What do Doritos and baby carrots have in common? The answer we're looking for is "they're both lunchtime standards"—and the baby carrot industry wants to take Doritos and its snack-food brethren down. Some 50 carrot growers are planning a $25 million marketing effort designed to convince kids that baby carrots are "sexy" and "extreme" (no joke), and they've hired an über-high profile ad agency (behind the "I'm a PC" campaign) to make that happen, reports USA Today.
So will Doritos-like bags (bearing the slogan "The original orange doodles") of orange veggies sold from vending machines work? Tom Barlow thinks the uphill battle may be a little too steep, at WalletPop: "We didn't become a nation of wide-bodies for no reason; Cheetos provide an immediate gratification of salty, sweet, cheesy goodness that is hard to put aside for a snappy little carrot." USA Today talked to one ad psychologist who has a way around that problem: Put an orange, natural dusting on the carrots. Messy fingers are sure to trick kids into thinking they're eating Cheetos, Doritos, or any number of artificial snacks! (More carrots stories.)