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Ransom Riggs
Mmmmm … novelty food items
by Ransom Riggs - July 13, 2007 - 7:23 AM

If you’ve been living under a rock for the last month or so, you might not have heard: the Simpsons movie is coming out later this month. To get the buzz a-buzzin’ here in LA, Fox has turned several 7-11 stores into faux Kwik-e-Marts, stocked with everything from Homer’s famous pink donuts to Buzz Cola. (All they’re missing is Duff Beer, but since the movie isn’t rated R, they didn’t make any.) Naturally, there are lines around the corner to get in — probably a first in the history of 7-11 — but I managed to score a few collectables. Behold!simpsons.jpg
Of course, this isn’t the first time pop culture has been used to sell novelty food items. One of the most famous examples is “Billy Beer,” which traded on the redneck image of then-president Jimmy Carter’s brother, Billy. His endorsement on the side of the can read “I had this beer brewed just for me. I think it’s the best I’ve ever tasted. And I’ve tasted a lot. I think you’ll like it, too.” Over two billion cans were produced, but sales were poor. Today, these “collectible” beers are worth maybe a few bucks apiece on eBay (which means I probably won’t be hanging on to my Krusty-Os for 30 years, though they’ll be fun to have around for awhile).Billybeer.jpg

Other novelty beverage flops include a Dallas-themed beer called J.R. Ewing’s and a M.A.S.H. brew dubbed 4077. But methinks this type of marketing works better on kids … and, apparently, Simpsons fans. D’oh!

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Comments (9)

  1. My dad actually has an unopened six pack of 4077. It’s sitting on his bar, he also has an IV shapped margarita dispenser, also from M.A.S.H.

    posted by Scott on 7-13-2007 at 9:16 am

  2. My Squishee tasted eerily similar to a Slurpee….

    posted by natlynn on 7-13-2007 at 10:17 am

  3. This isn’t really about a novelty beverage, per se, but your post brought to mind a type of malt liquor I once sampled that had a rebus puzzle inside the cap. I’m thinking it was Haffenreffer Private Stock, but am not certain.

    posted by Melissa on 7-13-2007 at 1:57 pm

  4. In honor of the movie, they named Springfield, Virginia as the official home of the Simpsons. I think they even mention it in the movie, too.

    I’d be a little worried about the 4077 bear, since a running gag in the show was how old and disgusting the food was.

    posted by heather on 7-14-2007 at 1:49 am

  5. http://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/simpsons-contest.htm

    Springfield, Vermont – not Virginia – won the Simpsons’ contest.

    posted by Tom on 7-14-2007 at 7:45 am

  6. My aunt has an un-opened 6 pack of “Billy Beer”. She won’t part with it. How much is it worth I wonder.

    posted by John Brown on 7-14-2007 at 12:08 pm

  7. The biggest novelty food items of my pre-teen years that I remember buying into was the Nintendo/Mario Brothers craze. Around the time of the release of Super Mario 3 in 1990 or so, they had Mario cereal, Mario fruit-snacks, and Oreo did a SMB3 content which caused me to actually believe I liked Oreos for awhile. Their biggest gimic of all was the realse of the movie, “The Wizard”, starring Fred Savage. In it, Savage and his youngr brother traveled to a video game contest. With the movie, Nintendo got to product-place SMB3, the Power Glove, and brainwash all of America’s youth into thinking Nintendo and movies could mix. Anyone remember the ill-fated and poorly received live action Mario Brothers movie starring Dennis Hopper and Koopa and Bob Hoskins as Mario?

    posted by Jacob on 7-14-2007 at 8:38 pm

  8. yeah, i remember that Mario Bros. movie…i think John Leguizamo played Luigi.awful. or was that the tv show with the cartoons interspersed with host Cap’n Lou Albano as mario?…my geekdom is failing me today…

    posted by mikey on 7-20-2007 at 10:07 am

  9. The greatest example of this would be the sale of Duff beer. In Australia in the early 90’s a brewery sold Duff beer without a licence and after legal action all cans were destroyed. They did manage to sell a few though a retail on ebay for over $120 a can (unopened). I knew i should have bought some at the time.

    posted by Paul Mison on 7-26-2007 at 10:00 pm

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