Doritos’ recent development has caused some serious uproar among consumers. In an attempt to be new and innovative, the company has decided to create a chip more fit for women. Unfortunately, it may be one of the worst marketing tactics Doritos will ever have.
On Jan. 31, PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi introduced the development of a “lady-friendly” chip on a podcast with Freakonomics.
She stated that when men eat chips, “They lick their fingers with great glee, and when they reach the bottom of the bag, they pour the little broken pieces into their mouth because they don’t want to lose that taste of the flavor.” She said women would love to do that too, but they don’t because they “don’t like to crunch too loudly in public.”
Have we been crunching Doritos too loudly in public all this time? Apparently so. It seems this new chip is supposed to be “low-crunch” with the same “taste profile” as current Doritos, with less flavor sticking to the fingers. It’s also designed differently so women can store them in their purses. I can’t speak for every woman as Nooyi has, but there have been many times I’ve shamelessly crunched my Doritos in public, licking the cheese from each finger voraciously.
Unsurprisingly, PepsiCo has received a lot of backlash, resulting in them denying any such product being created. According to The New Daily, a spokeswoman for PepsiCo denied the production of lady-friendly Doritos, saying, “We already have Doritos for women – they’re called Doritos, and they’re enjoyed by millions of people every day.”
Though there may not be a female chip in the works any longer, it’s too late to try to change what has been said. Nooyi already introduced the gendered chip and impacted their audience accordingly. They clearly aren’t on the same page, and this inconsistency doesn’t look very good for the company.
This isn’t the first time, and certainly won’t be the last time, a brand decides to gender their products. In the past, Stonemill Bakehouse developed bread specifically meant for both men and women. The men’s bread was packaged in green and the women’s in pink. Anything from beef jerky to chocolate has been developed to target women.
As stated by gender expert Lisa Wade of Occidental College, the only products that require gender distinction are “anything meant for your genitals.” Otherwise, it just comes off as discriminatory. Maybe soon producers will realize the way to captivate consumers isn’t by being sexist, but by continuing to make quality products for everyone.
Chantelle Baker is a 21-year-old communication studies senior from Waipahu, Hawaii.
