Frito Lay Canada is calling on Canadians to start a new holiday tradition: Leave chips out for Santa

New research commissioned by Frito Lay Canada finds that more than 68% of Canadians are open to a snack change this holiday season

TORONTO, Dec. 6, 2023 /CNW/ – In an open letter published across the country today, Santa announced that he wants a break from cookies. This year, Santa is wishing for something savoury, and he’s asking Canadians to start a new tradition by putting out a bowl of chips.

And it’s not just Santa who has chips on his wish list – according to new research commissioned by Frito Lay Canada and among members of the Angus Reid Forum, 68% of Canadians sometimes want another option to sweets during the holiday season, and more than one-third actually prefer savoury snacks.

Frito Lay Canada believes it’s time chips became the holiday’s main character. That’s why the maker of beloved chip brands like Lay’s®, Doritos®, and Cheetos® is encouraging a new holiday tradition for the millions of Canadians who are ready for something new.

“This campaign started with one simple idea: What if Santa wanted an alternative to cookies?” says Jess Spaulding, Chief Marketing Officer at PepsiCo Foods Canada. “That really inspired us to think creatively about how Santa could speak for every Canadian who finds themselves wishing for a bowl of chips this holiday season.”

In its new festive ad campaign launching nationally today (and starring Santa Claus), Frito Lay Canada is making chips the main character of the holiday season and encouraging Canadians to rethink the tradition of leaving cookies for Santa.

Those who plan to leave something really special out for Santa should look no further than Miss Vickie’s. Since the holidays are all about wishes, Frito Lay Canada is launching a limited-edition bag that puts a twist on an old classic. Remember fighting over that one folded chip in a bag, a.k.a. a “wish chip?” This season, you can pick up a bag of Miss Vickie’s All Wishes kettle cooked potato chips and spread the wish-making around. The bags are filled entirely with wish chips – those delicious folded-over chips you can find in Miss Vickie’s bags – and are packaged in a limited-edition holiday bag design.

Beginning later this week, Canadians can receive a bag of Miss Vickie’s All Wishes by visiting MissVickiesHolidayWishes.ca. Limited quantities of the limited-edition bags will be dropped every day from December 8th to 12th at 11:11AM ET.

This bag isn’t just a way to get wishes—it’s a way to grant them, too. Canadians who make a charitable donation of $5 or more are able to receive a bag. The Miss Vickie’s brand is committed to tripling charitable donations to a maximum of $50,000. Even Santa would agree, that’s a lot of wishes.

PepsiCo Foods Canada is comprised of the Frito Lay Canada and Quaker Canada businesses. The company employs over 6,000 Canadians with seven manufacturing plants and sales and distribution facilities from coast to coast. Frito Lay Canada is the country’s largest snack food manufacturer and the company’s brands include Lay’s, Doritos, Tostitos, Ruffles, Smartfood and Cheetos. The Quaker brand portfolio includes a wide range of wholesome cereals, oatmeal, rice and corn snacks and snack bars, and features other prominent brands such as Quaker Life, Quaker Chewy, Quaker Harvest Crunch and Crispy Minis. For more information, please visit www.pepsico.ca.

Make-A-Wish® creates life-changing wishes for children with critical illnesses. We are on a quest to bring every eligible child’s wish to life because a wish is an integral part of a child’s treatment journey. Research shows children who have wishes granted can build the physical and emotional strength they need to fight a critical illness. As an independently operating affiliate of Make-A-Wish International, Make-A-Wish Canada is part of the network of the world’s leading children’s wish-granting organization. We serve children in every community in Canada, and in more than 50 countries worldwide. In 2023, Make-A-Wish Canada is proudly celebrating 40 years of wish granting, having granted more than 38,000 wishes since 1983, with 1,400 of them last year alone. For more information about Make-A-Wish Canada, visit makeawish.ca.

These are the findings of a study commissioned by Frito Lay Canada among a nationally representative sample of 1,508 Canadians who are members of the online Angus Reid Forum, balanced and weighted on age, gender, region and education. For comparison purposes only, a sample of this size would yield a margin of error of +/- 2.4 percentage points at a 95% confidence level. The study was conducted in English and French in December 2023.

SOURCE Frito Lay Canada