User:DYNordquist/Potato chip

Packaging
Chips sold in markets were usually sold in tins or scooped out of storefront glass bins and delivered by horse and wagon. Early potato chip bags were wax paper with the ends ironed or stapled together. At first, potato chips were packaged in barrels or tins, which left chips at the bottom stale and crumbled.

In the 1920s, Laura Scudder, an entrepreneur in Monterey Park, California, started having her workers take home sheets of wax paper to iron into the form of bags, which were filled with chips at her factory the next day. This pioneering method reduced crumbling and kept the chips fresh and crisp longer. This innovation, along with the invention of cellophane, allowed potato chips to become a mass-market product. Today, chips are packaged in plastic bags, with nitrogen gas blown in prior to sealing to lengthen shelf life, and provide protection against crushing. The way that information about the potato chip is presented on the packaging has been found to be a critical element for selling it to specific groups of people. Using certain words and phrases can more specifically target a consumer based on perceived class--there are specific and intentional differences between packaging for expensive and inexpensive chip options for marketing purposes. The anguage used on more expensive chip brand packaging is typically more complex, academic, and lengthy in nature, with more references to health language and production processes. The language used on less expensive chip brand packaging is typically more accessible, simple, and short in nature with more references to traditional and home-style connections.