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The story
It’s been several years since Calbee switched its potato chip packaging to a plain silver design, citing rising naphtha (a key raw material) prices — and the color still hasn’t come back. The topic flared up again on 5ch’s “Nandemo Jikkyo G” board, where posters recalled that some people at the time dubbed it “anti-Japan chips” and called for a boycott, while plenty of others simply stopped buying because they didn’t like the new look. Commenters also pointed out that almost no other snack makers followed suit with the same change, leaving lingering doubts about whether a raw-material shortage was really the full story.
What people said
Who needs potato chips at a funeral?
There's a commercial/catering version made for that, you know
if there's a shortage, that's on private companies
Even a kid could follow that logic
None of the other legit manufacturers went black-and-white either
Sourcing must be tough for them too — I'll just buy from another maker instead
It's the company's call to make
And it's the customer's call to stop buying, too
Having to cave and bring color back is the real embarrassing "dark history" moment, lol 🤣 (pun: "dark history" literally contains "black," and the packaging is black-and-white)
Made no sense at all
So did it finally collapse yet?
Reporting that something's running low just makes idiots panic-buy and actually cause the shortage
Pathetic
Just an excuse to raise prices
Appearance really does matter
I was avoiding them too — I wonder if sales actually dropped because of it?
Though apparently nobody can actually name one
And even if it happened, they were probably already on the brink anyway
Didn't realize how much the color was swaying my choice
But Calbee's actually tastes better
I saw a lot of this weird claim going around that "being a big company means they need huge volumes, so their buying power is actually weaker"
Made me wonder what kind of "big company" that's even supposed to describe
Aren't Chipstar pretty good though?
Dunno who even makes those
Background and Key Points of This Debate
Naphtha is a petroleum-derived material also used in packaging film, and rising crude oil prices and supply concerns since 2022 have been cited as driving up its cost. Calbee switched the packaging of some products to a plain silver design citing this, but since almost no other snack makers made a similar change, doubts persist on the thread about whether a naphtha shortage was really the sole cause. Some discourse at the time tied the change to “anti-Japan” sentiment, but what divided opinion in this thread wasn’t the political claim itself — it was frustration or nostalgia over the visual change, and how people feel about the fact that it “still hasn’t reverted after several years.” One thing readers may easily overlook: the packaging change isn’t a recent event — it’s an ongoing situation that’s only now being revisited as a topic.
※This article is compiled and summarized from the 5ch (Nandemo Jikkyo G) thread “[Image] Calbee apparently still has lingering attachment to the silver packaging.”
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