The world already has lady fingers, lady bits and ladybugs. Now – for every woman’s furtive nibbling pleasure – comes lady chips.
Yep, in a move that will either have you high fiving (quietly) or rolling your eyes, Doritos this week announced the launch of its brand spanking new ‘lady friendly’ chip range.
‘Lady friendly’ chip, you might ask? Say what? According to research from the head honchos at Doritos HQ, women do not like to “crunch loudly or lick their fingers in front of others”.
The solution? Quiet chips without the loud CRUNCH and sticky residue. How they’ve managed this, we aren’t quite sure but we suspect witchcraft may be at play. And get this. The Doritos lady friendly chips will come in packs designed to fit just so in your handbag.
Shush chips
While we’re not entirely sure about the validity of the lady chip argument, Chief Chip Wrangler (otherwise known as Global Chief Executive) Indra Nooyi is insistent that “women would love to crunch crisps loudly, lick their fingers and pour crumbs from the bag into their mouth afterwards [but] they prefer not to do this in public”.
“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 of the flavour, and the broken chips in the bottom,” she says, in a report in the Herald Sun.
Lady chips for the quiet munch win
“Women 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.
“It’s not a male and female as much as ‘are there snacks for women that can be designed and packaged differently?’ And yes, we are looking at it, and we’re getting ready to launch a bunch of them soon.”
Fair enough. Yes, there’s something thoroughly satisfying about that delectable CHHHHHH sound made by a freshly chomped Dorito but it may not always be desirable. Forget being ‘unladylike.’ We’re thinking more ‘being able to hook into a bag of chips while the baby sleeps without waking them,’ along with a lack of sticky finger evidence to clue your kids in on the fact that it was actually mum who finished the Doritos. That’s a win for sure.
Gender stereotyping in a chip?
Gender equality advocates have had a few choice things to say about the statement, especially the new ‘handbag sized’ packaging options, labelling the move as a “perpetuation of tired gender stereotypes.” Will that impact the new range and its sales? Only time will tell.
Need a healthier chip option? Check out our delish veggie chips recipe for guilt-free tasty snacking.
