Product type Onion ring-like | Markets Oceania | |
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Owner The Smith's Snackfood Company Introduced 1974; 43 years ago (1974) Registered as a trademark in The Smith's Snackfood Company (Australia)
Burger Rings Tagline Big burger taste (Australia) | ||
Burger Rings are a type of onion ring-like, corn-based, burger-flavoured Australian snack food distributed by the The Smith's Snackfood Company (which, in turn is owned by PepsiCo).
Contents
History
These iconic snacks emerged in 1974.
During the late 1990s the Burger Rings brand went through a brand overhaul, coinciding with the acquisition of The Smith's Snackfood Company by Frito-Lay. During the brand overhaul the appearance of the packet was changed to a more modernised look with more bolded and sharp letters in the logo, adopting its current logo today.
Ingredients
Burger Rings are made out of a combination of corn and rice. A Smith's Chips representative has confirmed Burger Rings are suitable for vegans.
Flavours
Burger Rings, for its whole lifespan, has only been available in burger flavour.
Marketing
A memorable Star Wars-themed advertisement for the product was aired on Australian television in the early 1980s. It featured a faux Luke Skywalker character on Tatooine. After exiting his Landspeeder, he is confronted by a large group of Jawas who ask for his Burger Rings. He begrudgingly shares them only to be left with a single Burger Ring. A Jawa swiftly grabs that last one and the ad ends.
A radio ad campaign in the 1980s joked that Burger Rings were possibly made of rubber tyres concluding with the slogan "they taste good but!".
A 1989 ad aired on Australian television depicting a school chemistry experiment resulting in the creation of a single Burger Ring snack. The student who performed the experiment consumes the snack and seems to gain superpowers, developing jagged hair and a crazed look as the now-fluorescent Burger Ring bounces inside the boy's ribcage, made visible by a radiographic effect akin to X-ray imaging. This later turns out to be a daydream of the boy who has fallen asleep in a chemistry class, and continues to mix his chemicals in a sleepy haze.
A 1992 ad featured a man at a bus stop who attempts to steal one of the snacks from another man's packet, only having it growl like a dog and attack his arm, making him run away past a sign that says "WARNING - BURGER RINGS BITE". The owner then shares the packet with a woman on his other side.
International variants
Burger Rings are available in New Zealand under the same name, except distributed by Bluebird Foods. The New Zealand variant has a different packaging design and a similar slogan: "Full on burger flavour". They are available in 30g and 130g bags, and in 108g 6-pack multipacks.