Saturday, June 17, 2006

Off Topic: A Kit for S'mores?

I was picking up some groceries today and saw a new product that just stopped me in my tracks -- a prepackaged kit for making S'mores. That's right, a box with some graham crackers, a few marshmallows and a chocolate bar. Complete with instructions. Think about that. If you need a kit and instructions to make s'mores I think it is likely you have more serious problems to deal with. C'mon people, how hard is it? You microwave a couple marshmallows for 10 seconds, put some part of a chocolate bar a halved graham cracker and use the marshmallows to glue the two halves together. The hardest part is getting the marshmallow off the spoon or whatever you use to get it out of whatever you used to microwave it. If you are outdoors and near fire, toast the marshmallow on a stick.

Who needs a kit for this? How lazy and uninformed are we these days? A sad sad commentary.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Just another perspective, but how about 'smores for single people or those who don't want or need a whole box of graham crackers or bag of marshmellows. That's the market this is likely aimed at.

AboveAvgJane said...

Phillydem,

No one, but no one, NEEDS a whole bag of marshmallows. And if you close the bag up tightly enough they last forever. I mean, is there anything natural enough in them to actually go bad?

To be honest I was more likely to eat a whole bag of marshmallows in one sitting when I was single (and had a younger sturdier digestive track), than I am now.

I still think it is strange.

Anonymous said...

It's just convenience and some people prefer that. It's like cake or brownie mix. I think you're reading too much into this. :)

AboveAvgJane said...

possibly. I suppose you'll be commenting on my tinfoil hat next. ;)

Anonymous said...

Just giving you the lazy, batchelor
perspective. :)

AboveAvgJane said...

It's true, I don't know that many batchelors these days,lazy or otherwise, but the ones I have been around would probably not be put off by a whole bag of marshmallows. After all, if you leave them out on the counter long enough they would harden and you could use them as poker chips or something.

Anonymous said...

LOL! There's nothing harder than a day old soft pretzel. I think one of those could stop a bullet.

AboveAvgJane said...

I thought of a potential market that makes some sense. It didn't occur to me at first because it's a subject I prefer to avoid. Maybe it's marketed towards dieters who probably could eat an entire bag of marshmallows but are trying very hard not to. That would make some sense. I still think $3.00 is a bit much to spend for one or two s'mores (can't remember how many were in the box), but if you have a craving and plan on eating only 1, maybe the kit would be appealing.

Anonymous said...

Based on my recent few years experience in retail, I'd say it's actually marketed at both "impulse"
and convenience-oriented buyers. The person who walks down the aisle and didn't plan on making or eating 'smores, then they see "easy" 'smores, remember how much they liked them and pick up the box.

I'll bet, too, if you add up the cost of a bag of marshmellows, graham crackers and chocholate, you're close to or over $3.

Anyway, this is the last thought I'm giving to the topic. :)