Chipless Chips Ahoy! (1998-1998): Less an actual product than a marketing gimmick, Nabisco produced 1,000 packages of their iconic chocolate chip cookies without the chocolate chips, and then offered a $1,000 prize for every package found

Tiger King Roaring Good Habanero BBQ Sauce (2021-2021): a sweet and spicy barbecue sauce, cashing in on the surprise success of the Netflix docu-series, and sold exclusively through FYE.

Hey hey, friends! No patients this afternoon, so I'm just biding my time in my office...Care to pass the time with a little Q&A? Feel free to ask about my TOP 3 anything, related to: -Food -Music -Sports -Video Games (PS2 era or earlier haha) Go for it!

Eckerd Award Sodas (1994-2006): A house-brand line of sodas from pharmacy chain, Eckerd. Flavors included standard Cola, Diet Cola, and Root Beer, as well as Grape, Orange, Strawberry, and Peach sodas. Their dupes included: Dr. Riffic (Dr. Pepper), Eckerd Mountain (Mt. Dew), and Eckerd Up (7Up)

Ben & Jerry's Fred & Ginger (1988-1988): Ginger ice cream loaded with little chocolate bow ties, created as an homage to Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. A scoop shop exclusive, it was wildly unpopular, sold in 47 stores, with only 2 ordering a second batch. No photos of the actual ice cream exist

Pringles Selects Buffalo Wing (2008-circa 2011): Airy, extra crunchy and thick potato crisps, flavored to taste like tangy, spicy, Buffalo-style chicken wings. Part of Pringles "fancy" line which was sold in bags rather than cans

Chef Boyardee Pac-Man (1983-1987): A line of canned pasta concoctions, based on both the "Pac-Man" arcade games and short-lived TV series. Featured pasta shaped like ghosts, Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man and Pac-Baby, in "golden chicken" sauce, cheese sauce, or tomato sauce with meatballs

Not gonna lie, this 1991 ad using Nagel-style art to hawk Bob Evans Restaurants is deeply unsettling yet oddly comforting

Mello Yello Unidentified Fizzy Object (2019-2019): A bright green, super sour, citrus-flavored soda. It was available ONLY in Freestyle machines at Zaxby's restaurants, released as promotional tie-in for the film "Men in Black: International"

Viennetta Petites (1987-1988): Bite-sized versions of the iconic, faux-luxury frozen dessert, Viennetta, which consisted of wavy layers of ice cream and a thin chocolate shell. Available in Vanilla, Chocolate, or Chocolate Mint

Sugar DeLight (1989-circa 1993): A blend of 99% granulated sugar and 1% Aspartame, marketed as a "lighter" option. Released by the NutraSweet Company as part of a new wave of artificial sweeteners. Most remembered for a series of Bill Plympton-directed ads

Super Orange Crisp (1973-1977): Classic Sugar/Golden Crisp sweetened puffed wheat, along with orange-flavored "o"-shaped cereal pieces. Each box boasted that "One ounce of Super Orange Crisp contains more Vitamin C than a glass (4 oz.) of orange juice!"

Wendy's Country Fried Steak Sandwich (1990-1994): A piece of breaded, fried steak, topped with lettuce and country-style gravy, on a bun. Sold incredibly well during testing and was added to the 99-cent menu, where it stayed on and off for several years.

Not gonna lie, this 1991 ad using Nagel-style art to hawk Bob Evans Restaurants is deeply unsettling yet oddly comforting

Hostess Chocolicious Wonka Cakes (2005-2005): Chocolate Hostess cupcakes, featuring a purple creme filling, purple icing, and a yellow-orange frosting swirl. Released to promote the Johnny Depp/Tim Burton film, "Charlie and The Chocolate Factory"

Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers Fudge Bars (1991-circa 1993): Chocolatey ice cream bars made to resemble the faces of the the title characters of the Disney Afternoon series, right down to the different colored candy noses

Red Robin Colossus Burger (2014-2014): A burger patty topped with chopped smoked brisket, provolone cheese, lettuce, grilled onions, and Red Robin's "Campfire" and "Triple S" BBQ sauces, served on a sesame seed bun. Released as a promotional tie-in for the Dwayne Johnson "Hercules" film

Ben & Jerry's Monkey Wrench (2000-2001): A swirl of banana ice cream and peanut butter ice cream, loaded up with fudge chunks, walnuts, and peanut butter cups. This flavor was part of the "2 Twisted" line, where two existing flavors (in this case, Chunky Monkey and PB Cup) were combined in a pint

Bugs Bunny and Friends Fruit Snacks (1992-circa 1994): A line of assorted-flavor fruit snacks--grape, orange cherry, and strawberry--shaped like classic Looney Tunes characters such as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Tweety, and Sylvester, as well as carrots.

IHoP Big Island Breakfast Stack (2018-2018): Four Kings Hawaiian sweet rolls sliced in half and made into French toast, then filled with ham, Swiss cheese, lingonberries, and two fried eggs. Served with a side of pancakes or hash browns. Part of a limited-time Kings Hawaiian-themed menu

Chef Boyardee Cannelloni (1979-circa 1995): A canned pasta meal consisting of spoon-sized cannelloni (cylindrical pasta tubes) stuffed with a "zesty meat filling" slurry, all sitting in a "rich, savory, zesty meat sauce"

Ahh, I love everything about this article from November 1999...Real journalism, folks!

Dannon Y.E.S. (1984-circa 1991): A line of low-fat, "French-style" yogurt, marketed as being exceptionally creamy and smooth. "Y.E.S." stood for "Yogurt Extra Smooth"

The Cal Bar (1993-1994, 2000-2001): Baltimore Orioles legend Cal Ripken, Jr. received two different candy bars under the same name. The first was a milk chocolate bar filled with caramel and peanuts. The second version was a crispy rice milk chocolate bar.

What fictional CANDY/CANDY BAR--from a show, movie, comic, video game, book, etc, would you most like to try? I'm gonna get the ball rolling by saying...pretty much everything featured in this literary classic would be Hoovered into my gaping maw like a whale-shark with krill

MTN Dew Southern Shock (2020-2023): A red-orange, tropical punch-flavored soda, sold exclusively as a fountain beverage at Bojangles restaurants

Ben & Jerry's Snickerdoodle Cookie (2010-2011): Buttery, cinnamon ice cream, loaded with pieces of snickerdoodle cookies

Cap'n Crunch's Mystery Volcano Crunch (2000-2000): This limited-time, volcano-themed cereal consisted of what were essentially just red, yellow, and orange Crunchberries pieces, but also included a packet of Pop Rocks candy (aka "lava rocks") that would pop when added to the cereal and milk.

The reality is that studios can spend the next 10 years throwing hundreds of millions of dollars into AI-produced, algorithm-driven "content" and yet they'll never produce a work even a fraction as emotionally evocative as a 90 second Volkswagen ad from 1999 youtu.be/_-kqUkZnDcM?...

Ryne Sandberg Bar (1990-1991): A solid milk chocolate bar made by Chris Candies, that featured the image and signature of then-Cubs 2B Ryne Sandberg imprinted into the chocolate. For $22, plus $2.95 s&h, you could mail in the wrapper to get a Sandberg- autographed baseball!

What were the cringiest millennial food trends?

MTN Dew Tropical Smash (2017-2018): A yellow-orange, tropical fruit-flavored soda, released as part of the "Game Fuel" line, to promote the video game, "Forza Motorsport 7"

Walker's Australian BBQ Kangaroo (2010-2010): Part of the "Flavour Cup" promotion in the UK, coinciding with the World Cup and featuring country-specific flavors, these potato crisps/chips were made with "Australian BBQ Kangaroo Seasonings", and had a gamey, beef-like taste

Bookmarked! Also this is how I find out that there's apparently a Mario Galaxy movie? Why not cast Lou Albano? Kids today would love to "do the Mario"... I keep telling you, he's 92 years old and he's dead

Jell-O Soft Swirl (1971-1987): A line of boxed mixes for a mousse/pudding hybrid-type concoction, which could be eaten on its own or used as the base for other desserts. Flavors included Chocolate Creme, Strawberry Creme, Vanilla Creme, and Peach Creme

Indiana Jones Fruit Snacks (2008-2008): A line of assorted fruit-flavored gummies, released to promote "The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull." The snacks were shaped like a plane, a motorcycle, Indy's hat, a skull, the word "Indy", and the temple of the crystal skull

Progresso Soup Drops (2025-2025): Savory hard candy drops, made to taste like canned chicken noodle soup, complete with notes of salty broth, vegetables, chicken, egg noodles, and parsley. For $2.49, you'd get a soup can-shaped package with 20 drops, bundled along with a can of real soup

Ben & Jerry's Cherry Crumble (2022-2022): Buttery ice cream loaded with cherry pieces and an oat-crumble swirl. Released as a seasonal spring/summer offering

Lost World Fruit Roll Ups (1997-1997): A special edition of the classic roll-up fruit snack, featuring peel-out pieces shaped like dinosaurs. Released for the Jurassic Park sequel, select boxes had an audio chip that "roared" when you opened them, signaling a possible prize

Swanson Chicken Duets (1986-circa 1990): A line of hearty, frozen breaded chicken nuggets, each stuffed with a different filling, such as Ham & Cheese, Pizza, Spinach & Herb, and Mexican Style

Stevie's Stars (1999-2000): After winning the Conn Smythe Trophy, Detroit Red Wings' center Steve Yzerman received his own cereal, essentially a Lucky Charms knock-off composed of star-shaped cereal pieces and colorful marshmallows. One of the few athlete cereals to feature a full licensed uniform

Minuteman Salsa (2006-2008): A line of jarred salsa produced and marketed as an expression of anti-immigration sentiments (editorial: a tacky, inflammatory, culture war grift). Boasting that it was made "with 100% American ingredients", 1/4 of profits went to (white supremacist) militia groups

Things feel especially crappy today and I have a free afternoon in my office. I wanna take a break from food for a bit, and pivot to music, which always helps ease my mood. For every 20 "likes", I'll reply to this thread with a random song that I think you should listen to 😎

Frosted Mini Wheats Fruit Medley (2019-2019): Bite-sized frosted shredded wheat biscuits with peach, apple, and pear flavors "baked" into them

Mighty Morphin Granola Bars (1994-1995): Chewy, chocolate chip and peanut butter chocolate chip granola bars, released to promote the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers TV show. They were produced by Saban Foods, a company started specifically to make promotional food items for Saban's media franchises

Maple Crunch Shreddies (1998-2005, 2014-2015): A maple-flavored variant on the iconic Canadian cereal (comparable to a sweeter version of wheat Chex). They developed a cult following during their first run, leading to a limited-time re-release in 2014.

Betty Crocker Creamy Chilled Desserts (1994-1998): A line of boxed mixes for making creamy, no-bake, refrigerated desserts, each with a crust, filling, and topping. The line launched with three options-- Banana Cream, Chocolate French Silk, and Lemon Supreme

Subway Cadbury Creme Egg Submelt (2023-2023): A 6-inch sub roll, filled with Cadbury Creme Eggs and grill-pressed until toasty golden brown. Was available for free, for one day only, at 4 Subway locations in the UK, with only 500 subs available at each location.

Borden Cheez Kisses (1972-circa 1982): Little nuggets of thick, "pasteurized process cheese spread product" that came in a bag, individually wrapped. Available in "mild" or "tangy".

Ben & Jerry's Brewed to Matter (2015-circa 2022): Coffee ice cream loaded with slabs of fudge and a brownie batter swirl. Sold exclusively at Target stores