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You’ve definitely seen her if you’ve been watching the division series. Her smile is a little too placid, her eyes lock on you through the screen. She leers slightly from her place above the Utz logo printed behind home plate.
She is Little Utz Girl, and she has become ubiquitous with this postseason, which — shocker — is being sponsored by Utz snacks. Utz, makers of such fine party fare as cheese balls, pretzels, and other junk food faves, have their logo on everything from the graphic cards between innings, to the backstop, to the pitcher’s mound. You truly can’t go an inning without seeing it, or being reminded of it.
Especially since Utz is also running an in-game charity promotion. They have placed several cardboard cutouts of the Little Utz Girl holding up a glove (with chips in it, naturally) around all of the division series stadiums, and if fans tweet #ISpotLittleUtzGirl the company will make a $1 donation (up to $10,000) to MLB Play Ball, which aims to make baseball more accessible for children.
What Utz probably didn’t expect from the promotion was the response on social media, where baseball fans have found Little Utz Girl to be, shall we say, a tad unsettling.
Personal news: I am now haunted by the little Utz girl
— Emma Baccelleerie (@emmabaccellieri) October 8, 2020
I have played Bioshock, so I understand the fear.
— Christopher Crawford (@Crawford_MILB) October 8, 2020
Is this a threat? A warning? Is she coming for all of us?
So...have you seen the Little Utz Girl lately? #ISpotLittleUtzGirl
— Utz Snacks (@UtzSnacks) October 8, 2020
Little Utz girl has some serious the two girls from The Shining vibes https://t.co/7ajukWrQj6
— Tyler Molina (@tylerjuancarlos) October 8, 2020
Voit’s been flirting with the Little Utz Girl all series.
— Rich (@RAKcity27) October 9, 2020
For some context on that last one, Luke Voit started to make it a habit of throwing a ball at the cutout of the Little Utz Girl in between innings during the ALDS. He hits her with pretty good regularity.
And in what is probably still the greatest moment of the postseason (sorry Giancarlo Stanton, no one is impressed by your 4000 home runs), the Little Utz Girl decimated Lucas Giolito.
Hi Lucas
— Utz Snacks (@UtzSnacks) October 8, 2020
Sorry we didn’t see you in the ALDS this year ❤️
Have you been noticing the Little Utz Girl through games? Is she going to haunt your nightmares until Halloween?
The Belle Tire tire wishes he had this much power.