cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/37214791
Lay's drastically rebrands after disturbing finding: 42% of consumers didn't know their chips were made out of potatoes | Fortune
https://fortune.com/2025/10/10/pepsico-lays-rebrand-consumers-didnt-know-made-of-potatoes/
113 Comments
LuxSpark@lemmy.cafe · 116 pts · 326d
I would be more inclined to blame stupid consumers on this one.
evenglow@lemmy.world · 66 pts · 325d
The rebrand isn't because of stupidity it's because money. Like always.
Postmortal_Pop@lemmy.world · 79 pts · 325d
So it's not that the consumer is stupid, it's that marketing is desperate to find another way to explain that no one can afford $8 for a bag of shitty chips?
Tikiporch@lemmy.world · 14 pts · 325d
Utz is far superior in flavor and pricing. I buy a fair amount of snacks (I leave them by the front door with drinks for the delivery people), and I can buy a 60 ct. box of 1oz. chip bags for $15 or a 40 ct. of the same size from Lays for $25.
HuskerNation@lemmynsfw.com · 6 pts · 325d
I didn't before but now I actually prefer ruffles.
But don't eat much since I'm diabetic.
Those sun chips black beans and queso are awesome and If I eat the serving size not to bad with the fiber
ToastedRavioli@midwest.social · 6 pts · 325d
Utz are okay and better than lays, but they are still pretty shitty chips
Boulder Chips are way better, actual high quality chips (not fried slices of air), and a party sized bag is like $4. Lays charges for the name and sells shitty chips. Utz charges for the chips but still sells shitty chips. Its hard to find a decent brand of quality chips, but there are some out there
Tikiporch@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 325d
Boulder Canyon is owned by Utz.
ToastedRavioli@midwest.social · 1 pts · 324d
That is certainly interesting. I was talking about boulder canyon vs utz branded chips though. The utz branded chips are not all that fantastic
Postmortal_Pop@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 325d
I get my funyon fix at the Asian market now. Dragonfly has been doing spices for centuries and their onion ring chips taste like the east india trading company would invade their factory.
RickyRigatoni@retrolemmy.com · 3 pts · 325d
The only chips anyone needs is Good's.
Tikiporch@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 325d
Good's is alright if you can find a bag that hasn't sat on the shelf for too long. I'd rank it the same as Snyder's of Berlin or Mister Bee. A regional hit propped up by homers.
regedit@lemmy.zip · 5 pts · 325d
$1 per chip and a bag of starchy air!
sauerkrautsaul@lemmus.org · 8 pts · 325d
1 out of 8 people in the US have or are using a GLP drug.
the percentage of people who were eating a large amount of snack foods like this are fairly likely to be those 1:8 people who were prescribed a GLP drug.. its more than just rising costs, these drugs are changing the way people relate to processed snack food in a profound way and the manufacturers arw well aware.
Zedstrian@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 86 pts · 326d
The article seems much closer to a PepsiCo marketing piece than proper journalism.
Hawk@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 21 pts · 325d
Probably because it's based on this marketing piece: https://www.pepsico.com/our-stories/story/from-potato-to-chip-the-next-chapter-of-lays
Treczoks@lemmy.world · 55 pts · 325d
How can people be that dumb. It is literally in the name: Potato Chips.
jordanlund@lemmy.world · 28 pts · 325d
My guess is that when you see a stamp that says "Made with real potatoes" you just assume that they were waved at a potato at some point during manufacturing. :)
AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 325d
Every employee is legally obligated to have a potato in his pocket at all times.
phutatorius@lemmy.zip · 2 pts · 324d
Made in proximity of real potatoes.
drspawndisaster@sh.itjust.works · 20 pts · 325d
I just always assume they're lying to me because they're allowed to. That's what happens when regulations go out the window, trust does too.
waldo_was_here@piefed.social · 4 pts · 325d
Halcyon@discuss.tchncs.de · 46 pts · 325d
Reminds me about the fact that a roughly equal proportion of the population does not know that peanuts, just like potatoes, grow underground.
RampantParanoia2365@lemmy.world · 30 pts · 325d
Ok. But I would say not knowing potato chips are made of potato is slightly worse.
Halcyon@discuss.tchncs.de · 13 pts · 325d
I wonder what people guess what french fries are made from...
RampantParanoia2365@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 324d
Freedom.
TheMinister@sh.itjust.works · 4 pts · 325d
Not even French people. They just would have no idea, regardless of the seemingly obvious context clues
ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca · 5 pts · 324d
It’s the Flemish but the French make them
phutatorius@lemmy.zip · 2 pts · 324d
Flemish potato-frying art is at advanced levels as yet unreachable by the peak of French culinary technology. Not to mention the whacky things they add to the mayo you're given to dip your frites in.
Flemish cuisine in general is not given the respect it deserves. Some of the best meals I've ever had were in Flanders. There's more to it than waterzooi.
phutatorius@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 324d
42% also think Trump is something other than a grifting piece of shit.
Whats_your_reasoning@lemmy.world · 18 pts · 325d
I just had raw peanuts for the first time this week and the taste was intriguing. It really brings home how they are "legumes" when they taste more like peas than peanut butter.
Halcyon@discuss.tchncs.de · 11 pts · 325d
In German language they are called ‘Erdnüsse’ (Ground Nuts), so it is more obvious where they grow.
But since the climate doesn't (yet) allow to grow them here, maybe many people don't know much about their origins either.
Whats_your_reasoning@lemmy.world · 12 pts · 325d
That's fun, reminds me of how French calls potatoes "apples of the earth" (pommes de terre.)
Scrollone@feddit.it · 4 pts · 325d
And the tomato, in Italian, is called "pomodoro", literally "golden apple".
Halcyon@discuss.tchncs.de · 4 pts · 325d
In German, potatoes are also called ‘Erdäpfel’ although that is considered as outdated and somewhat funny.
pau_hana@feddit.org · 3 pts · 324d
In Baden, I sometimes even hear them called Grumbeere
Halcyon@discuss.tchncs.de · 2 pts · 324d
Oh, that I never heard. But I always lived in the North.
wintermute@discuss.tchncs.de · 1 pts · 324d
I think it's still very common in Austria
Halcyon@discuss.tchncs.de · 1 pts · 324d
Oh, yes? They also have ‘Paradeiser’! (Tomatoes)
SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca · 11 pts · 325d
That's a little more understandable. Peas grow on vines, so you'd expect peanuts to be somehow similar to peas. I guess they get their name because they're in pods like peas but without being told, how would someone guess they grow underground?
And cashews do grow on trees (they're technically a fruit) and are similar to peanuts. Would anyone guess that cashews are fruits?
JcbAzPx@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 324d
They're legumes that grow underground and trigger nut allergies. They are the platypus of the plant world.
VindictiveJudge@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 325d
I don't know why I remember this, but there was also a Spongebob episode that showed a potted peanut plant with peanuts growing on it like peas do.
SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca · 4 pts · 324d
How dare you question the scientific accuracy of Spongebob Squarepants!
Revan343@lemmy.ca · 4 pts · 325d
Presumably the opposite; they get their name because they're in shells like nuts
(The 'pea' part is because they're a legume; it could have just as easily ended up 'bean-nut', except that would over time become 'beanut', which would probably re-become peanut)
SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca · 3 pts · 324d
Peas were named after peanuts?
Halcyon@discuss.tchncs.de · 3 pts · 325d
Yes, okay, guessing the origin from the name can be somewhat misleading. But the striking thing for me is that people do not know and do not bother to ask themselves where a product that they consume every day or every week comes from. That's ignorance.
SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca · 3 pts · 324d
Why is it important to know these things? I'd rather people be ignorant of the biology of a peanut plant than ignorant of the many important things that people are ignorant of.
Halcyon@discuss.tchncs.de · 1 pts · 324d
I consider it important that if I am consuming a produce regularly to know what exactly I'm eating, what it is made from and where does it come from. Because the stuff I'm eating becomes a part of me. And also because I am regularly spending money for that so I will inform myself about the details of a product.
It's not about those peanuts, that's part of understanding one's own life and the contexts of life in which one is involved. And I think it is a problem that many people are consumers who are very alienated from these life contexts and no longer understand how they are actually connected to the world. That's one reason why illusions can thrive.
SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca · 1 pts · 324d
Sure it's great that this is an interest to you, but not everyone is going to care about minutia about food. At the end of the day we have to trust someone that's done some research into whether a plant is safe to eat and whether it's healthy, and in what quantities, etc. regardless of whether it's a legume or a fruit or whatever. Which food is safe and healthy is important, other biological details are trivia.
Halcyon@discuss.tchncs.de · 1 pts · 323d
I think to dismiss the search for basic knowledge as a mere personal interest misses the point. If people don't even know about such things like that chips are made from potatoes, that is a warning sign – it's a matter of lacking general education and too many people not caring about their own actual ecosystem and dependencies.
wabafee@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 325d
TIL I thought they were like beans hanging in the air.
EmpathicVagrant@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 325d
They’re also called ground nuts for this reason! Boil a potato and nobody bats an eye.. Boil a peanut and everyone loses their mind.
elevenbones@sh.itjust.works · 6 pts · 325d
Hot boiled peanuts are a delicacy served at gas stations all over the southern US! (Also they are legumes, like peas, not nuts.)
EmpathicVagrant@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 325d
Yes yes! I grew up on road trips north and back and we used to just stop whenever we saw them. Had a favorite stop we didn’t know the name of we called ‘boiled peanuts guy’ and his were the best!
burntbacon@discuss.tchncs.de · 4 pts · 325d
Delicacy is putting a horrible misnomer on those things. They aren't bad, but fuck do they spill easily when your partner decides to take a sharp turn out of the gas station lot.
socsa@piefed.social · 4 pts · 324d
It's also very easy to find absolutely disgusting boiled peanuts
jordanlund@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 325d
TBH, until just now I hadn't given much thought to how peanuts are grown. 🤔
Tollana1234567@lemmy.today · 0 pts · 324d
and the potatoe isnt a vegatable, its a tuber, the real parts of the plants are berries, and leaves. which are poisonous.
ndru@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 324d
The potato plant is a nightshade, closely related to the tomato. All nightshades contain poisonous alkaloids, including small amounts in tomato fruits and green potato skins.
The potato is still a vegetable though... Vegetable is a culinary term and can apply to any part of a plant, including roots and tubers.
phutatorius@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 324d
All nightshade plants contain poisonous alkaloids in some parts under some conditions. That doesn't mean that a properly grown and stored potato can kill you.
The main toxin in most nightshades is solanine. Tomatoes produce a less toxic variant called tomatine. Ripe tomatoes have minuscule amounts of it. The leaves have a much higher amount, which is why people don't eat the leaves.
phutatorius@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 324d
Tubers are vegetables.
kirbowo808@kbin.melroy.org · 43 pts · 325d
This has to be an actual joke right?
This reminds me of ppl when they think chocolate milk comes from brown cows
ThePowerOfGeek@lemmy.world · 30 pts · 325d
Yeah that's just crazy.
Everyone knows chocolate milk comes from any cows that are fed large amounts of chocolate.
SilverCode@lemmy.ml · 14 pts · 325d
That seems very inefficient. Couldn't we skip the middle man (cow) and just put the chocolate directly into the milk?
WEFshill202@lemmy.world · 21 pts · 325d
That doesn't make any sense!
ThePowerOfGeek@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 325d
That's just crazy talk!
Kolanaki@pawb.social · 39 pts · 325d
da fuq did people think they are?! 🤨
Lyrl@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 10 pts · 325d
Guessing the question wasn't clear, since Lays is both the name of the original product (potato chips) and the brand (which without looking it up I would guess includes other types of chips such as corn). But results from a well-formulated survey would have less clickbait value, so the shock results get reported.
tempest@lemmy.ca · 6 pts · 324d
Frito lay produces non potatoe chips but I don't think any under the lays brand are corn etc.
bss03@infosec.pub · 2 pts · 324d
I think the flat corn chips they produce are Doritos-branded, but I could be wrong.
friend_of_satan@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 325d
FistingEnthusiast@lemmynsfw.com · 31 pts · 325d
Given how many yanks can't identify their own damned state on a map, and vote for republicans when they are guaranteeing that their lives will be made worse, I find this utterly unsurprising
Etterra@discuss.online · 27 pts · 324d
Just when I think we've scrapped the bottom of human stupidity...
ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca · 6 pts · 324d
Well the title isn’t exactly accurate. It references a 2021 study to get the title but Pepsi said nothing about it
This is likely the bigger factor.
ameancow@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 324d
lechekaflan@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 324d
Whoopee. Pepsi gets keeled by a fucking political scion with worms for brains.
CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world · 26 pts · 325d
I just don't understand how it is that chips and things like Doritos can possibly cost so much. It must be due to more and more consolidation and price-fixing.
Prox@lemmy.world · 27 pts · 325d
It's due to people still buying them after every price increase.
87Six@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 324d
So like with EVERYTHING else that is crazy expensive. Basic supply and demand... Yet people are baffled
gandalf_der_12te@discuss.tchncs.de · 1 pts · 324d
RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world · 25 pts · 325d
Is it just me or does it not literally say “potato chips” right on the bag? Been a long while since I had any Lay’s brand chips.
E: yes it does, on the bigger bags it’s on the front. Not sure about the smaller bags.
TheWeirdestCunt@lemmy.today · 24 pts · 326d
now I see why Americans need to specify when they're talking about "eye glasses", but don't Americans call them "potato chips" anyway?
kn33@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 325d
Potato chips is like using the full name. A lot of the time it's just "chips"
exu@feditown.com · 6 pts · 325d
Even the maize chips?
ThePowerOfGeek@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 325d
Yes
Formfiller@lemmy.world · 23 pts · 325d
Lines up with the mouth breathing Trump voter stats.
NutWrench@lemmy.ml · 23 pts · 324d
All I know is that I'm not paying $5 a bag for their stale chips.
tempest@lemmy.ca · 19 pts · 324d
Pepsico basically said on an investor call they will keep jacking up the price so long as people keep buying .
So here we are I guess.
Mr_Dr_Oink@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 324d
Must be a US thing, in the UK they are easily one of if not the most popular brand of crisps (chips) they are called walkers here but the logo is the same. We have stricter regulations on what is classed as food in this country though.
foggy@lemmy.world · 22 pts · 326d
This is off the top of my head so correct me if I'm wrong but this is basically what veggie straws got sued over in reverse.
Like yeah, potatoes are vegetables. You thought because some where green and orange that we were using shit like carrots and celery? Lmao, no. Read the ingredients homie. That's red dye and green dye on weird shaped potatoes chips 🤠
frongt@lemmy.zip · 9 pts · 325d
I don't think I've heard of a lawsuit over it, but the veggie snacks really are made of vegetable starch. Of course that doesn't make them healthy, but they're not just potato chips.
vegeta@lemmy.world · 21 pts · 326d
Horsecook@sh.itjust.works · 20 pts · 325d
grue@lemmy.world · 14 pts · 325d
Ah, like Pringles.
ChexMax@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 325d
Yeah the chips I ate most recently were Doritos. Hard to believe there is any remnant of vegetable in there at all, even though corn is the first ingredient listed.
SaltySalamander@fedia.io · 2 pts · 325d
Doritos are nearly 100% corn.
Gerudo@lemmy.zip · 18 pts · 325d
I have 100% transitioned to store brand chips. Some are even better than the one they are ripping off, plus they don't cost 8 bucks a bag.
rodneylives@lemmy.world · 18 pts · 325d
Wait, which study was this? The page says it was from 2021. What was the question? What was the context? Who were polled and how? I am dubious.
rodneylives@lemmy.world · 12 pts · 325d
I mean, unless the question was, "What are Lays potato chips made of," which answers itself so it wouldn't be used. But if the question was "What are Lays chips made of," I could see how someone might not answer potatoes. And who even asks that question in poll anyway? I feel like there's a universe of context collapse here.
meliante@lemmy.pt · 18 pts · 325d
What in the actual fuck??
andrewta@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 325d
This has to be from the onion. Some reporter didn’t check their source.
Halcyon@discuss.tchncs.de · 4 pts · 325d
No no, onion rings are from the onion. We're talking potato chips here.
andrewta@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 325d
Damn it lol you had me for a second there.
SaltySalamander@fedia.io · 2 pts · 325d
I literally looked at the source when I read the headline, fully expecting it to be an onion article.
boonhet@sopuli.xyz · 15 pts · 324d
I thought they were literally made out of money these days, considering the prices last few years.
IndridCold@lemmy.ca · 2 pts · 324d
I don't eat a ton of chips, but with the prices, I haven't bought any name brand chips in over two years.
boonhet@sopuli.xyz · 1 pts · 323d
I haven't bought store brand because I haven't found good ones, but I've bought Euro brands over lays or cheetos. Best price to quality ratio is actually local brands, they even beat out other European brands.
Lucidlethargy@sh.itjust.works · 13 pts · 324d
No way, I don't believe it. They are absolutely at least 60% cardboard.
PlutoniumAcid@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 324d
They, you mean the consumers, right?
Tollana1234567@lemmy.today · 2 pts · 324d
you do need those fibers. and meat is made from gym mats and couch stuffing.
DrunkAnRoot@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 324d
and 20 percent air
tal@lemmy.today · 11 pts · 325d
"Emphasize the potato part."
That reminds me of an ice cream ad.
kagis
I think this is it. If not, same timeframe and tone. February 1927:
https://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/MTYwMFgxMTYx/z/BHYAAOSwQDViMSNc/$_57.JPG?set_id=8800005007
lechekaflan@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 324d
Ought to be in Not the Onion.
falseWhite@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 325d
avidamoeba@lemmy.ca · 9 pts · 325d
Friendly reminder for canucks that Miss Vickie's is Lays.
tal@lemmy.today · 9 pts · 325d
I imagine that this tactic implies that there is something else that they might be made from that's undesirable.
I remember a modem ad once from the 1990s for a modem -- probably 33.6kbps or so --- that proudly stated, with an exclamation mark, that it also supported . Of course, so did all the competing modems...
aseriesoftubes@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 325d
To be fair, Lay’s garbage chips don’t have the flavor or texture of chips made from actual potatoes. They seem to be reconstituted from a paste that at one point contained potatoes.
frongt@lemmy.zip · 22 pts · 325d
You might be thinking of Pringles, which are definitely like that.
Zahille7@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 325d
Pringles are so damn good though
NauticalNoodle@lemmy.ml · 4 pts · 325d
They do make some products out of corn...