Specifically women who want to share lovely photos of whatever they’re eating on social media.
Snack food maker Calbee is the king of Japanese potato chips, which is a throne you don’t get to sit on without constantly pushing the envelope of fried spud slice innovation. To that end, Calbee has brought us such delights as matcha green tea chocolate potato chips, KFC potato chips, and the unusual “sushi-flavor-flavor” potato chips.
And now Calbee’s determination to take chips to bold new places has led to the creation of potato chips…for women!
Well, not just any women. Potato chips, in and of themselves, aren’t seen as a particularly masculine or feminine snack in Japan (because, well, they’re potato chips, which just about everyone agrees are delicious). Instead, Calbee says its new Potato Chips Lovely Cheese, as they’re officially called, were designed to appeal especially strongly to women in their 20s and 30s who enjoy snapping pictures of whatever they’re munching on to post on Instagram and other social media photo-sharing platforms.
The Lovely Cheese flavor actually provides a double dose of its marquee ingredients, with a mixture of rich gouda and milder cream cheese. There’s also just a touch of blueberry for an ever so slightly sweet sensation and aroma, all of which Calbee says makes the Lovely Cheese chips an excellent pairing selection with the sparkling wine commonly popped open by fashionable young ladies for Christmas parties in Japan.
But just as important as the flavor, according to Calbee, is the festively distinct bag, which it hopes will become a visual shorthand for “Holiday party time!” over the next few weeks.
Oddly enough, the chips themselves aren’t billed as looking any different than any other variety. Still, the mix of cheese and blueberry does sound intriguing, and since Calbee doesn’t sell its sakura butter chips anymore, this is your best option for pretty-in-pink chips.
Lovely Cheese is on sale now exclusively in Japanese convenience stores, priced at roughly 150 yen (US$1.30) per bag. It’ll be available through mid-January, so it’ll still be an option for New Year’s Parties too.
Sources: Ryutsu News via Otakomu, PR Times
Top image: Pakutaso
Insert image: PR Times
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