According to Buzzfeed, PepsiCo finally shut reports of the creation of such a chip down. But the fact that it was even a thing needs to be commented on.
Yeah, it's a fact that since the beginning of time, things have been coded as either "feminine" or "masculine". Whether it be clothes, hairstyles, sports, or even walking gaits, there are things that people generally think of as being more "girly" than "manly", and vice-versa.
But nowadays, as we become more self-aware and advanced in thinking and in societal norms, that divide has begun to fade more and more, and for the better...
Or so I thought. Until the PepsiCo CEO dropped such an idea. Such a comment. Such a bombshell.
Yeah, who knew that even the food you eat could be coded as masculine or feminine?
The aforementioned Buzzfeed article reported that last week, in an interview with Freakonomics Radio, PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi expressed her desire to market a brand of Doritos chip for women that doesn't crunch, as "they don't like to crunch too loudly in public."
First of all, what the hell.
Sorry, Indra, but when did you become a spokesperson for how every woman, across the globe, prefers to eat her goddamn Doritos?
It's a chip, for goodness sake. It's supposed to crunch. If you're eating a chip that doesn't crunch, you're not eating a chip, you're eating cardboard.
Second of all, as a woman hearing this from another woman, this is awfully disappointing. As a CEO for such a large Fortune 500 company, Indra Nooyi is supposed to be a champion among woman. She has a voice (and an influence!) that can certainly be heard quite loudly, and so she should use it to help us advance forward. But instead, she uses it to, if anything, pull us further back in time, back when women had to shut up and keep quiet, by providing us with a chip that will do just that when you eat it.
Don't get me wrong—I'm sure lots of women don't like the crunch. After all, we're all allowed to have preferences. But assuming that all of us feel this way is quite insulting, and downright wrong. Especially since Nooyi herself has also discussed that, despite her position, she's often to in a condescending or infantilizing way, according to one Reddit user. If you're getting so upset about being babied because you're a woman, then why do you propose a product that does just that for other women? It makes no sense.
It was certainly an effort made on her part and one that certainly faced numerous amounts of backlash, at that. Moral of the story: if you want to help us women out, Nooyi, you'll make Doritos packets that are actually filled to the brim, instead of half-empty. Then maybe I'll join your side. But this?
No, this doesn't cut it at all. But at least it still crunches!
