Canadian pride is in full display during FritoLay’s most recent potato chip ad campaign called Betcha the Farm.
The company uses 800 million Canadian potatoes a year from family farms in Alberta, Ontario, Quebec and Prince Edward Island.
Chris Perry’s farm from Coaldale, Alta., is featured in one of the commercials, which proved an enjoyable experience for the extended family, with two days of shooting in early June with dozens of FritoLay members present.
“We have a wonderful, longstanding relationship with Frito Lay,” Perry said.
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“They’ve been one of our favourite customers for our farm. We just hit the 45 years they’ve been in Taber producing potato chips. Dad started that, and we’ve carried it on, and we’re hopeful to go another 45 .”
The Perry Farm is but one family farm, but it still carries plenty of punch to the chip taste buds for western Canadians. Perry said if you are eating a Lay’s, Miss Vickis or Ruffles chip, 20 per cent of the time in Western Canada it comes from his family’s far..
As North American businesses and citizens continue to battle through trade uncertainties beyond their control with tariff policies, Perry was pleased with the message Lay’s portrayed in its Betcha the Farm campaign, which emphasized its Canadian content to agriculture food supply chains.
“We grow the potatoes here, we employ the people here. The chips are made in Taber and there are employees there. The whole supply chain, sure it’s headquartered down south, but it really is a local product that runs a long way,” said Perry.
“It’s a common story I share anyways, and now I get to amplify it 1,000 fold.”
The whimsical commercials showcasing Canadian potato growers brought the Perry family together, with Chris and his brother, Harold, flying in their children from Vancouver and Victoria for the shoot.
The one-minute run time shows Chris and his extended family having fun with it, showcasing Harold’s lamas and various equipment and buildings on the Perry farm, punctuated with generations of the family in the living room waving to the camera.
Chris joked that while Hollywood may not come calling anytime soon with movie deals, feedback has been glowing from family and friends who have enjoyed the commercial.
The Perrys were initially nervous to be in front of the camera, but the director stressed fthat they just be themselves. The family had done presentations before in front of the camera with small shoots for agriculture such as the Every Drop Counts campaign in early 2024.
“We were nervous in that, so we were thinking, ‘are you sure?” said Perry.
“It sure has reached an audience. There’s not a person, I think, I know who hasn’t seen the ad or reached out. We’ve received positive feedback for a bit now, and it’s a surprise because it’s certainly not the main job (acting). To be honest, we have not had great succes in front of the camera before. I guess there was no pressure, really. It was just, ‘hey, be yourself and do what you do, and it’s not too hard to pretend to be yourself.’ That was the advice, and it worked.”
