The many discontinued products NJ has grieved

When Good Humor decided it was the end of the line for Toasted Almond Bar, they were probably braced for what was to come.

Some social media examples:

I will never buy anything Good Humor again until these are brought back. A modern tragedy.

Really? We just had five people implode to death on a submersible but this is the modern tragedy?

This right here is a damn crime against humanity.

Those Ukrainian kids being stolen and sent to Russian orphanages notwithstanding I guess?

Someone even started a change.org petition to bring back the ice cream bar.

But this was started in September of last year with a goal of 5,000 signatures. As of this writing it only has 3,119.

Doesn't that tell you something? Companies are used to this. This loudest most visceral complaints about anything come from a very small fraction of people.

Oh, I get it. I've been there. When McDonald's on-again-off-again affair with their flatbread chicken was finally kaput I grieved like my 7-year-old self losing my cat to a car tire. I hear you. But the outcry usually changes nothing.

There have been many outcries over many years. Just a few examples when New Jersey and the rest of the country lost its collective mind when a product was discontinued...

Carnation Breakfast Bars

Remember these? It was a tasty nutrition bar with the slogan "the instant breakfast you can get your teeth into." It came out in 1975 and was discontinued in the mid-90s. But for those years it was crazy popular among college students and busy young adults.

For years efforts and petitions for the company to bring them back resulted in zip, zero, squat.

Dunkaroos

To be clear, yes, this junky cookies-to-dip-in-sugary-icing snack that was big in the '90s was discontinued but finally brought back in 2020. But you might as well say it wasn't. That's because what was brought back was a poor substitute for the original. The icing with far less sugar taste and the cookies are said to crumble easily.

It's kind of like when they brought back Gage in "Pet Sematary." It wasn't the same.

Jolt Cola

It had "all the sugar and twice the caffeine." It was Coke or Pepsi on steroids. I knew a guy in radio who worked an overnight shift. He pounded these. With that caffeine who could blame him?

It was first around in the 1980s then stopped production in 2010. Jolt briefly returned in 2017 with exclusive distribution at Dollar General stores. Then quickly died out forever. RIP Jolt. Hmmm, that would be hard with all that caffeine.

Jell-O Pudding Pops

They came out in the '80s and got even bigger in the '90s. But then sales cooled. Profit was lost. The brand switched to new ownership, didn't taste the same and never rebounded. They were permanently discontinued. Considering Bill Cosby was their celebrity pitchman wasn't it only a matter of time anyway?

Rice Krispies Treat Cereal

Yes you can find Rice Krispies. And you may love Rice Krispies Treats on a snow day. But specifically Rice Krispies Treat Cereal is a discontinued product. Like many of these, those who complained seemed in the minority as Kellogg's said it wasn't selling well. They confirmed the discontinuation in 2020.

Planters Cheese Balls

Let's end on a happy note. After all these products were discontinued and the theme has been complaining doesn't change anything, here's a rare case where it did.

Planters Cheese Balls came out in the '90s and people loved them. Despite all those orange fingertips across America the company discontinued them in 2006. 13 years and many complaints later, they were permanently brought back on the market in 2019. Sometimes the squeaky wheel does get the oil. Or the cheese.

Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Jeff Deminski only.

You can now listen to Deminski & Doyle — On Demand! Hear New Jersey’s favorite afternoon radio show any day of the week. Download the Deminski & Doyle show wherever you get podcasts, on our free app, or listen right now.

Click here to contact an editor about feedback or a correction for this story.