Cracker Jack, Then and Now

Believe it or not, when I was a young pup there were some "brands" that were conspicuously nostalgic.  I guess today you'd say retro although that term is a newer invention.  You can be forgiven for thinking that this is akin to a dinosaur from the Cretaceous period observing that something looks to be a holdover from way back in Jurassic times.

A good example was Cracker Jack.  This came in cardboard boxes at a time when most snacky stuff already had moved to foil or cellophane bags.  The graphics were decidedly old fashioned.  And it had "a prize in every box", usually some little bit of plastic that even then we recognized as worthless.  I was never a huge fan of the stuff.  The caramel corn does not shake out of the box easily and the peanuts were often stale, hard and something you might break a tooth on.  But it was an interesting little island of brand stability; representing a continuity from one generation to the next.

No more.

Baseball season is up and running for a few weeks now.  Back in chillier times my kids gave me a Baseball Care Package to get me through the winter.  Nice new cap.  Bunch of baseball related snack foods including Cracker Jack.  But the latter seemed just a bit "off".

The graphics had changed a little but it still had all the proper themes.  Kid with sailor suit and dog, red white and blue, baseball oriented.  But the box seemed smaller, even allowing for my adult sized hand.  And yes, it was one ounce versus the classic version which was about 1.4 ounces.  Perhaps being part of a three pack influenced this?  But wait, there's more.

Yay!  Prize Inside!  But as I dug around I found no plastic whistle, no little cowboy figurine, in fact nuthin' at all other than this little scrap of paper.

This was indeed a surprise, so I peeled it open to see what lay within.

Near as I can figure the 2019 purchaser of Cracker Jack is expected to aim their phone at this, snap a picture and get some kind of "digital experience".  On line comments suggest it often does not work.  But maybe the dog will wiggle his ears and bark at you.

I did not actually attempt this.  I'm skeptical of any "app" these days.  The free ones in general tend to have shoddy security features.  And the story of Bingo the Dog and Sailor Jack, the kid is actually a bit sad.

The dog was a stray adopted by one of the owners of the Cracker Jack brand.  The cute kid was a grandson of the other owner who died tragically at age 8.

I suppose to be fair I should mention that in a sense the elimination of the cheap plastic trinkets was actually a return to their original format.  Back in the early days of the company they included coupons that you could save up and redeem for things.  Also baseball cards that nowadays would be worth a darn site more than this little dog picture.