The only crunch in the crisps category last month was the sound of budgets being squashed.

PepsiCo scaled back its Walkers Crisps ad spend despite launching new super-premium brand Red Sky, spending just £2,842 on press ads for the brand’s soft launch – though it launches a multimillion pound campaign next month.

As a result largely of the reduction in Walkers’ above-the-line spend, total category spend in crisps and snacks fell 54% to £1.7m in the four weeks to 8 March from £3.7m a year earlier.

Although few TV viewers will miss Gary Lineker warbling his way through Summer Holiday, the end of Walkers’ on-pack crisps promotion – Brit Trips – also signalled the end of the advertising campaign and Walkers cut its spend on its standard crisp ads too.

Last year, by comparison, Walkers spent a massive £5m backing the Brit Trips campaign, £801,201 of which was spent in the same four-week period.

As well as Brit Trips, Walkers spent more than £1.5m in TV support for its crisps brand during the four weeks compared with just £747,677 in the same period this year. The spend supported Walkers’ attempt to bring excitement to the sector with its latest TV campaign Do Us a Flavour, in which the public were invited to suggest a new favour.

The ads drive traffic to the Walkers Crisps’ website, where visitors can vote for Cajun Squirrel and Chilli & Chocolate, among others.

The creative features Lineker but is more dependent on PR and online buzz than deep pockets.

Walkers spent only marginally less on Doritos than Walkers Crisps – £684,393 – in the four weeks to 8 March, having not advertised in the period last year.

Last year’s You Make It, We Play It campaign generated TV ads for both the US and the UK. Inspired by the success of the winning US ad, which won the accolade of best ad at this year’s Super Bowl, as well as the popularity of the UK ad on video-sharing web sites, Walkers is running last year’s UK winner again.

Walkers’ spend on Sensations dropped as it focused on in-store promotions.

Meanwhile, P&G’s Pringles is keeping its power keg dry. It spent a meagre £2,842, down from £804,743 last year. Its year-on-year spend is down 100% to £51,533.