Hostess' New Snack Cakes' Name Has Shoppers Confused

As of June 21, Hostess has officially embraced cryptocurrency and its inevitable growth within the food industry — but not exactly in the way customers may have expected. It's a new world: Food NFTs are on the rise, McDonald's made a meme cryptocurrency worth $6 million, and even chains like Chipotle have begun accepting cryptocurrency as a payment method, per Nation's Restaurant News.

Hostess, however, entered the crypto game in the way it knew best: by launching a new bakery product that is certainly with the times. Though the brand behind Twinkies, Ding Dongs, and other snack cakes has previously leaned on its nostalgia factor for success, it is now looking to the future with its recent ventures, Food Dive reports. These include increased spending on production, exploration of resealable snacks — Hostess dropped chocolate-mint mini cakes this spring — and now a brand-new product that's already causing some customers to raise their eyebrows.

This week, Hostess unveiled a new fluffy treat that's a nod to the most prominent cryptocurrencies out there. Its name? $TWINKcoins, which are coin-shaped vanilla sponge cakes filled with the brand's signature creme. Despite the fact that the $TWINKcoins look a lot like the brand's ever-popular Twinkies in coin form, customers seem a little too distracted by the product name to appreciate Hostess' showcase of its crypto knowledge. 

In the comments of @candyhunting's Instagram post about the cakes, people noted the similarities between the product's name and another word. "Hostess said happy pride month," joked @j.eliasmccall. Another user, @random_cattai, advised the brand, "Run your advertisement past a group of teenagers, and if you hear one snicker, pull it and think again." $TWINKcoin also made waves in the Reddit community. One user remarked that Hostess surely hadn't "thought this thing through" but wondered if it could be the brand's "edgy" attempt at "connecting with a younger audience." Regardless of how people feel about this product's name, investors and pastry fans can get a 10-pack of $TWINKcoins for $3.49 at Walmart stores at the end of June (via Baking Business).