No longer will you find a prize inside the snack—as the box has promised consumers for years. Now, in an effort to reach tech-savvy consumers, the snack comes with a QR code that links to mobile games.
The QR codes—which come inside new packaging—link to games called “Dot Dash,” “Dance Cam,” “Get Carded” and “Baseball Star.”
“They allow users to boogie on a simulated Jumbotron, participate in their own dot race (a 6th inning tradition of the Texas Rangers) and create their own baseball cards and autographed photos to trade with friends and family,” The Chicago Tribune reported.
In a press release, Frito-Lay’s senior marketing director, Haston Lewis, said though the toy has been just as important as the snack, the brand is using technology to give consumers a new experience:
The Cracker Jack Prize Inside has been as much a part of the nostalgia and love for the brand as the unforgettable combination of caramel-coated popcorn and peanuts. The new Prize Inside allows families to enjoy their favorite baseball moments through a new one-of-a-kind mobile experience, leveraging digital technology to bring the iconic Prize Inside to life.
However, fans of Cracker Jack—and its trinkets—are not happy. Many took to Twitter and Facebook to express their disappointment:
Buy me some digital Crackerjack.
— danny (@Mardigroan) April 29, 2016
The past that you knew will never come back.
‘A world with prize-less Cracker Jack is not a world I want to live in’ https://t.co/3eGDdZHl4V
— Sean M Tuffy (@SMTuffy) April 23, 2016
No prize in your #cracker jack! QR code is not what made you famous! This will be the end for Cracker Jack!
— Mucking Moms (@MuckingMoms) April 23, 2016
Other consumers have flocked to the brand’s Facebook page to criticize the change, with one social media user creating a page called, “Put the prize back in Cracker Jack,” which already has nearly 2,000 “likes.”
PennLive further elaborated:
On Cracker Jack’s Facebook page, commenters overwhelmingly derided the move calling it “totally dumb” and the “worst decision ever.”
“Wow. In all my nearly 56 years on this planet, I have never been so disappointed in a product,” one Facebook commenter wrote.
“Well, there goes any reason at all to buy Cracker Jacks. Thanks for the childhood memories and good-bye,” another said.
Danette Chavez, a staff writer for The A.V. Club at The Onion, wrote that getting rid of the toys altogether would have been a better move for Frito-Lay’s marketing team:
“We are a brand that authentically reminds people of simpler times, childhood memories and family experiences,” the company says. Now, the prizes had decreased in quality over the years (temporary tattoos, meh), but it was still a nice chaser for the old sugar high. Frito-Lay would probably be better off just nixing the idea entirely, instead of creating a dubious online “experience.” That, or it should at least consider hiring Tom Haverford to adapt Cracker Jack prizes for the new millennium.
What do you think of the move, Ragan readers?
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