The Kiss of French smells like French fries and even tastes like them too, but why is the Idaho Potato Commission giving it away?
BOISE, Idaho — Are you getting ready for Valentine’s Day? Well, pucker up for this.
The Idaho Potato Commission launched a French Fry lip balm, or what they are calling the Kiss of French. It smells like French fries and even tastes like them, too.
Officials said the product was created to showcase Idaho’s potatoes on the world stage.
“We’re always looking for ideas here at the Commission on ways to promote Idaho potatoes and Idaho potato products,” said Idaho Potato Commission President, Jamey Higham. “A couple of times a year we get together and we have a brainstorming session where we’re coming up with new ideas. Some of them are crazy, some of them not so crazy, and throwing stuff at the wall and to see what sticks.”
The latest to stick is a luxury lip balm, and officials said it’s one of the many ways they are thinking outside the box to promote Idaho potatoes.
“We’ve done an ice cream that’s based on French fries and mixing it with a milkshake, like people do,” he said. “In the past, we’ve done a French fry scented perfume called frites.”
Frites went national. It was local, national, and even on the Kelly Clarkson show.
Higham said it sprayed further than just the United States.
“That perfume, we really caught something special there,” he said. “I did an interview online in New Zealand about that. We had people calling from India and Europe, and it was crazy. When it was all said and done, we had about a billion impressions through the media on that one.”
One of their goals is to continue staying relevant, and he said he has seen the change it has created over the years.
“People have really embraced potatoes,” he said. “There was a time not too long ago, maybe 20-25, years, where people were kind of not really proud of being from Idaho, but now we feel like it’s really being embraced and I’m sure you’ve experienced wherever you go, in the in the US or in the world, and you tell them they’re from, I that you’re from Idaho, they instantly think potatoes.”
While the commission creates fun products, it’s not their sole responsibility, but to also represent the potato growers of Idaho.
“We’re also very involved in research for potato varieties and disease control and storage and trying to do the things that help our farmers be more successful in what they’re doing and I have to say that none of this would be possible without our great idol potato farming families,” he said. “It’s not really a science. It’s more of an art form, growing Idaho potatoes, and these generational farms here in Idaho just have it figured out, and they do a great job.”
This lipstick is just one way for Idaho potatoes and farmers to get noticed across the globe.
The Idaho farmers helped with this product, as the main ingredient is mashed-up Idaho potatoes.
It’s free to get, you just have to pay shipping and handling, but with the limited item, supplies won’t last long.
