Santa Clarita Man Vies For $1M Doritos Super Bowl Commercial Prize

SANTA CLARITA (CBSLA.com) — An office worker, literally covered head to toe in orange dust, is being accused of stealing his co-worker's Doritos.

He can barely speak, his mouth full of Doritos. He swallows and tells his boss the accusation stings.

"That hurts Steve, that really hurts," he says, patting his chest and crunching more Doritos stuffed in his pocket. As he gets up, his pants pockets are bulging with bags of Doritos.

The hilarious 30-second spot is one of five trying to win the $1 million top prize in Doritos' annual Super Bowl contest.

Castaic resident Chris Capel 33, with friend Richard Price, of Alhambra, created "Office Thief."

Two of the five ads will be chosen to run during the game. One of the ads is picked by a panel of judges, the other one by on-line votes.

Capel told KCAL9's Melanie Woodrow he and Price made the commercial in six hours for a total budget of $1,500.

He thinks he has a winner on his hands.

"Who hasn't had that experience of going into the office break room and opening your fridge and your sandwich is missing," Capel quips.

Capel told Woodrow he is no office thief but his wife Lindsey admitted to having pilfered someone's food.

"But this wasn't made after me," she says.

Most nights the couple is coordinating their well-oiled social media campaign on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and a website.

For the couple, $1 million would more than come in handy. Capel lost his job as an animator with DreamWorks during recent layoffs.

"I'm hoping that this will open a door or two at the very least," he says.

Should he win, he also wants to donate some of the money to charity. Capel has 13 siblings -- his parents adopted seven kids from Africa.

How did Capel find his actors (Larry Cedar played the boss, Steve Olson played the employee)? He Googled "funny actor reels" and came up with his two inspired choices.

For more about Capel and the video, click here.

Voting runs through Jan. 29