Don't worry, buy happy: Cheerful stuff is selling well

— -- The economy's in the tank. Consumers have no spare cash. And the financial outlook is bleak. So, guess what the savviest consumer product makers are rolling out these days: happy stuff.

That's right, products that make folks smile.

Nowhere is the smile factor wider than at Frito-Lay's Cheetos division, which this week will nationally introduce a product the chipmaker bets will help a nation of recession-obsessed consumers lighten up and open their wallets: Cheetos the size of ping-pong balls.

"People are looking for anything to break the negativity," says Ann Mukherjee, marketing guru at Frito-Lay, which, at one point even considered — but junked the idea of — Cheetos the size of tennis balls.

These aren't products that target kids. For the most part, they're aimed at grown-ups — and many are coming from seasoned marketers including Kraft, Procter & Gamble and Denny's.

"When we're stressed, we revert back to the things that comforted us as kids," says Howard Papush, aka, Dr. Play, who consults companies on engaging employees with play. "We want to play our way through stress."

Marketers get it. "People are looking for escape valves to take their minds off the economy," says Lynn Dornblaser, new products guru at researcher Mintel.

Among the "happy" stuff:

Giant Cheetos

Frito-Lay hired cultural anthropologists who watched stressed workers fiddle with stuff on their desks — including stress balls. So why not Giant Cheetos, instead? "It's a ball you can eat," Mukherjee says.

Part of the "fun," she says, is deciding whether to eat the Giant Cheeto in a few bites or pop the whole thing in your mouth.

The round snacks will be sold in $2.89 bags and sleeves of five for 59 cents.

Pancake Puppies

Denny's recently introduced the $1.99 doughnut hole-sized pancake appetizers served in sundae cups. "The more bummed out people are by the economy, the more they want to lighten their load," says Marc Chmiel, chief marketing officer.