Lay's tech turns on subtitles when you crunch

PepsiCo's Lay's brand, along with FCB-affiliated agency Happiness Saigon, has expended significant resources to bring AI to bear on solving one of the globe's most pressing problems—one that causes countless people untold suffering each and every day.

Wait, let's try that again.

PepsiCo's Lay's brand, along with FCB-affiliated agency Happiness Saigon, has expended significant resources to bring AI to bear on solving one of the globe's most pressing problems—one that causes countless people untold suffering each and every day an absolutely trivial non-issue.

Wait, one more time.

PepsiCo's Lay's brand, along with FCB-affiliated agency Happiness Saigon, has expended significant resources to bring AI to bear on a trivial non-issue a mildly amusing ploy for attention.

OK, that's better, because what the companies have actually done is create a Chrome browser extension called 'Crispy Subtitles', which switches YouTube subtitles on when it detects the sound of crunching.

And although Ad Nut at first thought this was an April Fool's Day gag that escaped into the wild early, both companies are apparently proud of their innovation.  

"The team trained an AI on 178 hours of crispy chip crunch sounds gathered from around the world, to create a one-of-a-kind plugin which is able to detect and activate subtitles from the second it hears a crunch, so viewers can snack without missing a single thing," a release enthuses.

Ad Nut has half a mind to rant about why corporations with such vast resources would waste their time on such nonsense when there are real problems to be solved. Such as a plugin for when people are eating popcorn while watching videos. What about the untapped market of those eating crispy chicken? Or huge pawfuls of crunchy cashews? The injustices are endless.

CREDITS

CLIENT: PepsiCo / Lay’s
Marketing Head: Vu Thi Ngoc Que
Marketing Manager: Yen Le

AGENCY: Happiness Saigon, an FCB alliance
Executive Creative Management: Alan Cerutti
Chief Creative Officer: Geoffrey Hantson
Executive Creative Director: Gregory Titeca, Marc Richard
Concept Providers: Mathias Lemielle, Thomas Cappelle
Creatives: Mathias Lemielle, Thomas Cappelle, Nick Stillittano
Copy: Loan Anh Huynh, Nghia Tran, Dee Verwaetermeulen
Design: Dries Lauwers, Aldjia Bessalah
Art & Motion: Truc Mai Hoang Anh, Thuy Pham Vuong Bao
Motion & Editing: Trung Thai Thanh, Remke Faber, Seth Michielsen
Head of Performance: Nhat Qui
Performance & Data Planner: Tien Phan Cam
Strategic Planner: Linh Nguyễn
Account: Son Nguyễn, Ngọc Le, An Nguyễn, Giang Ngo
Producer: Bart Vande Maele
Platform Analyst: Loc Nguyen
Community Outreach: Hieu Phan Duc

Production Agency: Bliss Innovative Maker Studio
Head of Technology: Thomas Colliers
Digital PM: Joni Allaert

Ad Nut is a surprisingly literate woodland creature that for unknown reasons has an unhealthy obsession with advertising. Ad Nut gathers ads from all over Asia and the world for your viewing pleasure, because Ad Nut loves you. You can also check out Ad Nut's Advertising Hall of Fame, or read about Ad Nut's strange obsession with 'murderous beasts'.