Yes, the title of this blog is a serious charge. I realize that. But it's one that I'm able to back up.
Last week, I went to the ampm (that's the “official” way to spell the name of the place, I know it looks weird all lower-case, but take it up with them) on the corner of Bristol and Red Hill on Costa Mesa to get a bag of Hot 'n Spicy Chex Mix–a surprisingly hard to find thing these days, especially since the introduction of the greatly inferior “Jalapeno Cheddar” Chex Mix (seriously, it might sound tempting, but so gross).
Once there, I texted our receptionist, Becky, to ask her if she wanted anything from “ampm.” She said sure, a Kit-Kat or a 100 Grand. Not finding any of the latter, I grabbed a Kit-Kat, despite one big reservation: the Dark Knight contest promoted on the wrapper. The date of this purchase was Monday, August 10, 2009. The Dark Knight premiered in theaters on July 18, 2008.
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Still, I wasn't 100% convinced this was cause for alarm. I don't
exactly keep up with Kit-Kat developments, maybe last year's
sponsorship developed into a long-lasting interpromotional
relationship, like Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble on Fruity Pebbles
boxes or Donald Duck Orange Juice. But by the time I paid and got in my
car, I was still curious, so I checked: yeah, it expired on June 29 of
this year. (I gave it to Becky anyway–with a warning! She tried but
did not finish it.)
A week later, feeling a similar desire for Hot 'n Spicy Chex Mix, I
returned to the scene of the crime. This time, I was determined to take
a picture of their bountiful supply of expired, Batman-adorned
Kit-Kats, if they were still around at least. (Which was probably a
dumb thing to worry about. After keeping the Kit-Kats for what figures
to be around a year, what were the chances that they dumped them in the
last week?)
Sure enough, they were still there, and I snapped
the photo above. I realize I should have included, like, today's
newspaper in the frame to prove that this was, in fact, a current picture, but it's hard enough to sneakily take camera phone pictures in
convenience stores as it is.
There are a couple of deep,
probing questions raised by this story: a) why does the ampm on
Bristol and Red Hill stock expired Kit-Kats, b) why are Kit-Kats so
unpopular that they didn't simply sell through their existing supply of
Batman Kit-Kats some time ago, and c) how many more expired food
products are people buying that don't have such clear indicators as an
ad for a year-old movie on the wrapper? Ponder away, friends.
