🥞 #005: A Pop-Tart Gets Resurrected at a Bowl Game
Plus: Sabrina Carpenter aligns her humor with Dunkin’s, a charming celebration of National Ice Cream for Breakfast Day, and Jeremy Strong’s coffee method acting
Happy February, breakfast friends! Welcome to a new year of fiction, fandom, and obsession with the morning meal.
Before we dig in, our hearts go out to everyone in Los Angeles recovering from the historic wildfires. If you haven’t yet donated to a relief fund, consider supporting the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank, which provides food assistance to people throughout Los Angeles County.
This month, our guest essay series is on a break. Instead, I’m stepping in to write a low-stakes, high-whimsy piece that is hopefully a nice distraction from the current news cycle. The Pop-Tarts Bowl is back, and you can join me as I take an incredibly serious deep dive into the spiritual implications of resurrecting a toaster pastry. Elsewhere in breakfast, keep scrolling for hot links to Sabrina Carpenter’s Dunkin’ collaboration, National Ice Cream For Breakfast Day, and other trending topics.
All Pop-Tarts Go to Mouth Heaven: A Deep Dive Into the Pop-Tarts Bowl
Written by Tim Lampe
If you’ve spent any time on the internet, you probably saw the now-viral video filmed at the 2023 Pop-Tarts Bowl. The short clip featured a Pop-Tart mascot, holding a sign saying “Dreams Really Do Come True,” descending into a larger-than-life toaster. What came out of a slot at the bottom of the contraption was not a person in a costume, but a real, edible pastry, which was promptly devoured by the winning Kansas State team.
In short, we witnessed no less than Pop-Tart Jesus. The viral moment spawned countless memes, and a priceless earned media moment for the toaster pastry brand.
“We were excited about [the mascot],” Heidi Ray, Pop-Tarts’ senior director of brand marketing, later told ESPN. “We didn’t anticipate that the world would lose its mind the way it did when it was introduced and then ultimately when it was sacrificed.”
Pop-Tarts’ surprise was baffling. You mean to tell me that you gave life to a breakfast pastry and then made a football team eat it in front of thousands of viewers—and you didn’t think people would go nuts?
The bigger question for the marketing department then became: How do you follow up this kind of surreal virality? The answer was no less than a wholesale Pop-Tart resurrection at the latest edition of the bowl game, featuring sprinkles on the sidelines, multiple mascots, and a functioning toaster trophy.
Now, I’m no college football expert, and I’m not here to discuss the merits of the event nor the teams involved. Instead, I’ll be breaking down the key characters and innovations underlying this second branded bowl game, with all the sincerity and seriousness that this topic deserves. Let’s get into it.
The Mascot(s)
During the second-annual Pop-Tarts Bowl, held at the end of 2024, the breakfast brand responded to its first viral moment by staging a ressurection of the Frosted Strawberry mascot, soundtracked by Handel’s “Messiah” and The Verve’s “Bittersweet Symphony.”
But this time, it wasn’t alone. The world’s first edible mascot was now flanked by three other Pop-Tarts, each representing a different flavor: Frosted Wild Berry, Frosted Hot Fudge Sundae, and Frosted Cinnamon Roll. Yes, I believe those are their legal names.
The latter flavor was particularly noteworthy: It had been voted on by the public, and announced as a mystery flavor earlier in the month. “We’re always listening to our fans and are very happy to deliver one thing they’re truly hungry for: the return of Frosted Cinnamon Roll,” Ray said in a press release on Dec. 4.
The enhanced cast of players in this now-annual sacrificial ceremony chose to introduce themselves by running onto the field wrapped in aluminum foil, only to unwrap themselves to reveal … nude Pop-Tart bodies? (It is unclear if the frosting counts as clothing in the toaster pastry lore.)
Overall, I feel there’s less innovation inherent in simply increasing the number of mascots. (The Onion’s infamous “Fuck Everything, We’re Doing Five Blades” comes to mind here.) Sure, they caused some mischief by sneaking up on referees during gameplay. Unfortunately, there were no further storylines or character arcs for them to explore during the game.
Level of Innovation: 5/10
The Trophy
On December 15, 2024, GE put out an unlikely press release. “The Pop-Tarts Bowl is thrilled to announce the unveiling of the first championship trophy in sports to include a working toaster, developed in partnership with GE Appliances, a Haier company,” it read. In case you didn’t think they were taking the brief seriously, Todd Getz, executive director of the GE Appliances brand, commented: “We have a belief at GE Appliances that there is always a better way. When Pop-Tarts asked us to put a working toaster inside a football trophy, we were determined to figure it out.”
The resulting 77lb masterpiece of engineering is genuinely one of the most committed-to-the-bit pieces I’ve seen from a breakfast brand. Treating the inaugural Pop-Tarts in the trophy as an Oppenheimer-level moment of ingenuity is truly something to behold.
Now, I want to see other brands innovate in the appliance-slash-trophy space. Could we see a Duke’s Mayo trophy that doubles as a panini press? What about a Cheez-It trophy with a built-in T-shirt launcher? Pandora’s Pop-Tart box has been opened—it’s clear that we can never go back to regular trophies again.
Level of Innovation: 10/10
The Sacrifice to “Mouth Heaven”
After Iowa State’s 2024 Pop-Tart Bowl victory, junior quarterback Rocco Becht was named the game’s MVP. As part of the privilege, he was asked to send one of the three Pop-Tart mascots to the toaster. He selected Frosted Cinnamon Roll, sentencing it to an untimely death.
In a stunt reminiscent of the first viral moment, Frosted Cinnamon Roll walked to the giant toaster in the middle of the field, climbed up the ladder, and stood overlooking the thousands of spectators who stayed to watch its execution. It held a “FOLLOW YOUR DREAMS” sign before descending into the toaster. As before, a giant, edible Pop-Tart popped out of the other side, for Becht and the rest of his Cyclones teammates to consume.
Here’s where things got even weirder. In post-game social posts, Pop-Tarts announced that “Mouth Heaven gained another angel!” (I can only assume the marketing team coined “Mouth Heaven” to show that they hadn’t gone overboard in advocating for specific religious ideologies.) But the phrase is troubling in its implication that there is a judgment part of this process, and an afterlife for toaster pastries.
If there is Mouth Heaven, does that also mean there’s a Mouth Hell? How would a Pop-Tart sin badly enough to end up there? Are all of us complicit in the potential spiritual damnation of a well-meaning pastry?
Level of Innovation: 8/10
The Verdict
When the dust settles and no crumbs are left, it’s clear that Pop-Tarts has a marketing team firing on all cylinders. In some instances, they even managed to outdo and out-weird aspects of their first viral moment.
But it still felt like the cultural impact of this Pop-Tart spectacle wasn’t as significant as last year’s event. While a live resurrection and functioning toaster trophy helped, they still didn’t beat the sheer horror of watching a person in a costume descend into a giant toaster and come out the other side as an edible Pop-Tart for the first time.
So how can the breakfast brand top its first performance at the 2025 Pop-Tarts Bowl? I think the only way is to bring the entire audience to Mouth Heaven to see our toaster pastry friends again.
🍳 Hot Links
☕️ Sabrina Carpenter Launches a Drink with Dunkin’
As announced in a December 30, 2024 press release, Dunkin’ became the first coffee brand to capitalize on Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso” mega-hit and release a collaboration with the pop star: Sabrina’s Brown Sugar Shakin’ Espresso. The pairing makes sense—Carpenter’s playful persona aligns perfectly with Dunkin’s accessible, fun-loving brand image. There’s a good chance this collab, which has a humorously risqué ad, will be successful: According to Inc, “Consumers are looking to cope with a good laugh above anything else.”
Bonus Content: Watch this grandma who has never heard of Sabrina Carpenter give the drink a delightful review on TikTok
🍦The Fun History of National Ice Cream for Breakfast Day
Earlier this month, my inbox was flooded with press releases announcing National Ice Cream for Breakfast Day. “Oh wow, another fake corporate holiday,” I thought—until I stumbled on this Slate piece about the humble beginnings of the day. I would have guessed it was created by some social media marketer in the 2010s, but as Hannah Docter-Loeb writes, the occasion’s origins go back further—her Dad even managed this charming, now-defunt website dedicated to the event.
“I will admit that as I’ve gotten older, the prospect of eating ice cream first thing in the morning has become less appealing. I now usually eat a real breakfast before the festivities begin, to avoid feeling sick the rest of the day. As an adult, the day has become less about what’s on the actual menu, and more about the experience.”
Now I’m sad I didn’t celebrate the day and honor her family. On the bright side, there are only 11 more months until next year’s holiday.
🍩 Jeremy Strong Pokes Fun at Method Acting (and Himself) in Dunkin’s Super Bowl Ad
The actor best known for playing Kendall Roy in HBO’s “Succession”—and for his intense approach to method acting—most recently starred in Dunkin’s Super Bowl ad. He spoke to Variety about why he was keen to make fun of himself, with some incredible quotes:
I didn’t start drinking coffee until I was in college, by which time I had left Boston. But I grew up on those donuts. If I were to eat one of those donuts now, it would be like Proust dipping the madeleine in the tea. It would send me back to my childhood, to my roots.
… I also had a memory of my dad. I grew up in Boston, and he used to send me into Dunkin’ Donuts to get one cream, two sugars. At some point that reminded me of the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poem about Paul Revere’s midnight ride. And I thought, one creamer by land, two sugars by sea.
With this interview, I think we can confirm that Jeremy Strong has given deeper thought and attached more meaning to Dunkin’ than any actor that has come before him. From now on, may we all order our coffee with “one creamer by land, two sugars by sea.”
That’s all for this month—we’ll see you again in March! But before you go, a quick announcement: We’ll be putting out a call for submissions for Issue 03 of Morgenmete soon. If you feel it could be a good home for your work, don’t hesitate to send me a pitch at tim@morgenmete.com.
This was so masterful, a breath of silliness in a stale commercial bag of tricks