Lay’s Made Lobster Roll Potato Chips for the Town of Sandwich
As a Sandwich, Massachusetts native, I can tell you that we’ve heard it all. Every couple of years, a photo of a Sandwich Police cruiser pops up on Reddit and the Internet, in tune, laughs at the notion. Police … for sandwiches. Ha! Lock up the PB&J, and throw away the key!
That’s not to say Sandwigians are above the fray. For years, Sandwich’s Sandwiches stood at Russell’s Corner, serving food between bread. Ice Cream Sandwich is another example of an edible pun permitted in town limits.
But this really takes things up a notch. Frito-Lay is once again doing that thing, the pick-a-flavor contest. The snack food mammoth is taking suggestions from the public through March for new takes on the old classic, the Lay’s potato chip. The process led to the creation of some, err, curious concoctions last year. This year, Frito-Lay is trying to drum things up a bit with an advertising campaign where the Pepsi-owned company marches into towns with food-related names and bequeaths unto residents a specialty chip.
Sandwich, of course, was ripe for the picking. The ad began airing this week after filming earlier this month. What type of sandwich, the ad asks, would make for the best potato chip flavor?
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(Sandwich Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Jay Pateakos told Boston.com that a bunch of actors came out for the shooting, and that is probably reflected in the ad. One of the accents in particular seems like a stretch. But I can confirm that at least the fireman, who is my parents’ neighbor, is authentic.)
In advance of the trip, Frito-Lay made a specialty chip to give out in town. As the extended version of the ad shows below, by the time the cameras left town, Sandwich residents had gotten their hands on the experiment. Or at least, those in attendance for shooting had; the special edition chips are not for sale. One thousand bags were produced for Sandwich, according to a Frito-Lay spokesperson.
The flavor? Lobster roll.
And, at least for me, that’s how a gag about Sandwich turns into an actual, physical gag.
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