The First Edible Mascot

Agency: Weber Shandwick
Client: Pop-Tarts

In most sports sponsorships, brands buy their way in, launch their logo into an already crowded market and… sink without trace. To avoid this sad fate, Pop-Tarts had to think outside of the box - and came up with an altogether more gruesome destiny.

For a brand historically associated with breakfast, its first step was to re-cast itself as a snack; a snack which would be ritualistically toasted and eaten alive by the winning team of the American College Football Pop-Tarts Bowl.

And so the world’s first edible mascot - a human-sized Frosted Strawberry Pop-Tarts pastry - erupted onto the field, dancing and cavorting before being sacrificed in a giant toaster. As media around the event reported: “After the game he will be devoured, he will die and he will be his own last meal.”

By turning the brand into a meme and then publicly killing it, this campaign got Gen-Zers talking and demonstrated that Pop-Tarts are a snack for every occasion. And it sold 21m+ more pastries and earned 4bn+ impressions in the process.