MoonPie, the marshmallow sandwich brand and self-proclaimed “official sponsor” of the total solar eclipse on April 8, is celebrating “the day the moon wins” with limited-edition Solar Eclipse Survival Kits.
The custom “blackout boxes” contain chocolate, vanilla or banana mini MoonPies, perfect for eclipse watch parties, “especially in the path of totality,” where the moon will completely cover the sun.
“The solar eclipse of 2017 was massive for us, but we knew we had to go even bigger this time,” said Tory Johnston, vice president of sales and marketing at Chattanooga Bakery, Inc. “It’s the day the moon wins, and the sun goes down! So we wanted to make something that got people as excited about the eclipse as we are.”
For the 2017 eclipse, MoonPie went viral for its two-word social media response to rival Hostess, which claimed the title of official snack cake of the eclipse: “Lol ok.”
This year, MoonPie is going all out, with a social video campaign featuring the sun versus the moon in a spoofed professional wrestling match dubbed “Sun vs. Moon ’24: Brutality of the Totality.”
The “Brutality in the Totality” promotion isn’t MoonPie’s first foray into the cosmos. The brand famously advertised directly to aliens in its recent “Alien Acquisition” campaign. MoonPie and ad agency Tombras created the campaign “exclusively for non-human entities, in a language only aliens can understand.”
The eclipse on April 8 will cross Mexico, the U.S. and Canada. The path of totality will cross more than a dozen U.S. states, and all of the Lower 48 will be able to see at least a partial eclipse. The next such total eclipse to be visible in the contiguous U.S. won’t occur until Aug. 23, 2044.
The MoonPie Solar Eclipse Survival Kits will be available for a limited time at Dollar Tree, participating Walmart stores, select grocery stores, and online at moonpie.com.
Story via TMX