Kraft Macaroni & Cheese is saying “Welcome (back) to the Space Jam” with fun new noodle shapes! Your favorite Looney Tunes characters will soon join cartoons like SpongeBob Squarepants and the Ninja Turtles on the Kraft shelf.
Chewboom is reporting that the Space Jam: A New Legacy-inspired treat will be available on June 1, 2021. The only noodle shapes we know of at this time are one based on the wascally wabbit himself, Bugs Bunny, and one of a basketball. No word yet if any noodles will look like LeBron James. Let’s face it, there have been worse ideas in the realm of macaroni.
Maybe Bugs Bunny won’t become the new face of Kraft Macaroni & Cheese, despite one time being the iconic mascot for the company’s fruit drink, Kool Aid. But you may be surprised to learn that this isn’t the first time Bugs and friends have been turned into pasta.
Looney Tunes and Kraft Macaroni & Cheese of the past
The Looney Tunes have found themselves smothered in cheese sauce twice before at the Kraft factory. In 1995, the company released “Bugs Bunny and Friends” macaroni. The commercial for this release spends a good deal of time talking about all the Looney Tunes characters besides Daffy Duck, who in a turn of irony has the only speaking role outside of the announcer.
In 2000, the Looney Tunes gang was back at it, celebrating the Millennium with “Mil-Looney-Um Mac” in what no one thought was too much of a stretch even for the worst of pun-makers. The release appears to have been a reissue of the “Bugs Bunny and Friends” macaroni, but with added numbers of “2” and “0”. Presumably there are three times as many zeros as there are twos per box, or the whole thing just doesn’t make any sense.
In researching this article, I nearly fell down a rabbit-hole (not necessarily Bugs’ home) trying to find out more about Kraft’s history with odd-shaped pasta (though the less said about their Pumpkin Spice Mac & Cheese, the better). In so doing, I learned about Guillermo Haro, the man behind some of your favorite cartoon-based macaroni creations. Mr. Haro is the holder of 29 pasta patents, and has created numerous variations of your favorite comfort food. Despite the many shapes he’s created, Mr. Haro claims, “Appearance must never compromise taste.” It’s why Kraft is able to continually produce new products that delight children and those who are children-at-heart. It’s why we keep coming back for more.
What’s your favorite cartoon-based Kraft dinner? Would you still eat Kraft dinner if you had a million dollars? Let us know in the comments!