Kellogg's Once Called Pop-Tarts By A Totally Different Name

It's hard to imagine the breakfast pastry now known as "Pop-Tarts" with any other name. It's catchy and memorable, and describes exactly what it is — a tart that pops out of the toaster. But while Pop-Tarts may be a household name now, during its recipe-testing stage in 1963, when Pop-Tarts creator the late Bill Post was hired by Kellogg's, the product was originally called "Fruit Scones."The name didn't exactly have a ring to it, but it was how Post's children began to refer to the toaster pastries. 

"They used to ask me, 'Bring those fruit scones home.' That's what we called them at first, internally. Fruit scones. 'Bring some of those home, will you, Dad?'" Post, who died in February, told the Midland Daily News in 2003. The name stuck for a while but didn't stick for long. That same year, Kellogg's changed the name to the iconic moniker "Pop-Tarts."

When you think of a classic fruit scone, what comes to mind is probably a completely different baked good that bears no resemblance to Pop-Tarts. Actual fruit scones and Pop-Tarts taste and look entirely different, and the only significant similarity is that they both contain fruit. The lack of accuracy in the name could have had something to do with why Kellogg's decided to change the name of its product from Fruit Scones to Pop-Tarts; however, it wasn't the primary reason.

According to the official Pop-Tarts website, the reason was simply that Kellogg's thought the original name "sounded terrible." Seeking a new one that would appeal to more people and resonate commercially, the company turned to the pop art movement of the 1960s for inspiration, settling on the name that Kellogg executive William LaMothe came up with. Just a year after this name change, Pop-Tarts sold out of all its flavors, confirming that Kellogg's had made the right decision.

Going from Fruit Scones to Pop-Tarts is a pretty drastic switch-up, so you might assume it would've led to some confusion, with shoppers searching for the product under its old name. But the truth is that the name change happened before the toaster pastries were ever available in stores, so consumers wouldn't have ever even heard of Fruit Scones toaster pastries. Even when Pop-Tarts were being taste-tested, the boxes they were sent in were unlabeled, as one of the people who got to try them recalled to the New York Times. There was no branding, only numbers.

The first Pop-Tarts flavors — strawberry, blueberry, brown sugar cinnamon, and apple currant — were officially released in 1964, and they were already called Pop-Tarts. A commercial from that year, now uploaded to YouTube, further confirms this, as it announces Kellogg's newest product as "Pop-Tarts." This commercial makes no comparison to fruit scones at all and only describes Pop-Tarts as a quick and easy snack designed for the toaster. Had they been marketed under a different name, who knows if Pop-Tarts would've ever achieved their iconic status.