Doritos’ limited edition Rainbow chips, launched to support the LGBT community, has provoked a social media storm, with one school of fans praising the brand for taking a stand, and another calling the move offensive and "ungodly."
It’s a move parent company PepsiCo surely knew would engender divisions and alienate a segment of its consumers.
When Burger King created gay-friendly Whopper packaging, and Oreo expressed solidarity with the LGBT community with a symbolic rainbow-colored cookie, the internet exploded with fans showing their true colors on social media networks.
Likewise, Doritos’ Facebook and Twitter feeds have gone into overdrive since the company announced the launch of its new rainbow-colored chips in advance of “National Coming Out Day” in the U.S., which falls on October 11.
The chips, which are Cool Ranch flavored, are available to those who make a minimum $10 donation to the It Gets Better Project, which works to support LGBT youth around the world, a campaign that has alienated their fundamentalist Christian fan base.
“I will now stop buying your products because of your ungodly and unbiblical support of sin,” wrote one disgruntled fan on Facebook, a comment that received about 700 ‘likes.’
“Do you guys have Doritos for straight people?” wrote another.
Many of the 2,600 comments posted within a day of the announcement also pledged to boycott the brand.
But the collaboration has also spurred fans to rally to Doritos’ defense and has attracted new consumers. After making donations, Twitter users have been posting screen grabs of messages promising the shipment of the chips within two weeks.
The product is also provoking Twitter spats, with consumers on both ends of the argument taking digs at one another.
“@Doritos another good reason not to buy doritos. Perversion in a bag,” wrote a Twitter user who describes himself proudly as a “conservative ad nauseum.”
To which another responded “I don't see any perversion in a bag, but I do see bigotry in a tweet.”
