Strap in, mates. We’re going on an adventure.
We all love ourselves a good old-fashioned knock-off product, what with your Sornys and Panaphonixes and whatnot, but by and large those are usually confined to weird markets and third-world countries. You don’t exactly expect to see them pop up on shelves at a bog-standard department store. And yet, we now have the curious case of Prongles.
A few days ago, pictures of the incredibly weird and not-very-subtle tubed chip containers began swirling around social media.
https://twitter.com/katangus/status/933083620599783430
There’s, quite obviously, a fair amount to unpack there. But firstly it’s important to note that this isn’t some random weird back-alley market that only accepts barter or rubles as payment. It’s a Target in the United States. Not only that, it’s in the board game aisle. But that bit we’ll get to in a minute.
Straight away the whole thing is bonkers and wonderful. The pig graphics. The “once you pop… that’s great!” slogan. The inexplicable “salt and potato” flavour combination.
The strangeness, however, only deepens from there.
Taken in by its curious name and wide availability, sleuths on Reddit and Imgur went to work.
The Prongles labels appear to be merely a sticker. When peeled back, the tins are revealed to be from The Good Crisp Company which, unbelievably, is based in Australia.
Credit: Imgur / BabyDoc
So what the hell are Australian chips doing in US Target board game aisles masquerading as knock-off Pringles?
*inhales deeply*
When people looked a little closer they noticed that the graphics on the labels contain the letters ‘CAH‘ tucked away on them.
Credit: Imgur.
And when they were scanned at checkouts, the tins didn’t register as chips, or Prongles, or even food for that matter. Instead, they registered as add-ons for Cards Against Humanity.
The tins also contained a website – www.OriginalProngles.com – that for the time being features a splash image with the promise that they’re “coming soon.” A closer look at the website reveals that the domain’s registering organisation is Cards Against Humanity LLC.
Prongles even has a Twitter feed, which was launched back in September and has posted exactly three times.
New flavor “birthday cake” coming soon!
— Prongles (@PronglesChips) September 12, 2017
New flavor “Shrimp” coming soon!
— Prongles (@PronglesChips) September 14, 2017
New flavor “onions and cream” hitting shelves soon
— Prongles (@PronglesChips) October 30, 2017
The account lists its location as Chicago, Illinois. The same location as the official Twitter account of Cards Against Humanity.
SO.
Cheap low-brand tubed chips made in Australia have been bought by Cards Against Humanity, shipped over to the US, rebadged with outrageously ridiculous ‘Prongles‘ labelling, and put onto board game shelves in Targets across America for sale.
And… that’s all we know. It’s clearly promotion for *something*. We just don’t know what at this stage. A new game? An add-on for the original Cards Against Humanity? A PR stunt? Some sort of super-elaborate fucking with fans? Who knows.
Whatever it is, colour us intrigued as hell.
