Column Saskia Stender: Chips in classy disguise

The new Doritos packaging looks like someone at PepsiCo had a great idea on paper, but forgot to visit an actual supermarket. The chips now come in a cardboard box with a lid - neat, sustainable, responsible. At first glance, it seems fine. Until you check the price. That’s gone sky high. And you get less chips, too. A textbook case of shrinkflation: a box of Doritos cheese now works out to €18.50 per kilo, up from €10.99. That’s a 48% increase. You’d almost think it was lined with gold.

Consumers aren’t impressed. The box doesn’t fit well in the bin, it’s hard to open, and it feels like a picnic container nobody wanted to take along. On social media, the complaints are piling up, but PepsiCo has remained silent. No explanation, no heads-up. And that’s strange because transparency is the foundation of trust, especially when you ‘go greener’ and make customers foot the bill.

And then there’s the sustainability talk. Technically, cardboard is recyclable. In reality, it often ends up in the incinerator. Reuse? Hardly. So the environmental gains are more theory than practice. You’d think PepsiCo might’ve learned from past mistakes, like in 2023, when they suddenly cut the salt content by 25%, triggering a flood of complaints. The result after two years? Less salt, fewer chips, fewer happy customers.

Maybe the idea was well-intentioned. Maybe the internal memo mentioned environmental targets, packaging innovation, and customer focus. But somewhere between the drawing board and the store shelf, it went off track. There are already signs that supermarkets want the old plastic bag back. At least that one crinkled in a way that felt honest.

Saskia Stender
[email protected]