Cup Noodles brand has unveiled perhaps the most unlikely, certainly unexpected new flavour in the industry: ‘Camp Fire S’Mores’ Instant Ramen. I can’t even imagine what it would taste like. Would it be sweet? Savoury? Swicy?
A cold war has been waging for years be-tween Nissin Instant Ramen and Cup Noodles brand. And up to now, it’s been more or less good-natured. But it appears that the recent release by Nissin of head-line-grabbing Fugu flavour has pushed Cup Noodles over the brink – from the sublime to the ridiculous.
They’ve announced a wacky new ‘treat’ that’s clearly targeted to the North Amer-ican market: Campfire S’Mores.
What the heck?
How many of you share fond S’Mores memories with me? S’Mores have been a ‘big thing’ for campers of all stripes for decades.
When I was much younger, so much younger than today, I helped a friend with her Girl Guide troop. (That’s Girl ‘Scouts’ to you Americans in the audience.) And from that exposure, I took away a wealth of knowledge about how kids ‘work’.
Anyway, the kids looked forward through the whole Guiding year (corresponding to the school year) to going to camp in the summer. And the thing they looked forward to most at camp was a singsong and S’Mores around the evening campfire.
If you were on Mars…
… Or something, you may have missed the whole S’Mores experience. The snack/dessert/treat/construction project consists of 2 graham Crackers sandwiching a hot, freshly toasted marshmallow with a square of milk chocolate on top. …
Who among us has not, at least once, burned their mouth or fried their fingertips on a fiery-hot S’More?
Catch up, and pass…
I’m assuming Cup Noodles was musing on what it could do to meet or, better, surpass the appeal of Nissin’s exotic Fugu offering. Noting that summer is upon us (in the northern hemisphere), their thoughts might naturally have turned to ‘classic summer foods’.
If they concluded that the mass appeal of S’Mores is unequaled by any other summer bite, I would have had to agree.
But how?
S’Mores Cup Noodles join three previous entries in what the brand calls its ‘pantry staples’ line: Pumpkin Spice, Everything Bagel and Breakfast (a mixture of the classic breakfast combination of maple syrup pancakes, sausage and eggs).
But how do you implement the ‘S’Mores experience’ in a cup of instant noodles?
Like some of the other ‘pantry staples’, S’Mores ramen is a sauce- (rather than broth-) based dish. The sauce is described as ‘a blend of chocolate, marshmallow and graham crackers, plus additional mini marshmallows to sprinkle on top’.
Leveraging nostalgia…
“Ramen is eaten at all parts of the day during all times,” Nissin Foods USA Senior VP of Marketing Priscila Stanton, observed. “We believe that ramen can play in all of these different areas, and sweet is definitely one of those areas that we’ve had some success in.
“We believe this nostalgic flavor is going to start a lot of conversations and get people to remember those campfire moments that they had growing up or are still having.”
My take
Cup Noodle’s development and marketing strategy surrounding Campfire S’Mores instant noodles certainly makes perfect sense, logically. But I have issues with the idea of some ‘Big Brother’ mas-saging my nostalgia bone for their own benefit.
My memories are very special to me, particularly those from before I ‘came of age’, and the world was still at least partly magical. I guess I’m just naturally suspicious of anyone or any brand that tries to reach into my most private emotional space…
On a more objective level…
These new instant noodles will never replace real S’Mores, toasted by hand around a campfire with friends, dripping with volcanically hot chocolate and molten marshmallow.
~ Maggie J.