Doritos is working on "lady-friendly" bags of chips, because women can't cope with how noisy and messy they are to eat, apparently.
According to Indra Nooyi, global chief executive at PepsiCo, which owns the famous snack brand, women don't enjoy crunching loudly or licking their fingers when eating chips in public. The company's solution to this? Chips with a quieter crunch that will be sold in handbag-sized packaging.
Er, right. Because tiny snacks for girls are what has been missing from this world.
Speaking to Freakonomics Radio, Nooyi explained her reasoning behind the new product by claiming that men and women eat chips differently. "As you watch a lot of the young guys eat the chips, they love their Doritos, and 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," she said.
"Women I think would love to do the same, but they don't. They don't like to crunch too loudly in public. And they don't lick their fingers generously and they don't like to pour the little broken pieces and the flavor into their mouth."
As women have seemingly been struggling to take delight in eating a bag of Doritos, Nooyi confirmed that Pepsi will be launching "a bunch" of gender-specific snacks soon. The products will offer a "low-crunch, the full taste profile," but, "not have so much of the flavor stick on their fingers."
Unsurprisingly, news of this innovation hasn't gone down well on social media.
Women's campaigners have led the backlash surrounding the move, describing it as a "tired gender stereotype."
A spokesperson from the Women's Equality Party said: "No doubt some male consumers will welcome the chance to have a bigger package. But the idea of shrinking products for women, no doubt for the same price, is as old as the Ad Men making these decisions.
"Companies that perpetuate these tired gender stereotypes will continue to lose out on the single biggest consumer group: women."
It's not clear when these chips will be launched, or if they will be sold in the UK. However, if they do make it to shops here, there is at least one glimmer of hope. It's unlikely they will be sold with the label "ladies" chips, thanks to the enforcement of strict new rules by the Advertising Standards Agency later this year.
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