Doritos Encourages Millennials to Vote with 'No Choice' Packaging

It seems everyone is jumping into the political ring. In September, PepsiCo's Fritolay division launched a marketing campaign in partnership with Rock the Vote to drive Millennials to register to vote. As part of the Boldest Choice campaign, a limited-edition Doritos bag was designed to encourage Millennials to register before the November election. According to the company, the plain snack has "no taste, no crunch and no chips to illustrate that, if you don't make a choice, you don't get a choice."

According to the U.S. Census Bureau (and this press release), youth voter registration in the U.S. has "decreased by double digits since 1964."

Rather than the typical fire engine red packaging that consumers are used to (or the blue packaging for the Cooler Ranch Doritos variety), the plain silver bag has a simple blue and red logo and the words "No Choice". Inside it looks like there are chip shaped pieces of paper and a card reminding the unlucky snacker that to have a voice, they need to register to vote.

On Sept. 27 (National Voter Registration Day), Doritos began distributing the bags to consumers who went on Doritos.com/vote to order them for friends or family who were not registered to vote. Unfortunately, probably because of how fun and inventive the campaign is, the website now says that the company is out of stock.

A promo video for the campaign also shows a vending machine on a college campus. Instead of typical snack choices, the students are asked if they're registered to vote. If they answer "No," they are given a bag of the tasteless chips.

Packaging Perspective: Voter registration is a serious issue in this country, and as nonprofits and independent volunteers make a final push in the last month leading up to the election, having a major brand join in should help the cause. Using packaging as the main conduit for the marketing campaign is an effective means of getting the message across. In the promo video, you can see the reaction on the students' faces the moment they receive the packaging from the vending machine: they know Doritos packaging, and this isn't it. It sends a strong message, and hopefully it will help to drive voter registration from not until Nov. 8.

For a take on the marketing effectiveness of this campaign, check out Sass Marketing's latest video:

packagePRINTING has reached out to Fritolay to find out what it took to create and print the limited-edition packaging.