Potato chips were a mistake. Or at least that’s how the legend goes. The story is that a chef named George Crum was frustrated with a customer who kept complaining his fried potatoes were too thick. Eventually, Crum sliced the potatoes razor thin, fried them to a crisp, and served them with extra salt. To his surprise, the customer loved them, and potato chips were born.
It’s a cute story, even if it’s not true, and maybe there’s a metaphor in there. How often have you reached for another bag of chips and thought, “This might be a mistake?”
Well, once again, Lay’s, one of the best-known potato chip manufacturers in the world, is following in the grand tradition of snack-time mistakes, and asking the internet to name its new chip flavor and, as in the past, no one is taking the brand seriously.
It’s a tale as old as time, or at least as Internet marketing: Ask the public to name something for you, and you’re going to end up with a police dog called Mr. Spaghetti, or a science vessel named Boaty McBoatface.
Playing around with the Lay’s flavor creator is almost as hard to resist as the chips themselves.
60% more of what you’re actually craving!
Only you know what’s inside.
Composed entirely of crumbs from other people’s unfinished bags.
If nothing else, Lay’s certainly knows how to get the public engaged with its brand. After all, it is the brand that provided ingredients like “bubblegum” and “alligator.” One might almost suspect it knew exactly what it was doing.
Sorry, Alligator was the only animal image available.
H/T UPROXX
