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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
National
Robbie Purves & Milica Cosic

Why Walkers is the only crisp brand whose cheese and onion bags are blue - not green

The real reason why Walkers is the only crisp brand whose cheese and onion bags are blue - and not green - has been revealed.

Crisp fans may have gone years wondering why every other crisp brand has their cheese and onion packaging featuring green as their main colour.

It all started in 1984 when Leicester butcher Henry Walker began frying potato slices and flavouring them with salt - selling them for a mere three pence a packet, report Leicestershire Live.

It then took Henry a whopping six years to come up with this next flavour, and now the UK's biggest selling flavour - cheese and onion.

Walkers are the only major crisp brand not to go for green packaging (Getty Images)

So here's why Walkers cheese and onion crisps are blue...

It must first be noted that the crisps have never been produced in the green packaging, and it seems unlikely that they will ever be either.

Walkers was in fact the original cheese and onion trailblazers, which released its flavour a full eight years before Golden Wonder - which originally chose green packaging.

But as Walkers was the first brand to sell the flavour, it is in fact other companies that have strayed away from the traditional colour scheme.

And despite public pleas, Walkers was even forced to release a statement, confirming the brand would not be changing its design any time soon.

The company said: "Contrary to popular belief, Walkers Cheese and Onion have always been in blue packets, and Salt and Vinegar have always been in green packets.

"We don't have a plan to change this, as it's signature to our brand."

Shockingly, even Gary Lineker - who features in many of the Walkers adverts - couldn't even answer age-old questions about the colours. However, he did say it must have happened "over 25 years ago", before he started advertising for the famous company.

Walkers actually had to release a statement to explain why they use blue packaging (Daily Record)

A YouGov survey conducted in 2014 shockingly found that 44 per cent of the public said the cheese and onion colour should be green, while 30 per cent said it should be blue - a further 10 per cent decided it should be yellow.

The disparity is likely down to generational factors. This is because Golden Wonder used to be the UK's market leader until the 1990s, before PepsiCo bought Walkers and launched extensive marketing campaigns.

However, YouGov also found that 18-24 year olds are more likely to support the Walkers colour scheme than Golden Wonder's. Therefore, while 44 per cent of the country thinks cheese and onion should be green - it is the 54 per cent of youngsters that win, and back it being blue.

However, not everyone agrees that the packaging should be blue - with some even saying it should be yellow (WalesOnline)

YouGov also went on to survey the public across the country, and found the Midlands were in favour of Walkers and their colour scheme - the only region to do so. So more than most, it seems they stand in solidarity with the Leicester-based brand.

YouGov agrees, saying: "This is likely because Walkers is a Midlands company, founded in Leicester in 1948, and was still primarily a regional brand as late as the 1980s."

While back in 1984, each chip slice was originally prepared by hand, modern technology now means a spud goes from peeled to packed in less than 30 minutes.

Leicester's Walkers crisp factory is the largest in the world and produces a whopping six billion packets a year.

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