Fans Can’t Get Enough Of Pop-Tart Football Mascot Who Craved Being Eaten
Ah, the sweet taste of victory.
College football got a little weirder than usual on Thursday during the Pop-Tart Bowl ― an annual December game that’s undergone numerous name changes over the past three decades. (For the past three years, it was called the Cheez-It bowl.) This year’s game, in which Kansas State beat North Carolina State 28-19, involved a bug-eyed, human-sized Pop Tart mascot.
Pop-Tarts had previously touted the smiling pastry as the “first-ever edible mascot,” and the company meant it.
At the end of the game, the mascot brandished a sign reading, “DREAMS REALLY DO COME TRUE” before being lowered into what appeared to be a giant toaster. Donna Summer’s “Hot Stuff” blared in the background.
Here we are... the edible mascot in the Pop-Tarts Bowl.. pic.twitter.com/0XgKGoXseS
— PJ Green (@PJGreenTV) December 29, 2023
The bottom of the toaster apparatus opened up and spit out a version of the mascot (with no human actor inside ― we hope) made out of edible Pop-Tart material. Kansas State players grabbed at the anthropomorphic Pop-Tart’s body and shoved bits of him into their mouths in a celebratory fashion.
All in all, viewers were eating it up.
he is excited to die. he craves oblivion. his life is nothing more than a bulwark between himself and the peace of drifting away through the infinite black nothingness. eat upon his flesh, so he may be free. pic.twitter.com/T0kMcraMoz
— Skyler Higley (@skyler_higley) December 29, 2023
Pop tarts mascot you have to stop. your icing is too fresh. your swag is too strong. your face is too pure. they’ll kill you pop tarts mascot.
pic.twitter.com/6uRXBfwY1Y— Riley (@Ri_S_OB) December 29, 2023
Live every day like the pop-tart lived its last one: pic.twitter.com/eTD1HUdF5D
— Nicole Auerbach (@NicoleAuerbach) December 29, 2023
The Pop-Tart holding up a sign that says "Dreams really do come true" as it is lowered into a toaster to be cooked alive is the darkest thing I've ever seen https://t.co/ujJyD8i1Ml
— Derek Faraci (@WH_Woolhat) December 29, 2023
“We make a giant Pop Tart mascot that everyone falls in love with and at the end of the game he goes down in a toaster and the winning team eats him” pic.twitter.com/veIOlKQnca
— Bustin Thomas (@bustin_thomas) December 29, 2023
Funniest part of the Pop-Tart Bowl mascot death was the sign toss. I laugh every time I see it. pic.twitter.com/Q2wxXOJEC5
— Chris Vannini (@ChrisVannini) December 29, 2023
I’m going to think of this clip any time I toast a Pop-Tart for the rest of my life
pic.twitter.com/VhMuGBGEyp— Kevin Kaduk (@KevinKaduk) December 29, 2023
Some saw biblical overtones in the whole production. It is the Christmas season, after all.
this is an accurate portrayal of what Catholic doctrine teaches about Transubstantiation with the pop-tart as the body of Christ https://t.co/CL6ESLssDu
— the thicc husband & father (@lukeisamazing) December 29, 2023
Is the edible Pop Tarts Bowl Mascot sacrificing himself for a good time more significant than Jesus saying “drink my blood and eat my body” but it was just wine and bread??? Who can never be sure! pic.twitter.com/ZZFYDfvfEQ
— Meech (@MediumSizeMeech) December 29, 2023
He said when He returned, we would not know Him https://t.co/e2rKXRjgfkpic.twitter.com/Brpa5ZWpDc
— Nomadic Warriors for Pritzker⚔️ (@Nomads4Pritzker) December 29, 2023
And some people highlighted the gruesome, jammy aftermath.
As a marketer, This #PopTartsBowl has me dying
The stage was the toaster. The pop tart mascot climbed it. Went down inside and slid out on to the trophy podium.
And now the team is eating him like a zombie movie.
This marketing team at @PopTartsUS get it. @PopTartsBowlpic.twitter.com/QwLpUJhaSY— Mark R (@mairkrh) December 29, 2023
It’s not often we get to see someone go out a hero. Thank you Pop Tart Bowl pic.twitter.com/SvYGMOxOk1
— Dave (@GamecockDave69) December 29, 2023
But don’t feel bad for the Pop-Tart. Reporter Rodger Sherman confirmed with the mascot prior to its toasty demise that the breakfast pastry indeed yearned to be eaten.
I asked if it was offensive to eat a Pop-Tart in front of the @PopTartsBowl mascot and then its handler yelled out “ITS THEIR DREAM” and then the mascot grabbed a Pop-Tart out of my hand and started force-feeding it to me while making soft grunting noises pic.twitter.com/PaCDY6mzu3
— Rodger Sherman (@rodger) December 29, 2023