Well, friends, it happened again. And by “it” I don’t mean that thing where I accidentally drink too much Yerba Mate and my brain turns into a Maserati without wheels. No, this “it” involved a brand accidentally posting something on social media. According to Mashed, for a few glorious minutes earlier this week, PepsiCo (the parent company of Lay’s) had an animated video up on their Instagram with the caption “New Lay’s Garden Tomato & Basil taste like summer!” The video was apparently taken down shortly after.
My first thought after reading this was “Pepsico? More like Oopsico!” (I do realize that I am a dork). My second thought was, what happened here? Was it a ruse? A hoax? An honest mistake by a now-very-mortified intern? All we can do is hope that the video is real and will be reposted soon, and that these previously discontinued, vaguely Italian, almost healthy-sounding potato chips will, in fact, be re-released as that video would suggest. (I know they aren’t actually healthy, but they do have the word “garden” in their name so I could be convinced.)
Speaking of gardens, I did a little digging today and realized that these tomato-y bois are, in fact, quite the hot commodity. People wanted to bring these chips back so badly, they made a Change.org petition three years ago which has garnered nearly 3,000 signatures. One commenter on the petition literally said, “These chips were the best, if there were a single chip selling on eBay for $100 I’d buy it! BRING THEM BACK FOREVER!!!”
It is hard to argue with passion like that. Which is why it appears that Lay’s is maybe, possibly going to bring back the Garden Tomato & Basil Chip, if the accidental video post is to be believed. And Lay’s…pretty please? I can’t say I’ve tried these chips before, but if they taste like a cross between ketchup-flavored chips and Thai Sweet Basil chips, then I am 100% sold.
Thoughts? Questions? Complete disagreement? Leave a comment!