Doritos
A packet of DoritosDoritos

Doritos has just announced a product that is a boon for all its women customers. Yes, we are talking about women-friendly chips that will make less crunching noises and will not stay on consumers' fingers for long. For who can endure the horror of loudly-chewing women with fingers smelling of chips?

When PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi stated in a Freakonomics Radio interview that they are toying with the idea of women-friendly chips, she sure seemed to have done a lot of research on consumer behavior. For instance, she explained that guys love to eat Doritos, lick their fingers and pour the little-broken pieces into their mouth at the end, whereas women detest these very things.

"Women I think would love to do the same, but they don't. They don't like to crunch too loudly in public. And they don't lick their fingers generously and they don't like to pour the little-broken pieces and the flavour into their mouth," she told Freakonomics.

It is unclear whether the move was designed to wow its women customers, but the announcement has indeed grabbed the attention of many. It comes across as more of a shock because Nooyi is consistently ranked among the world's most powerful women by Forbes magazine. She has also spoken out on women's issues many times in the past.

After the crunch-less chips sparked outrage, Doritos posted a tweet saying, "We already have Doritos for women – they're called Doritos, and they're loved by millions." The company has also stated to Fairfax Media that they are not manufacturing any such variant of chips.

The last time a 'crafted-for-women' product led to outrage was when BIC launched their 'For Her' pens in pretty lady colours of pink and purple. The pens became so infamous that American comedian Ellen DeGeneres addressed the issue in 'The Ellen Show' via a hilarious albeit scathing video.

This time, Doritos is the stimuli behind women openly asserting their equality on social media. Majority of them are immensely offended that a woman CEO of a multi-national company still abides by the patriarchal notions of women having to be calm, composed and graceful all the time.

After all, if men can relist their packet of Doritos without inhibitions, why must women hold back from doing so? This idea is shared by comedian Kathy Griffin, who addressed the issue on her Twitter page.

Check out few of the consumers' reactions to the announcement of 'women-friendly' chips: