Fact Check: Cool Ranch Doritos Have a Different Name in Europe, Redditors Say
Claim:
A Reddit post shared in early 2024 accurately reported that Cool Ranch-flavored Doritos were known as "Cool American" in Sweden.
Rating:
On Feb. 20, 2024, Reddit user totemp0le posted that in Sweden, Cool Ranch Doritos were marketed as "Cool American:"
Feb 20, 2024 Reddit post by user totemp0le (screen capture)
This claim, with the same photograph, appeared the same day on X, posted by users @Curionic and @cutigs1:
Tweet by internet user @curionics on Feb. 20, 2024 (screen capture)
This claim isn't new.
As early as 2014, U.S. redditors traveling in Europe began to notice that the Doritos flavor known as "Cool Ranch" in the U.S. had different names. In the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Iceland and Denmark, it's "Cool American" (sometimes with specifics, such as "sour cream geschmack" — sour cream flavor — in Germany). In the U.K., it's "Cool Original," as it appears on the website of British retailer Tesco.
'Cool American' in Sweden
As for the original claim, it is correct. Snabbgross, a restaurant supply store in Sweden, sells "Cool American Flavour" Doritos on its web page:
A screen capture of the Snabbgross site, which sells "Cool American Flavour" Doritos in Sweden.
Brands Adapt to New Markets
Ranch dressing isn't well-known outside of the United States, according to Adam Lapetina at Thrillist (archived):
[...] most people outside of the US don't really know what ranch dressing is (asked to describe it, one foreign Redditor opined, "It always just looked like salad cream with stuff in it to me."), and must believe that most of our country is covered in a fine, zesty powder that tastes vaguely of buttermilk and onions.
This means companies must adapt their marketing.
But according to TikTok user Hungry Haley, a U.S. citizen who lives in the Netherlands, the name is not the only thing that changes. The flavor, too, is different.
"At first you get a little bit of that zesty flavor, but you mostly just taste corn with these [European Doritos]," she says. "The American ones just tastes so much more intense, and it's just way better."
Sources:
Cool American Doritos 170g. https://www.snabbgross.se/V%C3%85RT-SORTIMENT/Snacks-%26-Godis/SNACKS/Chips-%26-Cheez-snacks/Cool-American-170g-Doritos/produkt/101543091_ST" target="_blank">https://www.snabbgross.se/V%C3%85RT-SORTIMENT/Snacks-%26-Godis/SNACKS/Chips-%26-Cheez-snacks/Cool-American-170g-Doritos/produkt/101543091_ST. Accessed 1 Mar. 2024.
