"Once you pop, you can't stop!"
This is Pringles' most popular slogan and advertised all over the world. Thomas Scott Cadden was a genius in being able to make this famous original Pringles television commercial in 1968, while working at Tatham-Laird and Kudner Advertising Agency in Chicago.
Is it true then that you can't stop eating this brand of potato- and wheat-based stackable snack chips once you start munching?
Yes, it's true. Here's why.
There are Addictive Ingredients Found in Your Pringles.
Pringles have about 42 percent potato content, the remainder being wheat starch and flours (potato, corn, and rice) combined with vegetable oils, an emulsifier, salt, and seasoning. Other ingredients can include sweeteners like maltodextrin and dextrose, monosodium glutamate (MSG), disodium inosinate, disodium guanylate, sodium caseinate, modified food starch, monoglyceride and diglyceride, autolyzed yeast extract, natural and artificial flavors, malted barley flour, wheat bran, dried black beans, sour cream, cheddar cheese, etc.; Pringles varieties vary in their ingredients.
According to British Dietetic Association's Anna Daniels, 'A lot of time and money is spent by food manufacturers on making crisps addictive because they want us to eat more and more of them. They are also made with highly refined carbohydrates so they don't give you slow-release energy. It's about quick fixes.'
Our brains are hard-wired to seek out fat, sugar and salt even if we are actually not hungry. Research have shown that high-fat foods and salt light up the areas of our brains that handle reward and pleasure in a similar way to how the brain responds to drugs and alcohol.
This craving for fat, salt and sugar - sometimes called 'hedonic hunger' -a phenomenon where an increasing proportion of human food consumption appears to be driven by pleasure, not just by the need for calories. It's not just the fat, salt and sugar that make Pringles so yummy, however. Varieties, such as Texas barbecue and the paprika version enjoyed by most of us are encrusted with monosodium glutamate (MSG) - a natural salt with a meaty taste.
Most importantly, the sound of Pringles' crunch affects your eating experience.
The crisp sound of the chips make you eat more according to a scientific study.
The louder or the higher-pitched crunch, the more that you perceive the chips to be fresher and crisper.
