Chilling New Halloween Campaign From Cheetos Makes All-Time Top 10 Scariest Ads
by on 29th Oct 2026 in News
A new Halloween campaign for Cheetos is one of the top 10 scariest ads of all time, according to new data from DAIVID, the creative and media intelligence engine.
"Man At The Bottom Of The Bag", which features a woman being tormented by a demon covered in Cheetos dust, is the latest instalment in Cheetos’ Flavour of Fear collaboration with Blumhouse Productions. DAIVID predicts that 15.3% of viewers will experience intense fear when watching the ad, placing it ninth in DAIVID’s ranking of the scariest ads of all time. Another 2026 Halloween commercial, HBO Max’s trailer for its season of spooky films, also makes the all-time top 10.
The ranking was compiled ahead of Fright Night by analysing ads from different years, including newly released 2026 campaigns, using DAIVID’s creative intelligence technology. The technology predicts the emotional response an ad is likely to generate, alongside its potential impact on brand and business metrics. Trained on tens of millions of human responses to advertising, DAIVID’s AI models help advertisers understand how audiences are likely to react to creative without the need for audience panels.
Despite two new Halloween campaigns breaking into the all-time top 10, this year’s Halloween ads were 32% less likely to provoke intense fear than last year’s Spooky Season spots, according to DAIVID’s latest data. That may be a relief for viewers, but 2025 set a high bar for horror, with five campaigns making the all-time top 10.
Topping the list is a 2025 spot from domestic abuse charity I Choose Freedom highlighting the real-life horror faced by women living with abuse behind closed doors. Almost a quarter of viewers (24.5%) are predicted to experience intense fear when watching the film, nearly nine times the rate for the average ad. Universal’s promotion for horror sequel "The Black Phone 2" takes second spot, with 21.6% of viewers predicted to experience intense fear.
Six Flags’ "Tick, Tick, Tick" is third, with 19.5% of viewers predicted to experience intense fear. Hatch’s "Goodnight, Phone" and Sixt’s "Renting With Competitors Can Be Horror" round out the top five, with scores of 18.9% and 18.6%, respectively. Other ads to make the top 10 include a 2010 advert for UK theme park Alton Towers, a 1973 public information film warning children about the dangers of playing near water and Disney+’s "Huluween". Cheetos and Blumhouse’s "Man At The Bottom Of The Bag" ranks ninth, followed by a Halloween season trailer from HBO Max in 10th.
DAIVID CEO and founder Ian Forrester said: "Ads released in the past three years account for eight of the top 10 places in DAIVID’s all-time ranking of the scariest ads, showing just how effective recent campaigns have been at provoking fear. Halloween gives brands licence to push creative boundaries and play with our deepest fears, and Cheetos’ chilling collaboration with Blumhouse is a great example. It proves that even a snack brand can deliver genuine frights."
"But scaring audiences is only half the battle. For advertisers, the real challenge is creating work that’s not just scary, but scarily effective. While this year’s Halloween ads were less likely to provoke intense fear than last year’s, their average Creative Effectiveness Score remained virtually unchanged at 5.85 out of 10, compared with 5.84 in 2025."
DAIVID’s Terrifying 10: The Scariest Ads Of All Time
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