CHICAGO, Ill. — Kellanova-owned Pop-Tarts announced a significant expansion of its viral Edible Mascot campaign for the 2025 Pop-Tarts Bowl, officially dubbing the game “The People’s National Championship.”
The announcement confirms the return of the fan-favorite bowl game, which is scheduled to kick off on Saturday, December 27 at 3:30 p.m. ET on ABC.
The game will feature six Edible Mascots divided into two teams, Team Sprinkles and Team Swirls. Fans will vote on which entire team the winning football team will sacrifice and eat.
ABC will broadcast the game live on Saturday, December 27, at 3:30 p.m. ET. The move builds on the massive social and cultural success of the 2023 and 2024 games, which centered around a single, devoured mascot. The company has created a dedicated product listing page (PLP) detailing the two teams and the upcoming fan vote.
Six Mascots and ‘The Biggest Sacrifice Ever’ Planned
The toaster pastry brand is raising the stakes for the third installment of the game. It is delivering on what the company described as two years of fan demand. Fans want the bowl to be recognized as the “most elite game of the season.”
This year’s game will depart from the previous single-mascot sacrifice, instead featuring a showdown between two teams of three Edible Mascots each.
Pop-Tarts will split the Edible Mascots into Team Sprinkles and Team Swirls in a new twist. The brand designed this move to engage fans and create debate around preferred Pop-Tarts flavors. Pop-Tarts will reveal the final roster for both teams across their social media channels in the coming weeks.
Leslie Serro, Vice President of Marketing for Pop-Tarts, stated the changes are a response to enthusiastic fan feedback.
“Over the past two years, fans have made it clear: the Pop-Tarts Bowl deserves championship-level status,” Serro said in the press release. “In true Crazy Good fashion, we’re answering that call with a Pop-Tarts Bowl experience designed for the fans, dubbing this year’s game The People’s National Championship.”
For the first time, fans will determine the outcome of the pre-game hype, with a public vote deciding which of the two teams of mascots will achieve the “ultimate pastry dream” by being eaten by the winning college football team, joining the original Frosted Cinnamon Roll and Frosted Strawberry mascots in what the brand calls “Mouth Heaven.” The game will air live on December 27 at 3:30 p.m. ET on ABC.
What’s next? Pop-Tarts plans to unveil the complete 2025 mascot lineup in early December, including new characters and expanded sideline experiences. The follow-up announcement will detail the full rosters for Team Sprinkles and Team Swirls, plus bonus features designed to elevate the “People’s National Championship” even further.
Why it matters
The escalation of the Pop-Tarts Bowl from one edible mascot to six, plus the introduction of fan voting on the sacrifice, is a textbook example of successful experiential and nostalgia marketing in the CPG space. Kellanova is transforming a standard sports sponsorship into a viral, user-generated-content-driven cultural event.
The move of officially declaring it “The People’s National Championship” legitimizes the campaign’s social media status. This reinforces the brand’s connection with younger, digitally engaged consumers. This strategy leverages limited-time, shareable events. It also leans into brand self-awareness, especially the “crazy good antics.” This is crucial for older, heritage brands like Pop-Tarts. It allows them to maintain cultural relevance and drive engagement beyond the physical product.
FAQs
The 2025 Pop-Tarts Bowl, officially called “The People’s National Championship,” kicks off on Saturday, December 27, 2025. ABC will air the game live at 3:30 p.m. ET.
This year’s game will feature six Edible Mascots divided into two teams: Team Sprinkles and Team Swirls. The winning football team will sacrifice and eat an entire team of three mascots.
For the first time, fans can vote on which Edible Mascot team the winning team will sacrifice. Pop-Tarts will announce the team rosters and voting details in the coming weeks.
Editor’s note: Source86 perspective
For food manufacturers and private label brands, the Pop-Tarts Bowl escalation highlights a massive CPG and QSR trend: creating scarcity, novelty, and virality through non-traditional product experiences.
The brand is not selling a new flavor but selling an event. This strategy creates a massive surge in earned media and social engagement that traditional advertising cannot match. It demonstrates the power of integrating marketing with a self-aware, playful brand identity that is highly shareable.
At Source86, we help food brands manage complex, high-stakes supply chain projects. This includes creating and scaling seasonal novelty products or managing the ingredient sourcing for major brand campaigns.
We provide end-to-end expertise in co-manufacturing, FSQA oversight, and supply chain excellence. This ensures that when a brand decides to make a “Crazy Good” campaign, the production and logistics are precisely managed to deliver. Contact us.
EXTERNAL SOURCE: Pop-Tarts® Ups the Ante with ‘The Biggest Sacrifice Ever’ as Six Edible Mascots Take the Field at the 2025 Pop-Tarts™ Bowl
