I was made aware that the 4 cheese doritos have 6 cheeses.
the ingredients of the cheeses on the back of the bag are:
cheddar, monterey jack, parmesan, american, swiss , and colby
can someone explain this? Wouldn’t better marketing be to call this 6 cheese? Is this false advertising?
Haha …
Junk food manufacturers (and other food makers that have long lists of ingredients) tend to list every ingredient that is used in the process, including substitute ingredients. On some candy products, cereals, and other junk food, you’ll see a lot of “and/or” substitutions and sometimes messages like “manufactured in a plant containing peanuts” or something to that effect.
There’s always a chance that they have six different cheeses on hand but only use four depending on which ones are most readily available. I guess if that’s the case, then every bag has the chance to taste a little different than the last one. 
Well, “four cheese” style (quattro formaggi) is a common Italian style/sauce for preparing various dishes. “Six cheese” isn’t. I doubt Doritos has replicated the Italianate version too closely in any event, but “four cheese” makes for a good brand. I don’t think there’s a consistent rule for what the four cheeses are in real life – you generally see Parmesan, maybe ricotta, fontina seems to make its way in there. American or Monterey Jack? Seems a bit dubious.
Irrelevant cmt. no. 1: American basketball player Brian Shaw blamed the words “quattro formaggi” for single handedly making him gain 20 lbs. in one year when he played in the Italian league, as these were among the first words he learned, and he began ordering every dish con quattro formaggi.
No. 2: I’m still trying to figure out the linguistic error on my part (or the wisenheimer behavior on their part) that led to my ordering a plate of pasta ai quattro formaggi at Dominick’s on Arthur Avenue, Bronx, and being proudly presented with a plate of plain spaghetti with four wedges of Parmesan tastefully arranged around the edges.
Sometimes regular Doritos (nacho cheese is it?) taste different to me. I never found out why, but product substition per availability seems reasonable enough as an answer.