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6 February 2018, 11:16 | Updated: 6 February 2018, 11:28
File this one under: 'what were they thinking?'.
The owners of Doritos have been criticised after announcing plans for a “lady-friendly” version of the popular snack, which is said to be quieter to eat and less messy.
Indra Nooyi, the Global Chief Executive of Doritos owner PepsiCo, announced the strange idea in a recent interview, claiming that recent research showed that women do not like to crunch too loudly or lick their fingers while eating.
“Although women would love to crunch crisps loudly, lick their fingers and pour crumbs from the bag into their mouth afterwards, they prefer not to do this in public”, she told Freakonomics Radio.
“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.
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.”
The idea was swiftly slammed online:
OMG thank you @PepsiCo! I spent 26 years not being able to enjoy a snack because they’re so manly and big, but now I’ll be able to eat them with my tiny fragile hands!
— Lara Mendonça (@laramendonca_) February 5, 2018
Feminism has finally achieved something! https://t.co/jh4aF4PY2g
I found 7 m&ms in my handbag yesterday rolling around loose in there. That's how *I* carry my snacks
— jack monroe (@BootstrapCook) February 4, 2018
In response to Doritos lady friendly crisps I shall be eating the biggest crisps I can find crunching really loudly burping and carrying a packet of crisps as a handbag
— kate ford (@kateford76) February 5, 2018
Others have pondered whether it could just be one big misunderstanding or even a hoax. Either way, any publicity is good publicity, we guess?!