Lay’s Cuts To The Humble Potato That Started It All With 100-Year Global Rebrand
Image courtesy of PepsiCo and featured with permission
As Lay’s nears its 100th anniversary, the world’s most recognizable chip brand is peeling back the layers of its identity with a global refresh that spotlights the humble potato at the heart of every bag.
From redesigned packaging to reformulated recipes, the update aims to remind snackers that beneath the branding and crunch lies something simple, familiar, and real: farm-grown potatoes.
Image courtesy of PepsiCo and featured with permission
Image courtesy of PepsiCo and featured with permission
The rebrand, Lay’s largest in nearly a century, centers on the journey from soil to shelf. It arrives amid a surprising revelation—close to half (42%) of consumers surveyed didn’t realize that Lay’s chips are made from actual potatoes. To bridge that perception gap, the brand is putting its origins front and center, rolling out visuals that celebrate its agricultural heritage and announcing that all US Lay’s products will be made without artificial colors or flavors by the end of 2025.
Image courtesy of PepsiCo and featured with permission
Image courtesy of PepsiCo and featured with permission
The new visual identity, designed by PepsiCo’s in-house design and innovation team, amplifies the brand’s sunlit optimism. The iconic yellow sun has been reimagined with warmer tones and “Lay’s Rays,” radiating beams inspired by the light that nourishes the potatoes themselves.
Image courtesy of PepsiCo and featured with permission
Image courtesy of PepsiCo and featured with permission
Each bag now features close-up photography of chips in rich, golden hues, set against wood-grain textures that echo farm crates and picnic tables.
Image courtesy of PepsiCo and featured with permission
The refreshed color palette borrows from real ingredients—pickle green, hickory brown, and savory red—while a custom typeface ties the entire system together. It’s a visual love letter to the chip’s roots and the people behind them.
Image courtesy of PepsiCo and featured with permission
Image courtesy of PepsiCo and featured with permission
Chipping away from mere cosmetics, Lay’s is updating its recipes across key product lines in recognition of a wider consumer shift toward cleaner ingredients. Lay’s Baked chips will now be made with olive oil and contain 50% less fat than regular chips, while the Lay’s Kettle Cooked Reduced Fat Original Sea Salt variant will switch to avocado oil for a lighter crisp. These changes, coupled with the removal of artificial additives, signal a move toward what PepsiCo Food US’s SVP of marketing Denise Truelove calls “trusted quality from farm to bag.”
Image courtesy of PepsiCo and featured with permission
Image courtesy of PepsiCo and featured with permission
That sense of authenticity also extends to the supply chain. Lay’s says it sources its spuds from more than 100 family-owned farms in North America and partners with growers in over 60 countries worldwide. During harvest season, it’s possible for a potato to travel from field to fryer to packaging line in as little as two days. The company hopes the redesign will help consumers reconnect with that real-world origin story, something often obscured by the throwaway convenience of snack culture.
Image courtesy of PepsiCo and featured with permission
With its farm-to-bag messaging and modernized packaging, Lay’s isn’t trying to reinvent the potato chip but reminding everyone what made it worth craving in the first place.
Image courtesy of PepsiCo and featured with permission
[via PepsiCo, images courtesy and featured with permission]
