Blueberry Flavor Lay's Potato Chips?

乐事 is the name Frito Lay uses in China.  The pronunciation is "luh sure"; the meaning is "happy things".  This is a great example of the marketing issues related to Chinese characters.  Companies that use characters that sound like the name of the product or company may alienate end users because the actual meaning of the characters has a negative connotation.  An example of this is KFC's branding.  At first, the translation of "finger lickin' good" in Chinese was "eat your fingers off".  In China, Mercedes Benz came into the market as "Bensi" because it sounds like Benz.  The problem is that "bensi" means "rush to die".  Needless to say, they changed the name. 

But the name is not why I write this week.  It's actually about the flavors.  It's hard to read the names on the bags in the above photo, but trust me, they are not Sour Cream and Onion.  Flavor preferences vary from country to country.  That's why in China, we see Blueberry as a Lay's potato chip flavor.  And then there is Numb and Spicy Hot Pot,  Lemon Tea, American Classic and Italian Red Meat, to name just a few.  And it's not just Lay's.  Oreo's original flavor in China is not the same; it has a lower sugar content.  And chocolate Oreo's do not even resemble the chocolate to which we are accustomed.  China has flavors that we have never seen like orange/mango, banana cream, grape/peach, green tea and raspberry/blueberry.

It's fun to go to the grocery store in China and see all the variations on what we know as the "norm".  Let's go to China and check it out!