“You can’t eat just one” (“Betcha can’t eat just one”)
“Betcha can’t eat just one” was the 1963 advertising campaign slogan (by Young & Rubicam) for Lay’s Potato Chips. Television advertising featured New York City-born actor Bert Lahr (1895-1967). Lay’s has had other advertising slogans, but “can’t eat just one” is still used and remembered by many.
Many other foods (such as peanuts and popcorn) have been described as “can’t eat just one.” In 1952 in a Winnipeg (Canada) newspaper, Dairy Box milk chocolates advertised “Impossible to eat just one!” and “You can’t eat just one of these delightful Dairy Box milk chocolates!” In a 1963 newspaper column, peanuts were described as something that “you can’t eat just one.”
“Why did the sea monster eat five ships carrying potatoes?”/“No one can eat just one potato ship” is a joke on the saying.
Wikipedia: Lay’s
Lay’s is the brand name for a number of potato chip varieties as well as the name of the company that founded the chip brand in 1938. Lay’s chips are marketed as a division of Frito-Lay, a company owned by PepsiCo Inc. since 1965. Other brands in the Frito-Lay group include Fritos, Doritos, Ruffles, Cheetos and Rold Gold pretzels.
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Logos & Slogans
. Simply Made. Simply Good. (2009)
. That’s another reason to smile! Layer’s Potato Chips (2007)
. Food for the fun of it! (2007)
. Layer’s, get your smile on! (2006-)
. Layer’s. Want some?
. Betcha can’t eat just one (1960s-present)
. Κανείς δεν μπορεί να φάει μόνο ένα! (Nobody can eat just one) (Layer’s Greece)
. Lays ka mazaa lo(Layer’s Pakistan)meaning-Have fun with Lay’s
. You can’t eat just one….Lagi bet! (Lay’s India)
. Har programme ka main food (Lay’s India)meaning- The main food for every programme
. No one can eat just one (Lay’s India)
. A que no puedes comer solo una! (Lay’s Spain,Peru,Mexico,Chile and Argentina)
. Layer’s. Vrei si tu? (Lay’s Romania)
. Лэйс - захрустишь,не устоишь!(Russia)
. Kartą paragavęs negali sustot! (Lithuania)
. 停不了的乐事！ (Lay’s China)
Wikipedia: Bert Lahr
Bert Lahr (August 13, 1895 – December 4, 1967) was a American of German-Jewish heritage Tony Award-winning comic actor and vaudeville comedian.
Biography
Born Irving Lahrheim in New York City, Lahr is best remembered today for his role as the Cowardly Lion and the Kansas farmworker Zeke in the classic 1939 movie The Wizard of Oz, but known during his life for a career in burlesque, vaudeville and Broadway.
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Later life
Lahr occasionally appeared on television, including NBC’s live version of the Cole Porter musical Let’s Face It (1954) and an appearance as the mystery guest on What’s My Line? He also performed in commercials, including a memorable series for Lay’s potato chips during its long-running “Betcha can’t eat just one” campaign with Lahr as “Aunt Tillie”.
Google Books
Accent: A Quarterly of New Literature
By University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign campus). English Dept
Published by Accent, 1940
Item notes: v. 1-2
Pg. 179:
He took an egg and a slice of bacon.
“Oh, you’ve got to take more!” she exclaimed when she came back. “I fried them for you. I can’t eat only one.’
11 December 1952, Winnipeg (Manitoba, Canada) Free Press, pg. 17, col. 1 ad:
Chewy, chewy soft Caramel, melty rich, enclosed like a jewel in a thick layer of superb milk chocolate. Impossible to eat just one!
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You can’t eat just one of these delightful Dairy Box milk chocolates! One leads to another…then politeness makes you stop counting!
(Dairy Box chocolates, made by Rowntree’s—ed.)
15 August 1963, Oakland (CA) Tribune, “The Scary TV Details” by George Ross, pg. 50D, col. 1:
But you know what it will be like? Like peanuts. You can’t eat just one.
18 March 1965, Salt Lake Tribune (Salt Lake City, UT), pg. C13, col. 2 ad:
“Betche can’t eat just one!”
(Lay’s Potato Chips—ed.)
7 December 1967, New York (NY) Times, “Advertising: A Product’s Image and a Death” by Philip H. Dougherty, pg. 80:
Old timers in the business could not recall yesterday the death of any actor as closely identified to a product as Bert Lahr was to Lay’s Potato Chips.
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The comic with the wonderfully expressive face died here on Monday at the age of 72. That same day Young Rubicam, the ad agency for Frito-Lay’s potato chips, began recalling the commercials and substituting one without the actor that had been made last summer/
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Mr. Lahr, who had gone on record that he would become better known as a potato chip spokesman than for anything else he had done in his long career, signed his first year-and-a-half contract with the company four years ago when the product was introduced natioanlly.
The theme (which will continue to be used) has been “You can eat a million but you can t eat just one.”
6 April 1972, Dallas (TX) Morning News, “Bet you can’t eat just one” by Sandal and Pritch English, section E, pg. 3:
Who hasn’t said of goodies at one time or another, “They’re just like peanuts; I can’t stop eating them!”
New York (NY) Times
THE MEDIA BUSINESS: ADVERTISING; Crisper Chips, Fresh Slogans
By Eben Shapiro
Published: Friday, May 8, 1992
Two of the best-known slogans in advertising are changing to herald changes in the products they promote.
“Betcha can’t eat just one,” the theme for Lay’s potato chips since 1963, becomes “Too good to eat just one” in a campaign co-starring the basketball players Larry Bird and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and scheduled to be introduced Monday.
New York (NY) Times
PROSECUTORS DROP DEMAND THAT ITO STEP DOWN IN CASE
By DAVID MARGOLICK
Published: Thursday, August 17, 1995
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Judge Ito will soon review the tapes, a process, Mr. Cochran predicted confidently, that will not take long because they are too irresistible to turn off. “You know, just like Lay’s potato chips, you can’t put them down, you can’t eat just one,” he said. “Once you start, you’re going to keep going.”
(Trademark)
Word Mark BETCHA CAN’T EAT JUST ONE
Goods and Services IC 029. US 046. G & S: Potato-based snack foods, including potato chips. FIRST USE: 19990500. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 19990500
Mark Drawing Code (1) TYPED DRAWING
Serial Number 75578816
Filing Date October 28, 1998
Current Filing Basis 1A
Original Filing Basis 1B
Published for Opposition July 20, 1999
Registration Number 2453656
Registration Date May 22, 2001
Owner (REGISTRANT) Recot, Inc. CORPORATION DELAWARE 5000 Hopyard Road, Suite 460 Pleasanton CALIFORNIA 94588
(LAST LISTED OWNER) FRITO-LAY NORTH AMERICA, INC. CORPORATION DELAWARE 7701 LEGACY DRIVE LAW DEPARTMENT PLANO TEXAS 75024
Assignment Recorded ASSIGNMENT RECORDED
Attorney of Record Joseph J. Ferretti
Prior Registrations 1329882
Type of Mark TRADEMARK
Register PRINCIPAL
Affidavit Text SECT 15. SECT 8 (6-YR).
Live/Dead Indicator LIVE
(Trademark)
Word Mark A QUE NO PUEDES COMER SOLA UNA
Translations The English translation of the word “QUE NO PUEDES COMER SOLA UNA” in the mark is “BETCHA CAN’T EAT JUST ONE”.
Goods and Services (ABANDONED) IC 029. US 046. G & S: POTATO-BASED SNACK FOODS, NAMELY, POTATO CHIPS AND POTATO CRISPS
Mark Drawing Code (1) TYPED DRAWING
Serial Number 78188914
Filing Date November 26, 2002
Current Filing Basis 1B
Original Filing Basis 1B
Published for Opposition July 29, 2003
Owner (APPLICANT) FRITO-LAY NORTH AMERICA, INC. CORPORATION DELAWARE 7701 LEGACY DRIVE LAW DEPARTMENT PLANO TEXAS 75024
Assignment Recorded ASSIGNMENT RECORDED
Attorney of Record DIANE F. HUND
Prior Registrations 2453656
Type of Mark TRADEMARK
Register PRINCIPAL
Live/Dead Indicator DEAD
Abandonment Date April 22, 2005