# Tostitos Breathalyzer- Marketing genius, or complete insanity? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 12, 2023, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tostitos-breathalyzer-marketing-genius-or-complete-insanity/979680 "2023-02-12T22:13:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2023, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tostitos-breathalyzer-marketing-genius-or-complete-insanity/979680/1 "2023-02-12T22:13:17Z")
Link here: [Tostitos’ New Breathalyzer Chip Bag Is Here to Be Your New Best Friend (yahoo.com)](https://news.yahoo.com/tostitos-breathalyzer-chip-bag-best-160458035.html) A Tostitos bag that doubles as a breathalyzer might be a fun thing to bring to a party, but what if someone is pulled over for drunk driving and tries to _Lay_ the blame on the chip company? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2023, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tostitos-breathalyzer-marketing-genius-or-complete-insanity/979680/2 "2023-02-12T22:44:07Z")
There’s no conceivable way they could make that reliable. And yeah, it looks like a massive liability issue. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2023, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tostitos-breathalyzer-marketing-genius-or-complete-insanity/979680/3 "2023-02-12T22:47:01Z")
I think the salient point is that the sensor will only tell you what you already know - whether you’ve been drinking or not. It doesn’t actually give you a BAC. Or was. That article is from 2017. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2023, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tostitos-breathalyzer-marketing-genius-or-complete-insanity/979680/4 "2023-02-12T22:49:05Z")
Doesn’t the fact that you want to use a Tostitos bag as a breathalyzer pretty much label you as drunk? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2023, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tostitos-breathalyzer-marketing-genius-or-complete-insanity/979680/5 "2023-02-12T22:53:49Z")
Seems to me the only people who’d use it (and get the coupon) are the ones responsible and sober-ish enough to know they need to call an Uber. Which was probably the point. They don’t actually want to be in a position where the bag is actually being used as a “am I good to drive” safety device. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2023, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tostitos-breathalyzer-marketing-genius-or-complete-insanity/979680/6 "2023-02-12T22:55:50Z")
It sounds like something made for the sake of getting attention. I doubt it will actually be available for all the reasons stated, if it is even a genuine thing. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2023, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tostitos-breathalyzer-marketing-genius-or-complete-insanity/979680/7 "2023-02-12T23:07:24Z")
There is/was a non-trivial amount of circuitry in the thing: [![](https://cdn0.tnwcdn.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2017/01/Tostitos-Uber-Breathalyzer-Drink-6-of-11-796x796.jpg) ](https://cdn0.tnwcdn.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2017/01/Tostitos-Uber-Breathalyzer-Drink-6-of-11-796x796.jpg) Eh, seems like by setting a low threshold, they could with high reliability determine that you are under an 0.08 BAC. It doesn’t have to distinguish between 0.079 and 0.081 like a calibrated unit would. There didn’t seem to be a spate of lawsuits between 2017 and now, so I guess it wasn’t a liability nightmare after all. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2023, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tostitos-breathalyzer-marketing-genius-or-complete-insanity/979680/8 "2023-02-12T23:23:35Z")
OK, I’m changing my guess to “they only made like ten of them, and shared the story with the press for easy publicity, and never intended to actually accomplish anything with them”. They couldn’t have afforded to mass-produce them: Heck, the three AA batteries alone would cost more than the price of a bag of chips. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2023, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tostitos-breathalyzer-marketing-genius-or-complete-insanity/979680/9 "2023-02-13T00:06:00Z")
I don’t think it was ever actually for sale. They just sent a handful directly to journalists: > **[Review: The Tostitos pseudo-breathalyzer bag actually works](https://thenextweb.com/news/review-tostitos-pseudo-breathalyzer-bag-actually-works)** > > This is Super Bowl marketing gimmick can detect the alcohol in your breath and order an Uber. We also dissect the bag to see just how it ticks. I think it may actually contain more computer chips than corn chips. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2023, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tostitos-breathalyzer-marketing-genius-or-complete-insanity/979680/10 "2023-02-13T00:20:01Z")
Judging by the couple of jumper wires, that was either a prototype, or small-volume production. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2023, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tostitos-breathalyzer-marketing-genius-or-complete-insanity/979680/11 "2023-02-13T13:49:14Z")
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