« Back to the Ads page

Sun Chips Goes Solar

April 17, 2008
Submitted by treehugger

2.9 AVERAGE RATING

Tags:

treehugger’s of oregon gave this ad a 1.4

sunchips are starting to make their chips using solar energy in california. they say "chips made in california", so if you think hard enough it sounds like there are probably chips elsewhere that aren't made with solar energy. but they get good marks for talking about something that they have already done.

Other Ratings:

Erika Akiyama gave this ad a 2
October 21, 2009
Comments:
This commercial makes people appreciate environment and get more aware of it. But my opinion is that the images are overexaggerated and these images might make SunChips' environmental approach, such as using solar energy for their chips, suspicious. Therefore, I think the commercial should keep the tone down by using more realistic situation, such as people's everyday life, instead of using a wheat field in all of the time. But it should not forget words, "the appreciation of the Sun" and "chips made by solar energy in CA," because people can more realistically believe the company is a social responsible company with solar energy.
joelw77 gave this ad a 3
May 26, 2009
Sciolist of NY gave this ad a 1.4
July 16, 2008
Comments:
I think they do a good job. While I agree with some of the comments about vague wording, let's be honest they don't have enough room in a 30-second ad to say "it's one of 8 plants, and this many BTUs from the total production line" etc. They say "in California" which is clear enough for me, and it's easy to find the whole truth on their site. As one commenter already said - they actually put in a solar field, rather than buying some offsets. Let's give credit when a company actually does some good.
puppet of Portland, ME gave this ad a 2.4
May 27, 2008
Comments:
The claim is technically true, and the company has made a concrete change by installing solar panels, rather than buying cheap carbon credits, as some "carbon neutral" brands do. However, the "from California" qualifier is confusing. They are talking about their California plant, but unless you know that they have other plants, this ad could easily suggest that all SunChips come from California and are made with solar energy. Vague and confusing, but honest about the basic claim.
Madeira of New York gave this ad a 3.2
May 9, 2008
Comments:
Well this is certainly a somewhat tenuous claim, however they are at least starting to make a good change.
CL of seattle gave this ad a 4
April 28, 2008
Rockstar of Grayville gave this ad a 4.6
April 22, 2008
Comments:
I took the other reviewers advice and looked at the site. In addition to what was mentioned, the site also said that the full solar plant was not even operational so you have to think that the video of the solar panels is probably not even at their plant. They are unequivocal that these chips are made with solar but it looks like solar power is an extremely small portion of the power being used. Check it out.
locdoutg of St. Louis gave this ad a 4.4
April 22, 2008
Comments:
This ad is very deceptive. If you do a minimal amount of research on the Frito Lay website, you will see the following: 1. The Modesto plant is one of 8 plants; 2. Even at the Modesto plant, solar power only "helps" power the plant; 3. The solar system was not installed by Frito Lay but with an outside energy partner (read-Renewable Energy Credits financed the installation); 4. The backup pdf file on the Frito Lay website then confuses the reader by mixing thermal BTU's needed to run the Modesto line per hour with annual thermal BTU's needed. In the end, there is no way to calculate the percentage of energy actually being generated by solar or no way to know who bought the Renewable Energy Credits. The commercial certainly leaves the viewer with the idea that solar runs the entire plant. Greenwashing!