Flop of the Week: Hostess Doesn't Know What "Twink" Means
The boomers over at Hostess are attempting to court the youth with a limited-edition drop of cryptocurrency-themed Twinkies called — drumroll, please — $TWINKcoin.
$TWINKcoins, which I'm fairly certain should be classified as a hate crime, are essentially coin-shaped Twinkies, a departure from their usual log-like formation.
"With more than 12,000 cryptocurrencies already in existence, $TWINKcoin is the first coin-shaped golden sponge cake of its kind," a Hostess representative told Decrypt. "And, what’s more, it’s a currency with a stable value — it’s always delicious!"
Clearly, the contemporary meaning of "twink" went right over Mr. Hostess' head, and the heads of the entire Hostess team — which, as one Twitter user pointed out, suggests that there are zero queer people or under-30s employed at the dessert company. (That, or all the Gen Z'ers decided not to say anything.)
It's kind of like when Megabus named one of its buses the "Bussy Galore," a James Bond reference that inadvertently made the transportation company the laughing stock of the queer community.
There's always a chance that Hostess is totally clued in to the contemporary meaning of "twink," and suspected the launch might go viral for its ridiculousness. (After all, they did make an Instagram filter called "Twinkify.") Oversight or not, the company pulled a real "How do you do, fellow kids?" with this one.
