Cheetos equivalent to their bid.
The auction took inspiration from a duct-taped banana art piece that sold for approximately $6.2 million at a Sotheby’s art auction in New York.
“No shade to the prince of potassium, but we think we can do better, so we’re holding an auction of our own,” Cheetos’ Instagram page wrote on Nov. 21. “Let’s show that banana who’s boss.”
The post received over 2,000 likes and gained some interest with global music star J Balvin, who commented “Meeeeee.”
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The piece is titled “Mischief” by Chester Cheetah.
“Crafted in 2024, this edition is 1 of 1,” the listing reads.
Banana sold for four times expected value
On Nov. 20, a single banana duct-taped to a wall sold for around $6.2 million at an auction at Sotheby’s in New York.
The banana was an art piece by Maurizio Cattelan titled “Comedian” and described as “passionately debated, rhapsodically venerated, and hotly contested.” It sold to a Chinese cryptocurrency entrepreneur.
The final sale was roughly four times the initial estimated value, which Sotheby’s had listed between $1 million and $1.5 million. The banana was purchased for $0.35 before it was duct-taped to a blank wall and auctioned the same day, the New York Times reported.
At the auction, “Comedian” reportedly went from an $800,000 starting price to $5.2 million, plus a buyer’s premium by the time it sold, according to Reuters.
Who bought ‘Comedian’?
Justin Sun, founder of the Tron blockchain network, purchased the “Comedian” banana installation in crypto, according to Reuters.
He reportedly told the auction house that he planned to eat the banana.
“This is not just an artwork,” Reuters reported Sun telling Sotheby’s in a statement shortly after the purchase. “It represents a cultural phenomenon that bridges the worlds of art, memes, and the cryptocurrency community. I believe this piece will inspire more thought and discussion in the future and will become a part of history.”
