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Wed 30 Jul, 2003 10:56 am
They just opened the first Krispy Kreme doughnut shop in my city. For the last week this business has been featured on the front of some section of my newspaper every single day and has opened, yes, I said opened, the local evening news.
I've had a Krispy Kreme doughnut before and I'll admit it's a good doughnut but I am baffled by the obsession people seem to have for these things. Lining up days in advance? For a doughnut?
And how in the world does this company generate such a buzz? I bet they never have to buy advertising. It seems that the media would be cutting their own potential advertising revenues with their constant screaming about doughnuts.
If someone could explain how these doughnuts have tapped into our cultural psyche I would be forever grateful and I will owe you coffee and a lovely pastry should we ever meet in person.
Not everyone loves them. We had a doughnut thread a while back in the Food Forum.
But I could eat them by the dozen - I just don't allow myself to. I swear you could gain weight just smelling the aroma when you drive by the place.
I don't get this either. Since returning stateside I have had so many people tell me how good they are and I simply can't understand why. They taste like doughnuts to me.
I think it's very interesting that people are so ga-ga over these doughnuts that it generates so much press.
That's what I'm really curious about - how does this doughnut seem to capture our national fevor - not so much as debating the quality of the doughnut itself.
Is Krispy Kreme simply an edible pet rock or hula hoop?
They don't do much for me either but I was in OKC when the 1st one opened there a few years back and they just recently opened the 1st one here in greater Boston and in both cases it was "newsworthy" for a week or so and people flocked to the stores to buy them just like you mention.
Maybe it is just a fad (hyper-marketing??). I dunno. Couldn't even attempt to explain the craze.
Hi fishin!
The thing about it is - I haven't seen a speck of traditional marketing. It really hasn't been needed.
I suppose they could be providing free doughnuts to the paper and newscasters - that seems a bit unethical but I know such things are done.
Is it just because they're an affordable luxury? Personally, I can't imagine being able to afford two days of camping out just to get a doughnut.
Maybe its just something that everyone feels that they too can be "in" on.....
Maybe it's the whole comfort food, blue collar aspect of doughnuteering....
I dunno either...
You are right. They don't seem to do much (if any) traditional marketing. I don't remember seeing commercials or newpaper ads for them.
They do manage to have a certain.. hmm.. I don't know the right word here.. "thing" about them though. The franchises are EXPENSIVE and people seem to revere them. It's like some odd donut crazed cult or something.
I've only had a half of one Krispy kreme donut when I was visiting a friend in Berkeley. I thought it was an extra delicious donut, with more to the flavor than just the usual pound of sugar per donut. I do think they are likeable for themselves, not just because of marketing.
A "Celebrity" is someone famous for being famous.
Krispy Kream is a celebrity food for non-celebrities. I suspect the slow expansion of the chain has contributed to the image of the "must have"--or at least "must taste"--fried food.
Eating Krispy Kreams--or gobbling Krispy Kreams--gives you the right to have an informed opinion on Krispy Kreams. You may not know much about world affairs or the environment or the opera or French Cooking, but you will be able to discuss Krispy Kreams with your intellectual peers.
You will also be able to analyze the phenomenon with your intellectual peers.
Of course, us analytical types are a cut above the first group.
I've gone on at great length about this elsewhere, so I'll keep it short. I'm passionate about donuts, Krispy Kreme's are awful insubstantial garbage, and people are damn faddish, materialistic, consumption-driven fools looking desparately for some way to feel connected to others in an increasingly inward looking (but not introspective) and disconnected culture.
Innerestin. The Krispy Kreme fanatics camping for days are flash mobs writ large and slow?
Only with the caveat that the flash mobs at least are aware that they themselves are the spectacle.
...large, slow, and lacking irony, then?
(speaking of irony, i saw a demonstration of the iron content in a fortified breakfast cereal recently. a box was dumped in a container of water and stirred with a magnetic stirring bar for a few hours, at the end of which the bar was coated with a tablespoon or two of -- iron filings. a-yup, don't believe everything you see on the box; it may only be technically true.)
Make a bumpersticker out of that last sentence and rake in some dough. One of those Larger Truths, ya know.
Funny you should mention that. The gf and I have been writing some marketable bumper stickers lately, but have no idea what to do with them. I figure, people out there are making money off of these things, and we've got some good ones...
Damn, I could go for a marionberry fritter right now...
You totally do! I've been doing lots of freelance writing research and could send you some stuff if you're interested.
Marion Berry makes fritters now? Glad he made good.
I wonder if a large portion of the attraction for Krispy Kreme has to do with being able to watch the creation of the doughnuts from start to finish. People love seeing how things work and watching the machinery on manufacturing lines. They get a few moments of entertainment while eating their puffs of sugar-coated air.
a brief rant before I leave the office. Krispy Kremes are nasty things - they are nothing like a good donut. They are evil. Thank you and good afternoon.
Now, In&Out, there's a good reason for their popularity. But Krispy Kreme? BLECH!
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