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MARTIN MOYLAN: Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong really burst onto the National scene in the late 70s with a movie about smuggling pot and getting endlessly stoned.

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- Cheech and Chong, the comedy team that gave birth to rock comedy, and in the process, turned on a whole generation. Now, it's time for the Cheech and Chong movie, Up in Smoke.

- You're matching up.

- Is that a joint man.

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MARTIN MOYLAN: Now, the iconic stoners are back pitching magic brownies. Not ones laced with marijuana, as their fans might think, but fiber to help with digestion, regularity, and other health matters. Cheech and Chong star in a web-only mock movie trailer about delivering General Mills Fiber One Brownies to a mythical festival.

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- Chewy, chocolatey brownies that are 90 calories and high in fiber.

- What?

- Fiber, because now that you're getting older, you need a new kind of magic from your brownie.

- This is the weirdest movie ever, man.

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MARTIN MOYLAN: Eventually, Chong endorses them.

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- Get high on fiber.

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MARTIN MOYLAN: General Mills says the point of recruiting Cheech and Chong is to get attention and hopefully sales for the brownies, which it brought to market earlier this year. Jim Wilson is managing the Fiber One Brownie campaign for General Mills.

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- We thought it would resonate the best with Boomers. And we thought that the fun and the nostalgia of Cheech and Chong, and the nostalgia for the '60s and '70s would really take hold.

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MARTIN MOYLAN: And Wilson says the two comedians are also helping change the Fiber One brand image.

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- Showing that our brand actually has a sense of humor. Because when you think of fiber, you don't necessarily think of fun.

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MARTIN MOYLAN: What about the baggage, Cheech and Chong carry? Chong, spent several months in prison for selling marijuana gear. And when they kicked off their light up America reunion tour in 2008, both Cheech and Chong said they were still smoking or otherwise ingesting marijuana. Again, Jim Wilson of General Mills.

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- What you've seen in the movies is really the characters that they're playing. And that's really what we wanted to play up, was more the characters and not so much anything else that comes with them.

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MARTIN MOYLAN: On the fiber one Facebook page, some folks have chastised General Mills alliance with Cheech and Chong, saying the company is making light of or even encouraging drug use. But other consumers disagree. Jennifer Smith of Duncan, Oklahoma, defended General Mills.

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- Of course, Cheech and Chong were known for getting high. But I think it's all just in fun. I don't think Fiber One is actually condoning drug use like some people are saying.

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MARTIN MOYLAN: Enlisting two perpetual potheads as pitchman doesn't exactly fit in with General Mills sober and wholesome image.

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- Maybe that's the charm of it.

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MARTIN MOYLAN: John Purdy is a professor of advertising and public relations at the University of Saint Thomas.

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- They're doing some things to try to be a little bit more creative and inventive. I think it does change their image a little bit, but maybe that's the disarming thing that they want to use to get people's attention.

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MARTIN MOYLAN: Purdy, thinks General Mills pothead pitchman will help the company more than hurt it.

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- Sometimes just a little controversy even helps the marketing program a little bit because it gets some buzz and some attention.

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MARTIN MOYLAN: Indeed, so far, it seems General Mills and its brownies are catching a very good buzz from Cheech and Chong. Martin Moylan, Minnesota Public Radio News.

[MUSIC PLAYING] They have a brownie. My magic brownie. Get ready. You're frowning. Turn them upside down.