- Alex Palmer

NEW YORK Seth Green is laying a finger on Bart Simpson's Butterfinger. The writer, actor, director and producer can now add Butterfinger spokesperson to his resume. Green has been tapped as the official "Butterfinger mouthpiece" for a new national TV ad campaign and video contest.
 
The creator of the Cartoon Network's Emmy award-winning "Robot Chicken" will be the first celebrity to represent the Butterfinger brand since Bart Simpson's memorable run ended nearly a decade ago. But while the spokesperson is new, the "Nobody's gonna lay a finger on my Butterfinger" tagline will again be used in the company's national TV spots, developed by ad agency Dailey & Associates.
 
To accompany the familiar tag, the brand is also running a user-generated video contest in which entrants create one-minute videos answering the question, "How far would you go to protect your Butterfinger bar?"  Contestants can visit ProtectYourButterfingerBar.com to enter their videos. Visitors will vote on the entries. The biggest vote getter wins $25,000 and may have his or her video aired as a national 15-second spot for the candy bar.
 
Butterfinger, which spent only $125,000 on advertising last year, has increased its ad spend in 2009. It has spent $1.6 million on advertising for the first six months of this year, per Nielsen.
 
The selection of Green, who also voices the character of Chris Griffith on Fox's "Family Guy," is an appropriate successor to the last cheeky spokescartoon, said Tricia Bowles of Nestle Confections & Snacks, in a statement. "[He] made perfect sense for a brand that honors humor and praises the punch line. Butterfinger has been a fan and supporter of comedic talent such as Seth Green for years -- as evidenced by our promotions highlighting clever, irreverent humor."
 
Green agreed. "I've been eating all kinds of Butterfinger candy all my life, so this union seems not only natural but predestined," he said.