Snack fans in Britain are only just discovering that Walkers chips, or “crisps” as they’re known across the pond, go by a different name overseas.
The firm was founded in Leicester, in the East Midlands by Henry Walker in 1948, and grew to dominate the British chip game, claiming a huge 56 percent of the market in 2013.
England soccer legend and TV pundit Gary Lineker has appeared in over 150 commercials for the firm since 1995, and was reportedly handed an ambassadorial role with the company in 2020.
The salty snacks are known for their logo, which features the Walkers name upon a red ribbon.
But outside of the UK, it instead reads “Lays”, leading confused fans to question on Reddit: “Why is Walkers called Lays literally everywhere except in the UK?”
The most obvious explanation is that the Walker family sold the firm to American food producer, Standard Brands in 1970, and it was then acquired 19 years later by Lay’s owner, Frito-Lay, a division of PepsiCo.
It was reported that Walkers maintained its name in Britain as it had established considerable brand recognition there.
One Reddit crisp aficionado explained: “Frito-Lay bought Walkers, a separate company at the time, in 1989.
“Because Walkers had 41 years of brand-name recognition, it was kept as the name… people in the UK already knew and were familiar with that brand.”
However, some have claimed that there are – albeit subtle – differences between Walkers and Lays.
In a blog post, online snack outlet One Pound Crisps explained that while the snacks are similar, buyers may see some differences in terms of taste: “Walkers crisps and Lays crisps are not exactly the same things, although they are very similar.
“Both brands offer a range of potato chips and savoury snacks, and they are both owned by the same parent company, PepsiCo. However, there are some differences between the two brands.
“They offer similar products in terms of potato crisps and savoury snacks, but they may have differences in flavours, packaging, and other aspects of their products.
“The main difference between Walkers crisps and Lays crisps is that they are marketed under different names in different parts of the world.”
The reseller added: “Walkers is the brand name used in the UK and Ireland, while Lays is the brand name used in most other countries around the world, including the United States, Canada, and Australia.”
One upvoted Quora user suggested that Americans wanted to bring the brand to the US because of its success in Britain and popularity with American soldiers.
However, they found the Walkers name was too difficult for non-native/fluent English speakers to pronounce due to the W, K and R in the name.
They said: “Many people struggle to pronounce these letters in non-English speaking countries and that made international branding much harder.
“They [Pepsi] decided to keep the name Walkers in Britain where the concept of these crisps came from but all international sales would be called ‘Lays’ From now on, retaining the original 1930 Lays company name.
“The truth is the only reason Lays name still exists is marketing reasons.”
