Celebrities have piled on to mock Doritos after they announced they were considering launching chips made just for women.
‘Lady Doritos’ were trending last night after Indra Nooyi, Global Chief Executive of PepsiCo, which owns Doritos, revealed they were creating gender specific snacks because women ‘don’t like to crunch too loudly in public.’
The lady versions will be less crunchy and less messy with a packet small enough to fit in a woman’s purse.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the proposal has been met with much laughter and derision online with people suggesting that Doritos may have missed the point of the recent powerful women’s movements such as Me Too and Rise Up.
Both model Chrissy Teigen (left) and comedian Kathy Griffin (right) were quick to criticize Doritos for the move
Actress Busy Philipps (pictured) initially assumed the whole idea was a joke
Doritos are designing a lady-friendly crisp, which are quieter, less messy, and will also come in different packs – so they can fit in handbags more easily
Model Chrissy Teigen was quick to point out that ‘the only quiet chips are stale chips.’
‘This Tuesday I’m voting #no on #ladychips,’ she tweeted on Monday.
Actress Busy Philipps initially assumed the whole idea was a joke.
‘But the Doritos thing isn’t real, right? Like it cannot possibly be real,’ she tweeted.
She later retweeted, another user, captioning it ‘thank you’ after they urged people to remember that such stunts also created ‘anxiety around eating’ which could lead women to develop eating disorders.
Controversial comedian Kathy Griffin also took the serious point that women are often ‘told that they’re too loud, take up too much space, that we’re too much.’
‘If Doritos is actually doing this it’ll just represent the BS women have had to deal with at home and at work. #CrunchLouder.’
Most reactions to the news were deeply sarcastic.
One Twitter user joked that Doritos would be throwing in some other gender cliches with their snacks, such as bags with ‘inspiring slogans pasted on them like ‘You should smile more!’ and ‘You’ll never get a husband THAT way!’
Many others were quick to point out that the chips brand had deeply misunderstood what women have been asking for.
‘Good news ladies. We got a female Colonel Sanders and Doritis that don’t crunch, so feminism is cancelled. We’ve achieved equality,’ one woman tweeted.
Several wondered if Lady Doritos would contained just 77 per cent of a normal bag, to reflect the pay gap and suggested that the brand may want to look at improving its own company, such as improving its parental leave and promoting more women to management, before it got involved in genders-specific chips.
As the backlash got stronger, several female customers say they planned to eat chips as loudly as possible in defiance.
One woman even joked that perhaps a reason the Dow was down 1150 points was ‘obviously because of negative consumer reaction to Lady Doritos.’
One Twitter user questioned if the decision could be real – whilst another felt the decision to use ‘sexist stereotypes’ was an advertising tactic.
However, one woman suggested an idea a way for the brand to use crunch-less chips – by rebranding them ‘cinema chips.’
It’s not the first time a brand has faced criticism for suggesting a women-only version of a non-gender specific product.
Bic pens were famously mocked for introducing the Cristal for Her range of pens, in pinks and pastels, that cost more than a regular pen but were smaller to fit in a woman’s hand.
Indra Nooyi, Global Chief Executive of PepsiCo, which owns Doritos, said: ‘They don’t like to crunch too loudly in public. And they don’t lick their fingers generously and they don’t like to pour the little broken pieces and the flavour into their mouth’
Doritos appear to be trying to backtrack on the comments Nooyi made on Freakonomics Radio last week.
She had said that the brand was ‘getting ready to launch a bunch’ of products designed and packaged differently for women.
‘For women [it’s about] low-crunch, the full taste profile, not having so much of the flavor on the fingers and how can you put it in a purse. Because women love to carry a snack in their purse.’
A rep for PepsiCo, which owns Doritos, told Buzzfeed today said: ‘The reporting on a specific Doritos product for female consumers is inaccurate. We already have Doritos for women – they’re called Doritos.’
‘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,’ they added.
BIC PENS FOR HER: ONE OF THE MOST SARCASTICALLY REVIEWED PRODUCTS ON AMAZON
Stationer Bic came under similar criticism when they marketed a range of pens designed specifically for women, in pink and purple, which they said was specifically designed to fit in the female hand, and cost more than a standard pen sold by Bic.
The range, named Bic Cristal for Her’, is one of the most sarcastically reviewed product on Amazon.com.
E Bradley from New York wrote: ‘I love BIC Cristal for Her! The delicate shape and pretty pastel colors make it perfect for writing recipe cards, checks to my psychologist (I’m seeing him for a case of the hysterics), and tracking my monthly cycle.
Thank you! Now Lizzy is sticking to writing colour-coded to-do lists instead of struggling as an artist
Pros and cons: The delicate shape gets the thumbs up, but the Bic For Her pens also dot every ‘i’ with a heart, which is somewhat annoying for Madeline B
‘Ask your husband for some extra pocket money so you can buy one today!’
Meanwhile Madeleine B from Boulder, Colorado is less enthused with the product as ‘they dot every ‘i’ with a little heart.’
‘They also won’t make periods at the ends of sentences; it’s a question mark or exclamation point every time, also dotted with hearts – SUPER annoying.’
Bay Area Guy added on Amazon.com: ‘My girlfriend had a pack of these laying out and, needing a pen, I picked one out and began using it. Now that I see its just ‘for her’ I feel weird, deviant, and ashamed.
‘Does writing with a Bic For Her make me a crosswriter? Just hope I can afford the weeks of therapy I’m going to need to regain my manhood.
‘Well, that’s about it…time to do an Amazon search for a drum and a loincloth so I can head into the woods and feel manly again!’