Fuck Doritos

I was at the grocery store today, and I heard a guy actually say, “fuck Doritos.” Not quietly, not muttered under his breath, this was a declaration. He told four people in the aisle. Then he called someone to keep the rant going. I have no idea what triggered him, a price hike, a stale bag, an existential crisis over Cool Ranch, but the man was on a mission.

And here’s the wild part: Doritos is probably the least offensive brand on the planet. They don’t make political statements. They don’t virtue signal. Their entire corporate ethos is “we make chips.” And yet, that day, in aisle 7, someone was doing word of mouth marketing for Doritos, whether they liked it or not.

This is where it all actually happens. Not on X, not on TikTok, not in a sea of hashtags and SEO-optimized headlines. Real word of mouth happens in real life. It’s the conversation between two parents at a kids’ hockey game, or the neighbor who leans over the fence to say, “You’ve gotta try that new place down the street.” It’s the Uber driver who tells you about his favorite app. It’s your coworker who whispers, “Skip the big bank, use this instead.”

The Myth of “Online Word of Mouth”

Marketing departments love to say, “We’re going viral!” when what they really mean is, “We bought reach.” A million views doesn’t mean a million opinions. It means you paid the toll to stand in the world’s loudest room. That’s not conversation; that’s noise.

True word of mouth isn’t a retweet. It’s a story shared with context and conviction. It’s emotional. It’s memorable. It’s often unplanned, unfiltered, and messy as hell, like a guy yelling “fuck Doritos” in a grocery store.

Brands have forgotten that. They’ve mistaken visibility for believability. They think the goal is to be seen, when the real magic is to be talked about. You can’t buy that, you have to earn it.

Real Conversations > Digital Echoes

People don’t tell their friends, “You should check out this company’s Instagram feed.” They say, “You should try this thing, it actually works.”

And that’s the difference between content and connection. Social media can amplify a message, sure. But it rarely creates it. The spark that fuels word of mouth starts offline, where trust actually lives.

That’s why some of the most effective campaigns ever built weren’t “viral”; they were relatable. They gave people something to talk about, argue about, laugh about. When your idea slips into people’s daily chatter, not their comment sections, that’s when you win.

Why It Matters Now More Than Ever

We live in a time when everyone is performing. Social feeds have become stages, not dinner tables. The world is noisy, algorithmic, and automated, which means authenticity is now a luxury good.

When someone takes time to mention your brand in real life, it’s because it struck something human in them. That’s the holy grail. That’s the real influencer economy: your customers.

If people are talking about you, positively or negatively, in person, you’ve cut through the static. You’ve entered their lived experience. That’s impact.

So What Should Brands Do?

Stop trying to game the system. Stop chasing the algorithm like it’s the Wizard of Oz. Start engineering experiences worth sharing, ones that make people feel something.

• Make someone laugh.

• Surprise them.

• Do something gutsy that no spreadsheet can predict.

• Create moments so unusual, so human, they spill into the next grocery aisle.

If one random guy yelling “fuck Doritos” can make me think about chips for the rest of the day, imagine what your brand could do if it actually gave people a reason to care.

The Takeaway

Word of mouth isn’t built in ad managers or analytics dashboards. It’s built in conversations, the kind that happen in grocery stores, kids’ sports bleachers, and late-night phone calls.

So yeah, fuck Doritos. But also… thank you, Doritos guy, for the reminder that marketing still belongs to the people who talk, not the ones who post.

Want People Talking About You Instead?

If you want your brand to be the thing people are whispering, arguing, laughing, or raving about in real life, that’s literally what I do for a living.

At The Idea Integration Co., we build word-of-mouth marketing that actually moves mouths. No gimmicks, no buzzword salads, just unforgettable ideas that get talked about at hockey rinks, dinner tables, and grocery store aisles everywhere.

Let’s make your brand impossible to ignore. Hire us to get your WOM going. www.theideaintegration.com

P.S. If you’re not totally sure what WOM really is, that’s your sign to call us because if your customers aren’t talking about you, they’re definitely talking about someone else.