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Burger Rings
Burger Rings
Product typeBurger flavoured snacks
Owner The Smith's Snackfood Company
Introduced1974; 50 years ago (1974)
MarketsOceania
Registered as a trademark in The Smith's Snackfood Company (Australia)
Burger Rings
TaglineBig burger taste (Australia)
Website www.smiths.com.au/brands/burger-rings
Burger Rings
Nutritional value per 100 g (3.5 oz)
Energy2,190 kJ (520 kcal)
60.6 g
Sugars2.7 g
Dietary fibre2.1 g
27.9 g
Saturated13.4 g
6.4 g
MineralsQuantity
%DV†
Potassium
5%
163 mg
Sodium
42%
968 mg
†Percentages estimated using US recommendations for adults, [1] except for potassium, which is estimated based on expert recommendation from the National Academies. [2]

Burger Rings are a type of corn-based, burger-flavoured Australian snack food distributed by The Smith's Snackfood Company, which, in turn is owned by PepsiCo. [3]

History

Burger Rings were introduced in 1974. [4]

During the late 1990s the Burger Rings brand went through a brand overhaul, coinciding with the acquisition of The Smith's Snackfood Company by Lays. During the brand overhaul the appearance of the packet was changed to a more modernised look with bolder and sharper letters in the logo, adopting its past logo.

Ingredients

Burger Rings are made out of a combination of corn and rice. A Smith's Chips representative confirmed Burger Rings are suitable for vegans. [5]

The ingredients for Burger Rings are as follows: cereals ( corn, rice), vegetable oil, maltodextrin, rice bran, salt, sugar, hydrolysed vegetable protein ( soy), flavour enhancer (621), food acids ( sodium diacetate, citric acid), flavour, mineral salt ( potassium chloride), yeast extracts, onion powder, tomato powder. It is also stated on the packaging "Contains Gluten", "Contains Milk or Milk Products", "Contains Soy Bean or Soy Bean Products" [6] in contrast with majority of other packaging that states "may contain traces of..." which is confusing for vegans as it implies one or more of the ingredients are derived from Milk.[ citation needed]

Flavours

A Bacon Flavour variant was offered in Australia, briefly.

Marketing

A memorable Star Wars-themed advertisement for the product was aired on Australian television in the early 1980s. It featured a faux Luke Skywalker character on Tatooine. After exiting his Landspeeder, he is confronted by a large group of Jawas who ask for his Burger Rings. He begrudgingly shares them only to be left with a single Burger Ring. A Jawa swiftly grabs that last one and the ad ends.

A radio ad campaign in the 1980s joked that Burger Rings were possibly made of rubber tyres concluding with the slogan "they taste good but!".

A 1989 ad aired on Australian television depicting a school chemistry experiment resulting in the creation of a single Burger Ring snack. The student who performed the experiment consumes the snack and seems to gain superpowers, developing jagged hair and a crazed look as the now- fluorescent Burger Ring bounces inside the boy's ribcage, made visible by a radiographic effect akin to X-ray imaging. This later turns out to be a daydream of the boy who has fallen asleep in a chemistry class, and continues to mix his chemicals in a sleepy haze. [7]

A 1992 ad featured a man at a bus stop who attempts to steal one of the snacks from another man's packet, only having it growl like a dog and attack his arm, making him run away past a sign that says "WARNING - BURGER RINGS BITE". The owner then shares the packet with a woman on his other side. [8]

In popular culture

In 2014, a contestant on Australian quiz show Millionaire Hot Seat failed to identify "Burger ring" as the "gag answer" to the $100 question, "Which of these is not a piece of jewellery commonly worn to symbolise a relationship between two people?". [9] The contestant instead incorrectly locked in " Anniversary ring". [9] The contestant was invited back onto the set at the end of the program where host Eddie McGuire presented her with a packet of Burger Rings as a consolation prize. [10]

In the 2016 comedy-drama film Hunt for the Wilderpeople, in a cameo appearance by the film's writer-director Taika Waititi, the character 'Minister' mentions Burger Rings twice in a mangled parable about Heaven: first as one of "the nummiest treats you can imagine" along with other snack food and beverage items such as Fanta, Doritos, Lemon & Paeroa and Coca-Cola Zero Sugar, and then as a designation of a door.

International variants

Burger Rings are available in New Zealand under the same name, except distributed by Bluebird Foods. The New Zealand variant has a different packaging design and a similar slogan: "Full on burger flavour". They are available in 30g and 120g bags, and in 108g 6-pack multipacks.

References

  1. ^ United States Food and Drug Administration (2024). "Daily Value on the Nutrition and Supplement Facts Labels". Retrieved 28 March 2024.
  2. ^ National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine; Health and Medicine Division; Food and Nutrition Board; Committee to Review the Dietary Reference Intakes for Sodium and Potassium (2019). Oria, Maria; Harrison, Meghan; Stallings, Virginia A. (eds.). Dietary Reference Intakes for Sodium and Potassium. The National Academies Collection: Reports funded by National Institutes of Health. Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US). ISBN  978-0-309-48834-1. PMID  30844154.{{ cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list ( link)
  3. ^ "Subsidiaries of PepsiCo, Inc". www.sec.gov.
  4. ^ "Smiths". Smiths. Retrieved 18 June 2020.
  5. ^ Imgur. "Imgur". Imgur.
  6. ^ Imgur. "Imgur". Imgur.
  7. ^ "Burger Rings Australian commercial 1989". YouTube. 15 June 2010. Archived from the original on 13 December 2021. Retrieved 11 September 2015.
  8. ^ "Burger Rings (Australian ad, 1992)". YouTube. 19 December 2008. Archived from the original on 13 December 2021. Retrieved 11 September 2015.
  9. ^ a b Byrne, Patrick (17 December 2014) Ballarat woman Whitney Beseler's Burger Ring blooper on Millionaire Hot Seat, The Courier. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
  10. ^ Molloy, Shannon (17 December 2014) Millionaire Hot Seat contestant hilariously bombs out on the very first basic question, news.com.au. Retrieved 22 September 2020.

External links

Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/?title=Burger_Rings&oldid=1159686105"