No, PepsiCo is not developing "Lady Doritos."
Speculation about a gender-specific version of the mainstream snack brand spread after PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi, on a recent episode of the Freakonomics podcast, said the company was considering launching snacks specially designed for women.
"We are looking at it, and we're getting ready to launch a bunch of them soon," Nooyi said.
She never specifically stated that Doritos for women were coming. But news reports on the interview soon began carrying headlines of "Lady Doritos." And predictably, the story took on a life of its own in social media, compelling PepsiCo to shoot down the rumor.
"The reporting on a specific Doritos product for female consumers is inaccurate," a spokeswoman stated in an emailed Monday evening. "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."
However, Nooyi in the interview did express the opinion that regular Doritos might be too messy for women, a view that drew plenty of backlash online.
"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," she said in the interview, according to a transcript. "Women would love to do the same, but they don't. 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 flavor into their mouth."
Below, some of the feedback when Lady Doritos took off on Twitter.
Good news, ladies. We got a female Colonel Sanders and Doritos that don't crunch, so feminism is cancelled. We've achieved equality.
— OhNoSheTwitnt (@OhNoSheTwitnt) February 5, 2018
women: give us equal pay, stop harassing us, stop literally threatening our lives
— Sammy Nickalls 🧚♀️ (@sammynickalls) February 5, 2018
brands: how about quiet doritos for women?
women: no, that's--
brands: snacks you can fit into your purse!
women: what? no--
brands: a pen that's comfy for your lady hands!
ICYMI: @secupp and @morninggloria rejoice over PepsiCo's long overdue invention of the Lady Dorito. "Go tell Sojourner Truth and Susan B. Anthony they can finally rest in peace." VIDEO: https://t.co/npMOMjgxRj pic.twitter.com/S7AhodMRGW
— SE Cupp Unfiltered (@UnfilteredSE) February 6, 2018
My generation marched so future generations of women could enjoy Lady Doritos.
— Stacey Garratt (@staceygarratt) February 5, 2018
The only good thing about the new quiet "Lady Doritos" is now they can't hear us coming pic.twitter.com/irMRblNDP4
— Jessica Valenti (@JessicaValenti) February 5, 2018
