Are you kidding me? A couple of Facebook Groups make a fuss about the new packaging being too noisy and you cave?
You made a change back in April 2009 to bio-degradeable Sun Chips bags that were 100% compostable.
You were proud of it. Environmentally minded people were proud of you. You got a lot of press.
People bitched.
The noise of the bag — due to an unusual molecular structure that makes the bag more rigid — has been compared to everything from lawnmowers to jet engines. There's even an active Facebook group with more than 44,000 friends that goes by the name of "Sorry But I Can't Hear You Over This SunChips Bag."
"Clearly, we'd received consumer feedback that it was noisy," says Aurora Gonzalez, a Frito-Lay spokeswoman. "We recognized from the beginning that the bag felt, looked and sounded different."This is my favorite.
"Everybody seems to be on the bandwagon for environmentally friendly packaging," says JoAnn Hines, a packaging consultant who refers to herself as the Packaging Diva. "But the problem is that bags like this come out without researching all the consequences."Pardon me, but can I smack the "Packaging Diva" up the head? Consequences? Of a potato chip bag? O.o
Anyway. People bitch. You got more press.
But did you respond with any sort of mission statement? Did you choose to back up your decision?
Nope.
You've pulled the packaging and gone back to the old SunChips packaging.
In the end, here's what's happening...
People are more concerned with the noise a bag of chips makes for the 10 minutes they spend eating it than they are with the number of YEARS it'll spend in a landfill after they've thrown it away.
So, everyone's down with helping the environment as long as what they do doesn't affect them in any way.
Frito Lay, I have an idea. Why not be bold. Why not USE this. Brand it. Be willing to state that you're willing to make a little noise to help the environment.
Because, while the whiners might not like it, a lot of other people might just decide they want to back your brand because you actually had the balls to take a stand and do your part to help the environment.
Be noisy.
Drown out the idiots.
Please.
edit: Because I've been asked. I joined a Facebook group to get the old bag back. So far not many have joined. I hope that'll change.
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