good morning!
Last year the hoddle was struck by a new entry into America’s college football postseason: The Pop-Tarts Bowl.
For those unaware: I think of ‘Bowl games’ as mini finals to be played at the end of the college football season. There are dozens of them out there, allowing some pretty mediocre teams to play for a trophy at the end of the season.
Many of these ‘bowl games’ are branded and corporatised. But the Pop-Tarts Bowl went a step further last year with a Pop Tart mascot jumping into a toaster, and then a giant toasted pop tart coming out of it.
(For those who don’t know. A Pop Tart is an American ‘breakfast food’. There are a wide variety of these with different flavours like cinammon, strawberry, wild berry, chocolate, you name it. They’re horrible for you.)
I still can’t get over the Pop-Tart Bowl.
The live Pop-Tart disappearing into a toaster while holding a sign that says “Dreams really do come true” only to get eaten by the winning team on the other end is pure marketing genius.
Easily the best bowl gamepic.twitter.com/G1EqRwkBXm
— Joe Pompliano (@JoePompliano) December 29, 2023
The Pop-Tarts Bowl took the madness a step further this year.
Debuted a few weeks ago, the new trophy features a built-in and fully functioning toaster. This is what it looks like:
NEW: The @PopTartsBowl trophy is back and better than ever … it is now a fully functional toaster trophy!
Pop-Tart partnered with GE Appliances to build this one-of-a-kind toaster trophy. It is about 1.3x the size of a normal football + can toast full-size Pop-Tarts. pic.twitter.com/p1TmhoWKM1
— Nicole Auerbach (@NicoleAuerbach) December 15, 2024
The whole thing is ridiculous, but fascinating.
And, really, it’s a testatement to how powerful Pop Tarts’ branding is for this bowl game. Can any of you remember who won the game last year?
The Kansas State Wildcats did, defeating North Carolina State 28-19. But no one cared about that. They only cared about the live pop tart descending towards its toasted demise.
It looks like this year’s edition is a bit more glamorous as it’ll feature Iowa State (10-3) against Miami (10-2).
But again, we won’t remember who won this year. That is, unless, you consider Pop Tarts to be the winner. In which case they’ve already won.
Fitzie’s track of the day: Continuum 1, by Nala Sinephro
And now for your links:
A recap of last year’s Pop Tarts chaos
WSJ: Internaitonal ski federation requiring ski races to be fitted with airbags
The Economist: ‘Football’s sleeping giants should be cherished’
