In what could be a headline from The Onion, you can now wash your fingertips with a Lay’s potato chip-branded tiny washing machine. It’s a real product, but Lay’s in Taiwan is only making five of them. If you’re one of the few lucky lottery winners, your days of wiping your greasy fingertips on the nearest napkin, cushion, or pant leg are over. Just set it up to your favorite spot to veg out, open a bag of your favorite chips, and have at it. A greasy potato chip fingers washing machine! What will they think of next?
The Lay’s washing machine looks like the real thing, even though it’s only a few inches tall. You open the front-loading door, insert your fingers, and the machine automatically sprays them with a mist of alcohol cleanser. Though the need for this handy product could be completely avoided by following She-Hulk’s lead as seen in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. Just eat chips and other oily or flavor-dusted foods with chopsticks like Jen Walters does in episode one. Even though it’s not what caused the crash, maybe don’t try that technique while driving a car.
We first saw this silly (but maybe actually genius) new product on DesignTAXI. According to their report, the Lay’s washing machines cost nearly $700, or more than many actual washing machines. Since the devices are part of a lottery, we won’t find out if people would actually pay that price. If you do manage to get your (greasy) hands on one of these tiny washing machines, it could actually be quite convenient. The alcohol reservoir is refillable and we are still in a pandemic, after all.
Lay’s is only showing off the washing machine in Taiwan and maybe Japan. Potato chips often come in different flavors in other countries, like spicy seaweed or cappuccino Lay’s. But we all have the same conundrum of greasy fingers and this product is no (sour cream and) Onion headline.
Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. Her favorite finger-coating chips are Doritos Cooler Ranch. Melissa also moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star Warsologies, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruth.
