chips for the win.

Will Oprah Bring Down Blue Corn Chips?

Talk-Show Queen Pins Weight Gain Partly on Ostensibly Healthful Snack

By Emily Bryson York

Published: January 09, 2009

CHICAGO (AdAge.com) -- An endorsement from Oprah Winfrey can make even a fledgling product a household name. But what if the daytime-talk-show empress turns on one?

Oprah said, 'my drug of choice used to be potato chips. Now this year, it was organic, multigrain blue chips -- but a bag of them. So you eat a bag of those a day and see what happens if you're not working out.'

Photo Credit: Harpo, Inc.

Hain Celestial and other makers of blue corn chips may find themselves in an inadvertent field test in the coming months. Kicking off her 2009 season this week, Ms. Winfrey, who has connected with millions of American women with her struggles to control her weight, announced that she has gained 40 pounds. She blamed a thyroid condition, lack of exercise and the ostensibly healthful snack.

"My drug of choice used to be potato chips," she said. "Now this year, it was organic, multigrain blue chips -- but a bag of them. So you eat a bag of those a day and see what happens if you're not working out."

Ms. Winfrey held a bag of Hain Celestial's Garden of Eatin' blue corn chips on set as a prop, albeit with her hand obscuring the brand name.