Start your time machines, because General Mills is taking us all the way back to the Space Age with its recently revived Twinkles cereal – and rumor has it the stars up there are made of sweetened corn and taste like vanilla and butter cookies.
For a limited time, U.S. consumers can nosh on 1960s nostalgia by the spoonful. Just look for the blue box with an elephant wearing a bowtie on the front, which will be exclusively available at Walmart stores nationwide for $4.93.
General Mills is by no means the only F&B brand that’s catering to America’s unwavering appetite for nostalgia.
On the restaurant side, Taco Bell just launched its Decades Menu, offering a blast from the past with a classic dish from each decade of its 50 years in business for a limited time.
The nostalgic “new” menu includes items like the ‘60s Tostada, the ‘70s Green Sauce Burrito, the ‘80s Meximelt, and the ‘90s Gordita – each available for less than $3 as of October 31 – and concludes with a dessert throwback, its early 2000s-era Caramel Apple Empanada, which will sweeten the meal deal starting November 21.
On its website, the Mexican QSR chain said it’s resurrecting these items in an effort to “unlock core Taco Bell memories for the OG, and spark nostalgia for a new era of fans.” It elaborated that “fans have been creating and sharing Taco Bell memories for decades – everything from nerve-racking first dates to taco-centric graduation photoshoots to big birthday bashes – all starting with a trip to the nearest Taco Bell.”
The fast-food brand is pairing the fan-favorite menu items with a limited-edition lineup of nostalgic hoodies and stainless steel “Decades Cups” available for purchase while supplies last.
Taco Bell is also providing “additional opportunities to score exclusive merch available by taking the weekly Decades Personality Quiz in the Taco Bell app,” which kicked off on Halloween, as well.
According to Vicki Breon, brand and customer experience strategist at Priority Designs, the two brands may be onto something with these nostalgic marketing strategies.
“Emotion is a powerful tool for brands, and purchase decisions are overwhelmingly emotional,” Breon told The Food Institute
“By offering products that call back to nostalgia and childhood memories, people can easily justify buying a ‘little treat’ to bring them back to the past.”
Much of America’s heightened appetite for nostalgic products has been attributed to the Gen Z and Millennial generations; however, General Mills’ resurrection of its 1960s classic cereal and Taco Bell’s buffet of throwback items signal that perhaps the older generations may share this hankering for simpler times too.
The Food Institute Podcast
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