It’s always interesting to see the kind of marketing stars will and won’t do depending on the market. Yes, we have stars adorning bags of potato chips here in the U.S., but it’s clearly as a character of some kind. If I see Henry Cavill on a bag of Doritos, he’s dressed up as Superman, so it’s clearly an ad for Batman v Superman.  You don’t get an actor in some low-budget movie on a snack food, but you should, and now Japan is here to show us why.

Kotaku discovered the face of Nicolas Cage (and of course it had to be Cage) on the popular puffed corn snack Umaibou (or “delicious stick”).  Cage is on the stick to promote the direct-to-DVD film Army of One, a movie that was released last year where Cage plays a guy who goes on a one-man-mission to kill Osama bin Laden. According to the website Natalie, the Cage version is called “Deluxe Umaibou Nicolastick” and it’s available for a limited time to people who buy tickets to Army of One. I would happily buy the tickets if only to get a Deluxe Umaibou Nicolastick.

America, we cannot afford to lose to Japan in the Nicolas Cage snack food race.

Update: The following press release has gone out regarding this story:

NICOLAS CAGE IS IN NO WAY ENGAGED WITH AN ENDORSEMENT FOR THE JAPANESE SNACK FOOD BRAND RISKA

(New York, NY - Wednesday, October 11, 2017) - Over the past week numerous media outlets have falsely posted a story that Nicolas Cage is endorsing the Japanese snack brand Riska. Below please find a statement that clarifies that he has no connection to the brand:

“Nicolas Cage is in no way engaged with an endorsement for the Japanese snack food brand Riska as recently reported in the news media. Mr. Cage had no prior knowledge that the product was being created, nor did he grant permission to use his likeness in this way. The items were created for the Japanese release of MY TARGET, BIN LADEN (released as ARMY OF ONE in the US) and bore the artwork from the film. They were limited in number and purely intended to be promotional items that would be supplied to movie ticket holders in three theaters,” said the film’s international sales agent FilmNation International. “All parties responsible for the creation and announcement of this promotional product sincerely apologize for the use of Mr. Cage’s image in this manner and any harm that may have been caused to him and his image and reputation.”