So Good Retro: A Salute To Wacky Packages

The Weird Al of product parodies, Wacky Packages made their debut in 1967, as a set of collectible stickers that gleefully lampooned popular household brands.

An almost instant hit, they became a full blown fad in the early 70’s.  Kids would rabidly decimate candy store racks, in an attempt to complete their collection, while discarding the horribly flavorless, roof of the mouth impaling, rectangular stick of pink bubble gum included in each pack.

Other than the rare threat of a lawsuit from a cranky corporate entity, followed by a hasty retirements of said specific card in a series, things have been going swimmingly.

Even rejected Wacky Packages  had the ability to go on to bigger and grosser things. In 1985, a kiboshed design for “Garbage Pail Kids” would eventually spawn its own ridiculously profitable  card series and grotesquely awful feature film.

Like any collectible, with time comes value.  Bring a near mint “Ratz Crackers”  Wacky Package from 1968 onto Antiques Roadshow? Lose your mind when its appraised at $4,000.

Thankfully, Topps, the company behind the series, continues to release new series and re-release classic, best selling cards on an annual basis.

As a mass majority of  Wacky Package’s  pun choked odes revolve around butchering popular, pop culture fueled food brands, it seemed only fitting to offer up a Rogue’s Gallery of their choicest cuts.