Doritos is designing a "lady friendly" version of the popular tortilla snack.

The firm has said that women do not like to crunch loudly or lick their fingers in public while eating the snacks, unlike men, and so the new crisps are being designed especially for them.

The new packets will also be sized so they can fit in to women's handbags.

Indra Nooyi, Global Chief Executive of PepsiCo, which owns Doritos, said: "Women don’t like to crunch too loudly in public.

"And they don’t lick their fingers generously and they don’t like to pour the little broken pieces and the flavour into their mouth.

"It’s not [a question of] male and female as much as “are there snacks for women that can be designed and packaged differently?” And yes, we are looking at it, and we’re getting ready to launch a bunch of them soon.

"For women [it’s about] low-crunch, the full taste profile, not having so much of the flavour on the fingers and how can you put it in a purse. Because women love to carry a snack in their purse."

However, people have hit back at the announcement for being sexist and unnecessary.