Have you ever, once, in your entire life, reached for a bag of chips and thought about the bag itself?
Maybe just how loud Sun Chips bags are, I guess. (Seriously, how do they crinkle at 130 decibels?)
But no, generally, you’re just hoping to drown your sorrows in some salted empty calories. Because seriously, who cares about the packaging? Well, Tostitos cares about it, and not only do they care about the packaging, they care about your life!
Or so they’d have you believe, anyway. Via Adweek, here’s what they have in store for the Big Game:
The chip maker’s Tostitos brand has made a limited-edition “Party Safe” bag that can tell when you’ve been drinking, and will help you get home safely from that Super Bowl party.
The special bag, created by Goodby Silverstein & Partners, comes equipped with a sensor connected to a microcontroller calibrated to detect small traces of alcohol on a person’s breath. If any alcohol is detected, the sensor turns red and forms the image of a steering wheel, along with an Uber code and a “Don’t drink and drive” message.
The bag also uses near-field communication (NFC) technology, allowing fans to tap the bag with their phone to call a ride. With Uber and Mothers Against Drunk Driving, Tostitos will offer partygoers $10 off their Uber ride during and after the Feb. 5 game.
A few important (well, relatively) notes:
It’s not an actual breathalyzer. The chip bag doesn’t know how much you’ve been drinking. Only if you have been drinking. Presumably, it can’t be used as evidence against you, though these days who the hell knows.
And while the Uber tie-in is nice for some folks, it’s important to remember that no matter how much Uber has grown, they’re still not available to everyone in the country. I know it’s a drag to constantly say “But what about the small towns?”, but when it comes to drunk driving, that’s actually a real issue.
There are fewer transportation alternatives in rural areas, and things are much more spread out. You can’t walk ten miles home from the closest bar, and even if you wanted to, there likely aren’t going to be sidewalks or any sort of pedestrian infrastructure. Nor is there a cab company, much less Lyft or Uber.
None of this is to excuse driving while intoxicated, of course. It’s always avoidable, via responsible behavior.
But a damn bag of Tostitos that can sense whether or not you’ve had anything to drink is probably not going to solve a real, complex problem.
Also it really is kind of weird.
[Adweek]
