The Strange History of the Pop-Tart in Netflix's Unfrosted

Comedian, Jerry Seinfeld most known for his 1989 9-season show about nothing but the lives of his three friends and himself, made a 2024 movie about the origin of the "Pop-Tart". He was a writer and creator for Seinfeld similar to Unfrosted where his character works with co-workers and friends to claw through absurdities while creating a lasting impact for Kellogg's.

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Bob Cabana (Jerry Seinfeld) feels obliged to inform George(Isaac Bae) about the real history behind Pop-Tarts. George ran away from home with a bindle but stopped at the diner for a break and two Pop-Tarts. After asking for the box to be left with him, he reads out the story on it. The origin on the box claimed Pop-Tarts came about by Grandma Kellogg utilizing extra crust and filling from baking pies into tarts. These tarts were so popular they were called "Pop-Tarts". Sitting beside him, Bob admits it's inaccurate. With permission and after seeing the bindle, he decides to keep him at the diner by telling him the true story. He then tells him the complicated yet simple history of the Pop-Tart filled with rivalry, protests, threats, a funeral, a sugar war, involvement from the president, and mistakes including the most important one that transformed Kellogg's.

Bob worked as the Head of Development at Kellogg's. His job is vital in shaping the experience of the American morning which is shaped by milk and cereal breakfasts, especially in Battle Creek (Michigan), home to the breakfast giants, Kellogg's and Post. Their rivalry carried through generations as they often battled with Kellogg's surpassing in wins. Their success is evident through their overwhelming wins at the 1963 Bowl and Spoon Awards show. Later, it is revealed that they own the show to inflate their image. However, cozy winning becomes uncomfortable as the ease of the competition is realized the next day after he finds some kids in the Post dumpster.

He joins Butchie (Bailey Sheetz) and Cathy (Eleanor Sweeney) to explore "the goo" they frequent there for. He tries this dumpster concoction and realizes Post has a fruit-filled jelly-ish pastry thing upcoming. He heads to tell Edsel Kellogg III (Jim Gaffigan) about the situation, his discovery, and the familiarity of it. Edsel recognizes Bob tried working on a similar item with no success while they fear the possible success of Post to become the new breakfast king. During a meeting, they utilize their spy at the Post to confirm their file on the previous work was stolen before brainstorming to develop something innovative. The information about a shelf-stable fruit breakfast pastry makes the news leading everyone to plan for production and distribution to stores. 

At Post, Marjorie Post (Amy Schumer) and Rick Ludwin (Max Greenfield) struggled to successfully finalize the creation and this struggle is shared with Kellogg's. However, Kellogg's engaged a team of "the most innovative, unconventional minds of the 1960s" to beat Post. Bob's recruitment of his creative old co-worker, Donna Stankowski (Melissa McCarthy) aids their situation. She assembles a team of Tom Carvel (Adrian Martinez), Steve Schwinn (Jack McBrayer), Harold von Braunhut (Thomas Lennon), Chef Boy Ardee (Bobby Moynihan), Jack Lalanne (James Marsden), and Aunivac the computer as their first-ever taste pilots.

Kellogg's is threatened as Post notifies the five cereal families they would have the products on the shelves within the next week. They also demanded respect verbally and physically seeing that they had broken new ground during the meeting with Post, Kellogg's, Quaker (Andy Daly), General Mills(Michael Joseph Pierce), and Ralston(Ken Narasaki). Kellogg's decided to regain power by monopolizing the sugar supply from El Sucre (Felix Solis) in Puerto Rico which rendered Post desperate for a new source of sugar. As Post seeks a deal in Moscow, the information gets to the American President, JFK (Bill Burr) who calls on Kellogg's. Bob returned from the foul warning from the ruthless milkmen of Friendly Farms for creating a breakfast item which would not need milk. He joins Stan and Ed to answer to JFK about the current breakfast situation.

JFK tells them to give Post back some sugar from El Sucre and he would try to lessen the attention from the men at Friendly Farms. However, Mike Diamond (Christian Slater) channels his displeasure through Thurl Ravenscroft (Hugh Grant). Thurl is the Tony the Tiger breakfast mascot and he had been feeling neglected along with the other mascots. This feeling is stirred by Mike who informs him of the importance of the mascots to truly make the company and their cereals. This builds the confidence for a protest with others. Their protest is most notable on the day Mike Puntz (Fred Armisen) from the FDA visited to approve the products. With encouragement from the kids, Bob and Stan combined elements from the individual ideas of the team members to come up with elements of the pastry they called "Trat Pop".

When Cathy tasted their pastry she was shocked that it stated the same as Post and mentioned that but Bob told her everyone makes the same thing while mentioning Coke and Pepsi. He makes it known that the name is what helps make the product and distinguishes them. This is similar to his statement to Mike about all the flavours being the same with different colours. It is approved with some pressure and the mascots lose. After it's approved, the news about it airs but the anchor of CBS Evening News, Walter Cronkite (Kyle Dunnigan) misread the name. He called it "Pop-Tart" instead of "Tart-Pop" and this makes a significant difference. Everyone liked it including the advertising associates who visited to pitch names, so they changed the names on the boxes before they headed to shelves. Theirs and Post's go out at the same time but Kellogg's is sold out across America in 60 seconds. Ed talked to Bob about the importance of naming when compared to Post as he said nobody would want to be a square and a country square no less. They are successful and live their respective dreams. Bob ends the story before George's parents find him and take him home.

It's a fun movie. There are innuendos, references, notable comics and actors, and more as they introduce the 2 child actors who are important to the shaping of the new breakfast treat. I thought Amy Schumer and Bill Burr were great in this. The funniest thing I remember is the scene with Stan and Bob talking about how ludicrous it sounded for NASA to go to the moon. She really left her work at NASA thinking it was pointless. They added somewhat historical pieces for Kellogg's such as how Tony the Tiger came up with "gr-r-reat!" and how Bob came up with "Froot Loops" instead of "Fruit Loops". I did feel bad for the mascots though. 

Thurl struck a deal with them on the condition that his work as Tony would allow him to contribute more to the higher arts like Lear but they don't take him or his concern about the inside of the suit seriously. This inconsideration is similar to the other mascots. The request of Snap(Kyle Mooney), Crackle (Mikey Day) and Pop (Drew Tarver) was not taken seriously but instead met with threats of sharing their paycheck with another person or of being replaced. The movie is titled "Unfrosted" because they chose to leave the Pop-Tart as is. The importance of naming is evident as the mistake by the anchor was even more beneficial. Despite being a mistake, it reminded me of dropping the "The" from "The Facebook". A minor change but has a great impact.

In this video, Jerry Seinfeld and Billy Burr talk about Bill's scene as JFK. They talk about his approach to the character, how he got involved, his appreciation of being involved, and his appreciation for some wardrobe choices.

Video Credit- Netflix: Behind the Streams on YouTube

In this video, Jerry is humorously reprimanded by Kelman P. Gasworth, the President of Pop-Tarts for using the Pop-Tarts image without permission. To teach him a lesson, they take some things of his without permission. This includes his characters, the idea for his "Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee" Netflix series, and his identity as a comedian calling it "a tough business" after the president fails. Jerry also took the opportunity to take a jab at the 1994 Friends show for stealing his idea. He is from another show to claim that Friends stole their idea as did 1993's Living Single.

Video Credit- Pop-Tarts on YouTube

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