Wotsits is a brand of cheese puffs sold by Walkers. The most common form are cheese flavoured curly shapes. However over the years various other shapes (such as waffle-shaped Wotsits) and flavours (such as prawn cocktail and flamin hot) have also been sold. "Limited edition" Wotsits have also appeared on more than one occasion.The brand was stretched into Whopping Wotsits, Weenie Wotsits, Waffle Wotsits as well as frozen Wotsits. All came into the market under Golden Wonders ownership managed by Nigel Parrott between the years 1993 and 2002. The brand name occurs in the singular, "Wotsit", referring to an individual corn puff. It is an allusion to the slang term "whatsit", to which it is phonetically identical. Wotsits packaging often come with a joke or trivia section on the back. The brand was the first to introduce inserts into its packs in 1994, with the insertion of "Pogs". It also inserted merlin football stickers and other inserts aimed at 11 year old boys. The brand was advertised with the strapline "you only get a whoosh with a Wotsit" between 1994 and 2002 following a campaign designed by JWT of a play on words.
The brand was previously owned by Golden Wonder, but was sold off separately to Walkers when Golden Wonder changed hands in 2002.[1] Prior to this, Walkers sold a rival known as Cheetos on the UK market.
In 2003, the advertising agency Abbott Mead Vickers made a public apology when the Parliamentary Select Committee on Health brought to light a private brief that it had made to Frito-Lay (Walkers' owners) where it proposed encouraging children (4 to 9 years old) to believe that “Wotsits are for me — I'm going to buy them when I get the chance and pester Mum for them when she next goes shopping”.[2]
Another variety of Wotsits were "Mealtime Potato Shapes", made from potato and cheese and meant to be baked in the oven.[3] They were launched in 2000. Mealtime Potato Shapes have been discontinued for many years.
In February 2007 Wotsits were re-launched in new packaging (along with other Walkers brands such as Quavers and Monster Munch) to coincide with the new usage of Sunseed oil in their ingredients and in 2009 Wotsits Quavers, Squares and French Fries changed packaging again and Wotsits now have 95 calories in multipack bags and 99 calories in standard bags.