Thursday, October 22, 2020

#TBT 90's Marketing was No Joke - DunkAroos


DunkAroos - 7-Eleven 

Looking back, the 90's were pretty damn indulgent. I remember eating lunchables, canned Spiderman Chef Boyardee, Pringles, DunkAroos, String-Thing, SqueezIt, Toaster Strudels, Pizza Bagels and all kinds of junk...and even if I didn't eat it very often, I can still remember the commercials vividly in my head. (Especially String Thing.)

I don't know if that's a testament to my memory, or if advertising companies in the 90's were just that intent on marketing to children. (It's evil, but it totally worked.)  

At some point in my teens to early adulthood, Dunkaroos were discontinued, and since I was older, and eating a blob of frosting was more shameful at that age, I was none the wiser. Then all the Buzzfeed and nostalgia articles started making the rounds. You know, all the, "Only 90's-kids Remember," junk that you scroll through during downtime at work? That lit a nostalgia-fire in the hearts of adults in their late 20's and early 30's and companies took notice.  The kids they marketed to...now had their own money, and no one to stop them from eating several packs of DunkAroos for dinner, so what better time to re-release them?   


Even though I wasn't rushing out immediately to buy a pack for myself, just knowing DunkAroos existed again just made me feel a little happier, like childhood magic is still alive and well out there. (Even though it's all commercial and evil and manipulative marketing...I need to gasp at any small happiness I find these days, so let me have this!) 

While out hunting for MTN DEW VOODEW, I spotted these single packs at 7-Eleven (where I think they're exclusive?) And I picked up one for myself and one for my younger sister. (You're welcome, Manda!) 

As a kid I preferred the chocolate frosting DunkAroos packs, but from what I can tell only the vanilla with sprinkles returned to 7-Eleven shelves.  

From what I remember, this packaging looks slightly different (Where is the cool backwards-hat wearing kangaroo?), but the color scheme feels spot-on. Bright teal, purple, and little retro squigglies? Yes, please!  


Opened, the frosting smells buttery and sweet, way more appealing than the m&m's I reviewed last week, and the cookies are also sweet and vanilla'd. Similar to a golden Oreo, but with a hint of graham cracker. The cookies are shaped like little "D" medallions, and although I have memories of there being other shapes as well, I do remember this being one of them. 

I grabbed a cookie, scooped up some frosting and gave it a taste, and you know what? It's still pretty darn good. Somehow, even though this is sweet, it's far more tolerable than the white chocolate pumpkin pie m&m's. The cookie is sweet, but not overly sweet, with a vanilla-graham flavoring similar to a Teddy Graham, and the frosting is light, sugary, and buttery. Honestly, it's better than the tubs sold in the baking aisle, and the little sprinkle mix-ins add a weird slimy texture that I actually really like. They don't add much flavoring, but I found myself seeking them out to smash them against the roof of my mouth as I ate. 

I am a 33-year old lady, and I gotta say, eating a little tray of DunkAroos, in the midst of a pandemic, during a difficult election year, with all the chaos going on in my daily life...felt awesome. It was a tiny taste of my childhood when things were a lot simpler, and even though these things were fairly expensive, I'd say they were well worth it. 

If you have fond memories of these from when you were a kid, I say go for it. Pick up a pack next time you're running errands, and just enjoy a tiny blip of nostalgia, the sugar rush, and the serotonin. Enjoy the little things.

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1 comment:

  1. While there's still a shame to dipping cookies in frosting, if you want a better DunkAroos fix than actual DunkAroos, hit up Walmart. They sell cup-sized containers of sugar cookies and vanilla frosting. Delicious, but (unsurprisingly) seriously sweet.

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