People only just realising why Walkers is called Lays outside of Britain

16 October 2023 , 13:06

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There's subtle differences between the two products. (Image: PA)

If you've been on holiday abroad, you've likely clocked the fact Walkers crisps are known by another name outside of Britain. Founded in Leicester by Henry Walker in 1948, the snack food quickly became a fan favourite, growing to claim a whopping 56 per cent of the British crisp market in 2013.

It's easily recognised by its iconic logo showing a yellow sun with a red ribbon across its middle reading 'Walkers'. However, overseas, its logo reads 'Lays' instead, leaving fans to question on Reddit: "Why is Walkers called Lays literally everywhere except in the UK."

In 1970, the Walker family sold its business to American food producer, Standard Brands, and 19 years later, it was acquired by Lay's owner, Frito-Lay, a division of PepsiCo. While it has been reported Walkers kept its name in the UK because it was already an established brand, others claim it's because there are subtle differences between the two products.

Lay's crisps (Facebook)

Walker's crisps (Walkers)

A statement on One Pound Crisps reads: " 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.

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"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. 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."

Sharing their own verdict, an upvoted Quora user said: "The brand that came first was Lays. Walkers, a very successful crisp brand that Americans wanted to copy and bring over to the States due to its success in the UK and amongst their American Soldiers.

"Once Pepsi bought the English company Walkers and the American company Lays, they had a meeting on the name and which to adopt. They found that the name Walkers was too hard for non-native/fluent English speakers to say due to the W, K and R.

"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."

Backing this, a Reddit user added: " 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."

Paige Freshwater