by Pa Rock
Junk Food Junkie
Time flies and things change.
This past weekend I got a firsthand look at just how much one of the iconic snacks of my youth has changed - and it was not a comforting experience.
I remember quite well the absolute ecstasy of tearing into a box of Cracker Jacks, a caramelized popcorn and peanut confection, when I was but a mere boy. The product was delicious and not too messy, and somewhere, at one end of the box or the other, was a toy surprise. A lot of the fun was deciding which end of the box to open so as to reach the toy quickest. When the box was emptied, it could be used as a fort, a garage, a castle, or any other prop to aid in playtime with the Cracker Jack toys.
Sometime several years ago the company quit placing toys in the boxes, probably as a result of a few careless children putting the toys in their mouths and choking to death on little plastic soldiers, cowboys, Indians, or cars. The Cracker Jack company persisted, however, in luring youngsters to their product with the promise of a "prize" in each and every box. The prizes in recent years have been messages, or quizzes, or puzzles encased in paper that offer a brief intellectual diversion to youngsters as they munch through the popcorn and peanuts.
The little paper diversions were a sad substitute for the toys of yesteryear, seemingly the bottom of the prize barrel - or so I thought until last Saturday. I bought a bag (no longer a box) of Cracker Jacks at a local convenience store while visiting my grandchildren in Oregon. At some point I fished out the paper-clad prize and gave it to my ten-year-old grandson, figuring that it would contain something that he would find interesting for a minute or so. What the "prize" amounted to, however, was an invitation for him to download an "ap" so that he could enjoy whatever the folks at Cracker Jack wanted to share with him. Sebastian, who does not have his own phone, was even more disappointed than I was over the crappy "prize."
I was also disappointed at the ratio of popcorn to peanuts. As I dug through the popcorn anxiously awaiting the appearance of the peanuts, the best part, I was grief-stricken to find the entire bag contained only three peanuts!
To recap: the once-fun Cracker Jack boxes have morphed into resealable bags, the toys and prizes have withered into advertisements and come-ons for computer and telephone aps, and the peanuts have all but disappeared. All the while the cost has doubled, and doubled, and doubled again.
The Cracker Jack experience of my youth is gone forever, and that is just a damned shame!
Eat more Crunch 'n Munch!
Junk Food Junkie
Time flies and things change.
This past weekend I got a firsthand look at just how much one of the iconic snacks of my youth has changed - and it was not a comforting experience.
I remember quite well the absolute ecstasy of tearing into a box of Cracker Jacks, a caramelized popcorn and peanut confection, when I was but a mere boy. The product was delicious and not too messy, and somewhere, at one end of the box or the other, was a toy surprise. A lot of the fun was deciding which end of the box to open so as to reach the toy quickest. When the box was emptied, it could be used as a fort, a garage, a castle, or any other prop to aid in playtime with the Cracker Jack toys.
Sometime several years ago the company quit placing toys in the boxes, probably as a result of a few careless children putting the toys in their mouths and choking to death on little plastic soldiers, cowboys, Indians, or cars. The Cracker Jack company persisted, however, in luring youngsters to their product with the promise of a "prize" in each and every box. The prizes in recent years have been messages, or quizzes, or puzzles encased in paper that offer a brief intellectual diversion to youngsters as they munch through the popcorn and peanuts.
The little paper diversions were a sad substitute for the toys of yesteryear, seemingly the bottom of the prize barrel - or so I thought until last Saturday. I bought a bag (no longer a box) of Cracker Jacks at a local convenience store while visiting my grandchildren in Oregon. At some point I fished out the paper-clad prize and gave it to my ten-year-old grandson, figuring that it would contain something that he would find interesting for a minute or so. What the "prize" amounted to, however, was an invitation for him to download an "ap" so that he could enjoy whatever the folks at Cracker Jack wanted to share with him. Sebastian, who does not have his own phone, was even more disappointed than I was over the crappy "prize."
I was also disappointed at the ratio of popcorn to peanuts. As I dug through the popcorn anxiously awaiting the appearance of the peanuts, the best part, I was grief-stricken to find the entire bag contained only three peanuts!
To recap: the once-fun Cracker Jack boxes have morphed into resealable bags, the toys and prizes have withered into advertisements and come-ons for computer and telephone aps, and the peanuts have all but disappeared. All the while the cost has doubled, and doubled, and doubled again.
The Cracker Jack experience of my youth is gone forever, and that is just a damned shame!
Eat more Crunch 'n Munch!
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