Well, it's official - Pringles potato chips are 
not potato chips at all.
Here's a riddle for you.
What looks like a Pringles potato chip, tastes like a Pringles potato chip and is shown on the Pringles website which proclaims
Fun information site from the maker of Pringles potato chips?
If you're guess is a Pringles potato chip, you're wrong! Huh?
The Tax Prof Blog reports that a London judge saved Pringles 17.5% in tax, ruling that what we call chips are not potato chips at all, but potato snacks.
Procter & Gamble's lawyers claimed at a May hearing that Pringles don't look like a chip, don't feel like a chip, and don't taste like a chip, according to the judgment. They also claim the snack isn't made like a chip since it is cooked from baked dough, not potato slices.
This tax ruling may help Pringles financially and glean some publicity, but is it the type of publicity they really want or won't it matter? The Tax Department is ready to appeal.
Will this publicity impact on the business brand name or will customers just say a potato snack by any other name still tastes the same?
I read this story in our local newspaper and got a kick out of it. Although P & G doesn't claim Pringles to be potato chips, it certainly did little to cause consumers to do others ... well at least not until it saved them millions of dollars.
Even so, I don't think this is going to make a difference in sales. Those who like Pringles will continue to eat them, whether they are from potatoes or dough. Those who never had one or don't like them aren't going to start buying them because they may now know the chip is from dough.
Posted by: Peter George | July 7, 2008 2:09 PM | Permalink to Comment