The Red, White, and Green

You know the world is changing when Frito-Lay, the company responsible for introducing the now widely-banned Flamin’ Hot Cheetos to millions of junk-food craving Americans, jumps on the all-natural bandwagon. Check out the new commercial for Lay’s potato chips, in all its exploding wholesome potato-y goodness:

This is a return to basics: the utopian small-town farming community gathering in a field, kids pulling a homemade radio flyer, a woman hanging laundry in the breeze. The voices in the song sweetly sing: “The grass is green…the sky is blue…nature needs no clue.”

“Just potatoes, all natural oil, and a dash of salt.”

Now, whether the higher-ups at Frito-Lay truly believe in simpler times and a return to purer food, or are just jumping on the organic/natural food bandwagon, remains to be seen. (My vote is for the latter; Frito-Lay is a snack food company, after all.) But that there is even a bandwagon to jump on at all says a lot about the shift in consumer demand toward healthier products (and when I say healthier, I mean more natural; I’m not referring to some Olestra-spiked diet food). Despite the current economic downturn, organic food sales are still growing.

–Jennifer Grayson

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