Industry News

Frito-Lay Variety Packs relaunch Back-to-School Blast Off Program to support girls in STEM

Brand partners with Star Trek's Sonequa Martin-Green.

Frito-Lay Variety Packs is teaming up with Sonequa Martin-Green, the first Black female captain in Star Trek’s history, for the return of the Back-to-School Blast Off program. This year’s program includes a partnership with STEM Next’s Million Girls Moonshot with a $100,000 donation to further the program’s mission of inspiring 1 million more girls in STEM by 2025 and send MGM’s first Flight Crew to Space Camp.

Sonequa Martin-Green will be featured on specially marked Frito-Lay Variety Packs on store shelves for a limited time. She also helped the brand surprise the MGM girls with the news about Space Camp and special ceremonial stars Frito-Lay named in each girl’s honor to recognize their dedication to STEM.

To honor the accomplishments of young women in STEM and celebrate each star named, the snack brand has launched an interactive map with a constellation of the ceremonial stars. The map will continue to grow and serve as a place where girls can see their galaxy-sized dreams come to life, no telescope necessary.

In addition, families that want to get in on the fun can visit FritoLayVarietyPacks.com/BlastOff for STEM activities created by NASA Scientists that can be done with everyday household items. Consumers can share a picture on Instagram or Twitter of their family’s Back-to-School Blastoff Activity with #SpaceForHer and #Entry and Frito-Lay will make an additional $20 donation to MGM (up to $50,000) and be entered for a chance to have a ceremonial star named after a girl they know who is passionate about STEM. See here for more details on how to enter.

For more about Frito-Lay, see "Innovation yesterday and today at Frito-Lay,” the cover story for September 2017, on the SF&WB website.