Monday, March 19, 2007

Frito-Lay just plain lies

Last week Frito Lay rolled out their new Smart Spot endorsed (a PepsiCo marketing ploy that brands a label with a PepsiCo sponsored logo meant to tell consumers the product is "healthy") Baked Tostitos scoops.

Their press release of course suggests that you, "enjoy them everyday", but what really blew my mind was the "product comparison" that is featured on their website and in the clipped picture for this post.

Even without enlarging the picture by clicking on it, you can read their product comparison.

They state that a serving of Baked Tostitos scoops (I would imagine in the neighbourhood of 18 chips)has 140 Calories and then they compare that with what they call a serving of both cheese and crackers and microwave popcorn.

Let's start with their microwave popcorn. They state that a serving is 1oz and that it contains 150 Calories.

What the hell kind of popcorn are they eating?

Not even caramel corn is 150 Calories an ounce. I can have ten cups of Orville Redenbacher's Smart Pop for 150 Calories!

Next we move on to the cheese and crackers. They state that a serving is 1 ounce each of cheese and crackers and that the Calories are 240.

I can have 16 Nabisco Wheat Thin crackers for 130 Calories and then spread out 3 ounces of low fat Cheddar for 120 more Calories OR of course I could have 8 Wheat Thins and 1.5 ounces of low fat cheddar for 125 Calories.

So in terms of Caloric equivalents, here's a better product comparison: You can have 18 new Baked Tostitos Scoops or you could have 8 Wheat Thins with Cheddar Cheese OR you could have 10 cups of popcorn.

What sounds better to you?

I hate liars.