Choices

Is this a great country or what? I assert that, yes, this is a great country?

On what evidence do I base this assertion?

Exhibit A: Diet Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper.

Exhibit B: Guacamole Doritos.

Did the world need Diet Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper? No.

Is the world a better place for having Diet Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper? Yes!

Any country capable of producing so many snack choices is doing something right in my book.

And as for the Doritos, man, these things rock.

I remember when Nacho Cheese Doritos came out. I was in middle school and would buy a bag at lunch every day for 25 cents.

It was this conceptual breakthrough in the manufacture of corn chips.

I think the Nacho Cheese Doritos came out shortly after the introduction of Sour Cream & Onion Lay's potato chips.

I think the pressure was on for the corn chip industry to step up and innovate. They were desperate to head off an exodus to the flashy, sexy new world of flavored potato crisps.

But it didn't stop there. Cool Ranch Doritos weren't far behind. Zesty Salsa Doritos also made their debut.

Then things seemed to hit a wall. We got Nacho Cheesier chips, then Cooler Ranch chips. "More is better!" seemed to be the mantra at Doritos headquarters.

Seemed like they had swiped a page from the playbooks of razor manufacturers, who kept throwing more blades on their products, desperately hoping that would mask the mundane fact that they're just selling razors.

But the Guac has proved that innovation isn't dead. The frontier has been pushed back. The bar has been raised. What is next? Pico de galla? Jalepeno? Mole? The possibilities are endless.