UPDATE Feb. 6: PepsiCo responded to the widespread criticism and said that “Doritos for women” will not see the light of day.
“The reporting on a specific Doritos product for female consumers is inaccurate,” a spokeswoman told AdAge. “We already have Doritos for women—they’re called Doritos, and they’re enjoyed by millions of people every day. At the same time, we know needs and preferences continue to evolve and we’re always looking for new ways to engage and delight our consumers.”
FEB. 5: In the latest item to become unnecessarily gendered, women-friendly chips are soon to be a thing. PepsiCo’s female CEO, Indra Nooyi, was a guest on Freakonomics Radio last week, when she revealed plans to make chips specifically for women to cater to their unique snacking needs.
Nooyi explained the difference between how men and women consume chips and where she saw an opening in the market. “When you eat out of a flex bag—one of our single-serve bags—especially 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 of the flavor, and the broken chips in the bottom,” Nooyi said.
“Women would love to do the same, but they don’t. They don’t like to crunch too loudly in public,” she continued. “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.”
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The CEO explained that this isn’t just an idea that she’s been throwing around—they actually have products launching soon that cater to the female market. “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. For women, low crunch, the full taste profile, not have so much of the flavor stick on the fingers, and how can you put it in a purse? Because women love to carry a snack in their purse.”
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People are (understandably) angry with PepsiCo’s gender stereotypes, and have taken to Twitter to express their disappointment.
Chrissy Teigen even weighed in, voting no on so-called “lady chips.”
Women like crunchy chips, too.