Twinkie - The Most Successful Spongecake of All Time

hey everyone this is Mike from late 2018 talking to you but after I run the intro it's going to be Mike from early 2018 which as it turns out is a little different I don't know it's probably not as noticeable to you as it is to me but I felt the need to say something about it soon after last Christmas I had the idea for hostess holidays on the channel where I make this video and the last one I figured I'd make it then and wait to release it so don't be too harsh on this video in fact don't be too harsh on any video and no need to be harsh I stand by all the information and everything I say nothing's out-of-date just here's the video really seriously you're not asking me about hostess Twinkies are you Twinkies are probably one of the most well known products ever created but on the off chance you're not familiar if you ask Google it says it's a small finger shaped sponge cake with a white synthetic cream filling and I'd say that's pretty spot-on honestly I don't understand the appeal I'm sure you know this already but Twinkies aren't that healthy in fact they appear to be much unhealthier than I even originally thought I went to the store and I took a photo of the box looks like a serving size is two of them and within that we're looking at 260 calories 3.5 grams of saturated fat 43 grams of carbs and 29 grams of sugar that's not good looks like it has some protein calcium and iron but correct me if I'm wrong it contains basically nothing nutritious and the list of ingredients is a little frightening I know it would be but this is a long list I would consult with a chemist before attempting to pronounce most of them but let me know is there anyone out there who would identify disodium phosphate as their favorite food really that's the joke right they have so many chemicals in them that they last forever personally I'd sooner go to the bakery section of the supermarket and get some freshly baked doughnuts or muffins at a similar price they sell them at the same place I picked up this box of Twinkies and when I say I picked it up I literally picked it up took a photo and put it back I didn't buy it but in the same building they sold fresh donuts for 75 cents and muffins for a dollar 50 the box of Twinkies was on sale for 349 so people aren't buying Twinkies for the price it's not for the freshness and it's certainly not for health reasons as far as I can deduce it's for the taste which I don't understand either it tastes a little off to me but there's millions of people out there that love it and I will admit it's a unique taste there's no mistaking a Twinkie they've managed to create something that people love so much they're willing to pass a fresh likely healthier stuff for it and that's not easy to do one would think there'd be a taste trade-off in order to preserve it and allow it to sit on she´ll for days or even weeks but they've overcome the trade-off and we're able to mix all these ingredients together into something that appeals to millions of people and as exemplified by me is known by many more whether you love them or hate them you can't deny their cultural impact so let's take a closer look at this popular little sponge cake Twinkies go way back all the way back to the 1930s the story goes that the bakery made strawberry shortcakes but the machines were shut down when strawberries weren't in season so this guy James Alexander Dewar had the idea of using the machines to fill the cakes with cream the filling at the time was actually a banana filling today it's vanilla flavored the change occurred during world war ii when bananas were hard to come by the vanilla flavor was such a big hit they never looked back in recent years they did bring back the banana filling as a sight offering they even had it at the store I visited in addition to one they call the chocodiles covered in fudge frosting but if you're on a diet I recommend you stick with the original in the 1950s the Twinkie shot up in popularity when it was advertised heavily on the Howdy Doody show and then in 1971 they debuted their mascot the Twinkie kid it's basically a Twinkie and cowboy gear he's pretty cute I'd say it was a good marketing idea it gave the product a face and he fit in nicely with the products image he's wit stood the test of time too there was a brief time almost 30 years ago where he wasn't used but other than that he's been going strong many do already but I recommend an adorable little mascot for any company where it would fit in with the overall image maybe a little cheesy astronaut and with a square helmet just an idea I want to jump to the late 1970s now and talk about something known as the Twinkie defense this is commonly misunderstood in 1978 San Francisco Mayor Greg Moscone and supervisor Harvey Milk were assassinated by a person named Dan white that's all fact now the common misconception is that during the trial White's defense was that he ate a bunch of Twinkies before the murder and was on a sugar when the crime took place he couldn't be held accountable for his actions because the Twinkies made him do it this version doesn't give the legal system too much credit and is pretty far from the truth in reality the defense was that this man was depressed to a point where his mental capacity was diminished the Twinkies were just a small detail used improving the depression to prove he was depressed they stayed at how he quit his job his overall appearance became disheveled and he switched from eating healthy foods to foods such as Twinkies it's all intended to build the case that he was depressed and therefore had diminished capacity and therefore couldn't premeditate the crime and therefore it couldn't be a murder the defense worked and Dan White was only convicted of involuntary manslaughter when you clicked on this video about Twinkies I bet you never expected to hear the term involuntary manslaughter let me make the mood even heavier for a second before going back to the light-hearted Twinkie stuff dan white served only five years for his crimes but committed suicide not long after his release this was a high-profile case at the time and to this day is well remembered in the legal community and though it's not the ideal publicity for Twinkies I think it helped the brand I could picture a legal student reading up on this case and craving a Twinkie the entire time when you think about it there's a means of marketing that most products can't take advantage of all right back to the fun stuff and what's more fun than a Twinkie Weiner sandwich a memorable part of Weird Al's movie uhf it was also used in another movie you may have heard of to represent the normal amount of psychokinetic energy in the New York area well this Twinkie represents the normal amount of psychokinetic energy in the New York area and it was a pretty funny subplot in Zombieland this funky thing here ain't over yet the man loves his Twinkies in all these cases the Twinkie wasn't just being eaten casually or mentioned quickly it was the focus of the scene appearing in all these movies is perfect proof of the Twinkies cultural impact but what may be the ultimate proof came in 1999 in this year the White House did something pretty cool they put together what they call the National millennium time capsule the idea was to put together a bunch of items that represent America at the time throw them in a capsule and leave it till the year 2100 at that time the future people open it and are able to see what we thought most represented our country at this time it was a neat thing for the White House to do and one of the things included in this time capsule was a Twinkie I'm sure you saw that coming because this whole time capsule segment of the video would be extremely out of place otherwise in full disclosure it was taken out with the fear that it would attract mice but the impressive part is that it was ever included in the first place just look at some of the things it was placed with Ray Charles's sunglasses the Bill of Rights a piece of the Berlin wall a photo of Rosa Parks the fact that the Twinkie made it in with this group of items is just mind-blowing this is about the highest level of snack cake can ever hope to achieve I think I've proven the cultural impact and popularity of the Twinkie by this point the only other thing I could possibly do is take them away from the public completely and show you how much the world is affected I was about to set forth my plan to make this happen but luckily it already happened in November of 2012 I'm being silly now but this did happen and I'm guessing many of you remember it after the company announced Friday it was shutting down distraught fans went into a Twinkie tailspin emptying store shelves hostess went bankrupt and stopped producing their famous treats hohos gone ding-dongs gone snowballs gone but oddly enough Susie Q's I'm just kidding they were gone - it was all gone here's a basic economics lesson when the supply goes down the price goes up if you possessed a box of Twinkies you might as well have possessed a box of gold everyone was upset it was the biggest news story in the country and the public didn't respond well I don't think it was even because we all love Twinkies I think we just love the idea of having Twinkies around like I said I don't like them and I never buy them but I was a little shaken when they went away for most of us they've been around our entire life they're just one of those things we've come to rely on it shows how much most of us hate change it didn't affect my life in any way but just the fact that they weren't there in the shelves when I walked past the section was something that made me uncomfortable let me know if anyone else felt this way I mean I wasn't curled up in the corner crying over it but it made me feel a little bit sad luckily they were only gone for a few months they made a huge return in July of the following year they are back hostess cupcakes donuts and Twinkies the sweetest comeback in the history of ever based on the public's response and the 29 grams of sugar I can't argue with it Twinkies are back on the shelves and you're all free to buy as many as you want you can go get the Ho Hos Ding Dongs snowballs but oddly enough the Suzie Q's all right you can get those too or if you're like me you're still not buying them but you could take some weird comfort in just knowing that they're there a triumphant return big-time movie scenes the decision to put it in that time capsule a legal defense what else could you possibly want from a small sponge cake the heights that this product is achieved are just incredible and now it's finally achieved the highest possible honor an entire company man video dedicated to it let me know in the comments any thoughts you have about Twinkies and how you held up during their absence I shared everything I have to say so now I'd like to hear what you have to say thank you for watching [Music]

Channel: Company Man

Views: 298,764

Rating: 4.8969808 out of 5

Keywords: Hostess, Twinkie, Business, Products

Id: YI4tv21rKLM

Length: 11min 25sec (685 seconds)

Published: Wed Dec 26 2018