Jays Takes On Lay's, Apostrophes

By Margaret Lyons in Food on Jul 20, 2004 5:50PM

Jays Foods is filing a lawsuit against the Frito-Lay company for a billboard on Chicago and La Salle. The billboard in question proclaims that "Chicago prefers the taste of Lay's over Jays.” Jays is demanding to see evidence to prove that; Frito-Lay says that it won’t turn over its taste-test documents.

The lawsuit claims that the billboard is “false and misleading,” and suggests that Frito-Lay did not sample local chip-eaters. The billboard apparently includes the detail that Lay’s “classic potato chip” went up against Jays "unflavored potato chips,” even though Jays doesn’t make such a product. Frito-Lay is standing by its research.

In the tater-eat-tater world of chip production, this is most definitely a big deal. Chicagoist has a secret and disgusting love for Humpty Dumpty Dill Pickle potato chips, but we really haven’t compared Jays and Lay’s. Ahem, to-do list...