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Yeah - this is the confusing part for me. He apparently did become an executive so there’s has to be something that made them continue to promote him.
The LA Times article does say that he had a role in some other product rollouts that were somewhat similar but ultimately less successful. Their Chile lime products, etc. He’s also clearly charismatic and can win people over. So pretty good qualities in a marketing person.
Yeah - I could see a scenario where either he's taking credit for something he really didn't play a role in OR he played a very minor role and is trumpeting up his involvement. In a company as large as Frito Lay there's definitely going to be product teams that get some outside input - maybe he did "consult" on that one but that's it.
I happened to listen to an NPR podcast about him recently.
“None of our records show that Richard was involved in any capacity in the Flamin’ Hot test market,” Frito-Lay wrote in a statement to The Times. “We have interviewed multiple personnel who were involved in the test market, and all of them indicate Richard was not involved in any capacity in the test market.”
I've never seen the TV show, but I assume "Hoarders" is about fanatics of your clothes that can't get enough of them?
These seem to the ONLY Frito products on the market here in Mexico, BTW. Can't get regular 'ol Fritos.
Hard to be sure without memorialization ... but looking at this link, it seems possible that Montanez simply had a similar idea within a few years of Flamin' Hot Cheetos' initial development. At the time, Montanez probably wasn't in a position to know what was in development. And it seems plausible that Carey (a retired executive mentioned in the article) encouraged Montanez to pitch the idea to someone up high. It also seems plausible (but really rare) that that someone on high liked Montanez's guts, professionalism, creativity, or whatever and sought to promote him up through the company ranks.GroveDiesel said:
Seems like the movie deal may have put him too far in the public eye that the people actually responsible for it made a stink. Maybe Frito Lay wants to get ahead of it before the lie becomes more widely known. They get some free advertising right now but it’s not for the “wrong” reason if they keep letting it go.
Richard is certainly resourceful. I can see why he rose from janitor to Frito Lay VP.
Oh yeah, I can definitely understand why he moved up. I love his take (and referring to himself in the 3rd person) on the controversy. Pivot to a different angle and blame the lie on not documenting everything even though there’s plenty of proof of a national rollout already underway before his huge meeting.
