College football’s bowl season has been known to feature many unique traditions and fanfare over the years, and a new tradition will be added to the fun this year.
The Pop-Tarts Bowl, played at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, has announced it will have the first-ever edible mascot present at its game, and the winning team will get to take a bite out of the snack, although which flavor of the popular breakfast pastry it will be has not yet been revealed. The celebration is an on-field activation of the “Agents of Crazy Good” marketing campaign launched by the brand in July.
“For sixty years, Pop-Tarts has sacrificed everything in the name of Crazy Good flavor, so why wouldn’t that include our beloved Football Mascot, too?” Heidi Ray, senior director of marketing for Pop-Tarts, said in a news release.
“Since we announced our title sponsorship of the Pop-Tarts Bowl, fans have been speculating on the larger-than-life game day experiences we will be tackling, and this is the first of many traditions that fans can expect Pop-Tarts to upend on game day.”
Food-inspired sponsorship celebrations for teams that win bowl games are nothing new, but this takes it to a new level. The winner of the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl gets a bowl of potatoes, the winning coach of the Duke’s Mayo Bowl gets doused in mayo, the Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl dumps Frosted Flakes on the winning coach, and the Cheez-It Bowl had a similar practice.
The Pop-Tarts Bowl has been played in several different cities throughout Florida under various title sponsors since the 1990s, beginning as the Blockbuster Bowl in Miami. The game officially moved to Orlando in 2001 and was known as the “Tangerine Bowl.” It has been sponsored by Kellogg’s since 2020, but the name was changed from the “Cheez-It Bowl” to the “Pop-Tarts Bowl” earlier this year.
All 41 bowl-game matchups will be announced on Sunday, December 3, and played between December 16 and January 8. The 2023 Pop-Tarts Bowl will feature teams from the Atlantic Coast Conference and the Big 12 at 4:45 p.m. CT on December 28.
