What’s with the new Lay’s ads?

Driving along highways such as I-35 South or 70 West or 29 North, you’re bound to see billboards for Lay’s potato chips looking like this:

The billboard is part of Lay’s new nationwide ad campaign to promote itself as local. It’s putting up specialized billboards and ads for every state in the union. Whether you’re in Alaska or Florida, Lay’s wants you to know it’s your local mom-and-pop chip. Even if it’s owned by Pepsi and has a market cap of more than $80 billion. 

Not surprisingly the ads have generated a good deal of negative response from locavores, including the writer who coined the term “locavore.” She called Lay’s the opposite of what local eating is about.

Notice none of the ads say “locally grown.” That’s because most of the potatoes aren’t.