Why Planters Won't Bring Back The Discontinued '90s Snack PB Crisps

Planters has been in the peanut business since 1906. But through the years, the company has sold more than just one type of nut. In 1985, cashews were introduced, and in 1998, Planters started selling trail mix. Nowadays, you can find jars of Planters brand walnuts, almonds, and other nuts seasoned all kinds of ways. Even non-nut-based snacks, such as Cheez Balls and sunflower seeds, are available. At one point, however, there was also a Planters product called PB Crisps. But don't expect them to make a comeback anytime soon — apparently, the snack wasn't all that popular.

Released in 1992, PB Crisps were crunchy peanut-shaped cookies filled with peanut butter creme. The bite-sized snacks also came in two other flavors — PB&J Crisps, filled with peanut butter creme and strawberry jelly, as well as Chocolate Crisps, filled with chocolate creme. 

Unfortunately for fans, PB Crisps weren't around for very long. After about three years of selling them, Planters phased out PB Crisps in 1995. Since then, they have yet to make a return, to the disappointment of many.

Based on how much they're talked about online, you'd assume PB Crisps were extremely popular when they were available. One Reddit thread is filled with more than 200 comments collectively reminiscing about how tasty they were. And a similar sentiment is reflected in the comments section of a YouTube video featuring one of the original PB Crisp commercials. There's an entire fan-run website petitioning Hormel, Planters' parent company, to bring back the apparently beloved favorite.

Perhaps all this advocating is the result of people craving a taste of the '90s, because the actual numbers tell a different story. In 2017, Planters took to Twitter to respond to fans demands, but revealed that PB Crisps weren't nearly as popular as people remember, thereby implying that it wouldn't make sense to bring them back. 

"We appreciate the love for PB Crisps, unfortunately, there was not enough consumer demand for us to continue producing it," the brand explained in the tweet.

Despite the fact that Planters seems to be nowhere near as enthusiastic about PB Crisps as fans are, that wasn't always the case. When PB Crisps first came out, Planters gave them their own jingle. Let's not forget that the company also released not one, not two, but three different varieties of the product. Clearly, there was a point in time where Planters expected PB Crisps to take off.

Though they didn't end up being a huge hit, not long after their discontinuation, Planters tried again, releasing a similar product called Nut Poppers. Like PB Crisps, these were bite-sized snacks with crunchy cookie exterior. Instead of a peanut butter filling, however, the inside of a Nut Popper was a whole peanut. 

It seems Nut Poppers were even less of a hit than PB Crisps, given that there's hardly any trace of them online, let alone a petition. That at least means that if Planters were to reintroduce a nostalgic favorite, it would likely be PB Crisps.