DOI 10.60531/INSIGHTOUT.2023.1.11| HAGEMANN, WAGNER: LUNCHABLES_ INSIGHTOUT 1(2023) 74for the production of school meals not just in themarket studies of the Lunchables inventors, andtheir children, for whom these meals are intended.In terms of design language, the earliest packageswere modelled after the already well-known TV dinners,4addressing on several levels the time regimeof both mothers and children as well as the premises of eating culture in schools.5At the same time,it would be worthwhile to take a closer look at thisstyle of ready-to-eat takeaway food as part of theoperational catering for individuals in the military.6In 1998, Lunchables were also introduced in the German market. Far less successful than in the US, however, they disappeared from supermarket shelvesagain by, at the latest, 2007.7The product breadthoffered in Germany was kept to a minimum; to ourrecollection, only two basic Lunchables variants evermade it to the German market, with turkey ham or“pizza salami” and cheese to put on crackers, whilethe product range in the US is highly diversified andwas even broadened over the years, for example,with supposedly healthier ingredients as“fun fuel”or variants with cinnamon buns and“Mexican” nachos. As the first generation, fed Lunchables duringschool breaks, was coming of age, reflections gainedtraction on the internet about the eating culture of,for example, young urban, often“class-travelling”8academics, such as the popular charcuterie board.It offers an assortment of cheeses, sausages, andother delicatessen arranged on a massive wooden board to be eaten with crackers or bread. Fromthe perspective of a childhood with Lunchables, thearrangement and composition of products on theboard then appears in memes and Reddit posts as a“fancy” version for adults.9Referring to what is probably the only German-language TV commercial for Lunchables from 1998, we want to show the intricacies of the reconstruction of class relationsin the design of mediaticised artefacts thatserve to market a product.10For obvious reasons, advertisers will tend to avoidany realistic portrayal of‘poor’ people in their advertising; the history of television ads is pretty clearin this regard: historically, the advertising perspective of audiovisual product commercials in‘Western’contexts has invariably focused on the middle class,which for the most part also happens to be the target group. In other words, the middle classes as thebasis of‘Western’ retail, consumer and popular culture are, in line with the logic of the market, also themain addressees of that culture’s consumer-productadvertising. If anything, the middle-class gaze goesupward, most likely representing, where it does notconfine itself to middle-class milieus, middle-classideas of upper-class life, such as fantasies of theluxury lifestyle of the nobility at their(not too) decadent gatherings. If addressing other social contexts,4See, e.g., Michael Moss,Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us(New York, 2013), 192.5Ibid., xxvi:“Lunchables, for one, are a marketing powerhouse, specifically designed to exploit the guilt of working moms and thedesire of kids for a little empowerment. These ready-to-eat meals typically include pieces of meat, cheese, crackers, and candy, allowing kids to assemble them in whatever combination they desire. Food marketers wield pinpoint psychological targeting, and theydidn’t disappoint on the Lunchables ads: The ads stressed that lunch was a time for them, not their parents.”6The English-speaking Wikipedia article on Lunchables points to this connection, at least implicitly, by referring to the article“Meal,Ready-To-Eat” under“See also”: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunchables(accessed 28 July 2023).7The Lunchables flop in Germany is also noted by Oliver Nickel,“Haptische Reize in der Kommunikation effektiv gestalten”, in TobiasLangner, Franz-Rudolf Esch and Manfred Bruhn(eds.),Handbuch Techniken der Kommunikation: Grundlagen–Innovative Ansätze–Praktische Umsetzungen(Wiesbaden, 2018), 195–222, at 211.8‘Class-travelling’ derives from the German term“Klassenreise” and refers to the process of changing one’s social position, takinginto account possibilities of non-linear social mobility. Cf., e.g., Betina Aumair, Brigitte Theißl(eds.):Klassenreise. Wie die soziale Herkunft unser Leben prägt. 3. aktual. u. erw. Aufl. Wien 2023.9A quick image search of the two terms suffices to get an overview of this.10To watch the ad on YouTube see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_KSv4exw-0(accessed 28 July 2023).
