Cracker Jacks a good lesson in packaging

Yet during a recent attempt to retrieve the toy inside, I had an extremely frustrating experience.

(Yes, there is a business connection. Read on …)

As a child, a box of Cracker Jacks represented one of the few treats I could ask my mother for at the grocery store and almost always receive — without hearing the word “no.” Apparently I suffered a rare childhood illness requiring me to ask for everything I wanted. 

The idea I could enjoy a snack and get a toy as a reward was a great combination, I thought. Great marketing, too.

The snack has been around since 1896, and “a toy in every box” was introduced in 1912. Sailor Jack and his dog Bingo appeared six years later. It is said Sailor Jack’s character was patterned after the youngest grandson of founder F.W. Rueckheim.

Cracker Jacks were always a tasteful alternative when I got tired of animal cookies, the other almost-guaranteed snack. I like animal cookies, but after eating a few, there was always a bland, doughy taste that wouldn’t go away. I would quickly grow tired of biting them into different shapes while eating them.

So when I saw a box of Cracker Jacks on the store shelf recently, I couldn’t resist. I didn’t remember the last time I had some, but I did remember how great I thought the prizes used to be. 

Knowing the prize was usually near the bottom, I wasn’t surprised the box was almost empty before I found the toy. Instead of finding a ring or some object that makes noise, it appeared to be a tiny instruction booklet. I shouldn’t have been disillusioned, but this was the toy?

The next step was to open it and see what this was all about. It really was an instruction booklet. The directions were to fold, bend and eventually craft your own toy. Way too much work compared to Cracker Jack toys of the past.

So here were the instructions:

1) Detach prize and fold each corner toward you along the dotted lines.

2) Next, fold the prize in half, folding it away from you.

3) Then, push the center triangles forward to open the slit.

(Easy enough. Then you got to number 4…)

4) Push backward at points A and B. Then, hold the prize by the side edges and gently push toward the center to move the mouth.

What mouth? It started out as a picture of a shark. When I finished, I was left with something that looked like it came out of a paper shredder. Keep in mind, absolutely nothing was labeled. The only thing left in the booklet were Jack’s Jokes…

Q: “Why was the frog happy?”

A:  “Because he ate everything that bugged him.”

Apparently the jokes stayed the same because they never got funnier. The design on the box also looks the same as it always did. 

So where’s my ring?

I will still eat Cracker Jacks, but I doubt I will ever feel the same way about the prize again. There’s no question the success of Cracker Jacks will continue, but I learned a very important lesson about the fine art of packaging products for the consumer and how drastically established products can change over time.

Young is the chief correspondent for the Highland Lakes Business Journal.