Wheat Thins (History, FAQ & Marketing)

Snack crackers are a hugely popular food item in many countries, and one of the most well-known of these food products is the Wheat Thin. While these little crackers sound on the surface like they would be boring and not enjoyable to eat, they are actually really delicious and are on many people’s favorite snacks list. Nabisco has been making these little snack items since 1947, and there are many different varieties on the shelves of supermarkets these days.

While no snack product is truly healthy, Wheat Thins are actually not that bad of a choice for a pretty healthy snack. They come complete with lots of whole grains, and they are also sold in low-sodium and low-fat varieties for those who want to cut back on some calories. The Wheat Thin is a great choice for snacking, but they also pair well with other food items, making them a classic party snack.

History

As mentioned above, Wheat Thins hit the market in 1947. Crackers were a more practical food at this time, and they were not intended to be truly enjoyable to eat and were more like a dietary supplement when portable foods were called for. Crackers were a holdover from the days after the Great Depression when people could not find enough food to eat and needed cheap, portable kinds of products that kept well. Wheat Thins and various other cracker products that are still sold today got on their feet due to this tradition of creating snacks that held up well to storage.

Originally meant to be a very healthy food item, the company moved away from this image to a more fun and playful marketing plan as the snack grew in popularity. The texture and shape of these little treats make them fun and snackable, and they are the kind of slightly sweet yet salty crack product that most people like.

Today, Wheat Thins are not sold with the word “cracker” anywhere on the box. They are called “snacks” instead because they really don’t entirely fit into the category of a cracker. Wheat Thins works hard to market these little crunchy snacks as the right base for appetizers of all kinds, and you can count on them to think of fun ways to use their treats which are shared on their website as well as the back of select boxes of Wheat Thins.

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Wheat Thins have always been connected with really great advertising, such as their Super Bowl ad in the 70s, which features Sandy Duncan. They have also created a lasting and beneficial connection with the TV show Family Guy due to the accent of one of the characters creating a great slogan for the product. This ad features the exaggerated pronunciation of the WH at the beginning of the word wheat, leading to a very memorable ad that most Americans are familiar with even if they don’t eat Wheat Thins on a regular basis.

Because Wheat Thins have historically been a healthy snack, ad experts have worked hard to make sure that the products seem fun and relatable as well. Making Wheat Thins fun and interesting to kids and young adults have been a consistent effort, leading to these treats being popular with people of many ages. It is not uncommon to see people grabbing different Wheat Thins products for each age group of consumer in their homes. This is a testimony to the way that these products have been advertised, and it is also an indicator of the continuing success of this snack in many different countries.

Current ad campaigns focus on the obsession that people have with their Wheat Thins and show situations like dads keeping night vision goggles on to watch their Wheat Thins so that they aren’t consumed by someone else. One of the more recent ads that the company released featured this situation, and the ad ends with an abominable snowman attacking the man to try and get the Wheat Thins for itself.

The reason for many of these ads, according to the creative team at the ad agency which created these ads, is that people who were interviewed about Wheat Thins had really rosy praise to offer about this snack. Sentences like, “I want to marry them” or “I love them more than my wife” were common in the interviews, according to the ad agency. This led to the ad campaigns that are centered on the concept of obsession with these snacks.

The ad agency also launched a really successful series of Twitter campaigns that got people engaged with the brand through various competitions that promised to cause a forklift to bring an entire pallet of Wheat Thins to your property if you won. The video taken during these visits later because part of various commercials that the brand used to help make the Wheat Thins product seem fun, exciting, and relevant.

Wheat Thins are sold in Australia by USA Foods, and they are distributed in the US and Canada by Mondelez International. Canada offers access to spinoffs like Vegetables Thins, Oat Thins, Pita Thins, and Rice Thins. Some of these products are also sold in regions of the US, but they are not countrywide offerings. You might not be able to get Wheat Thins in places all around the world, but thankfully the advent of online ordering can make it possible to get Wheat Thins almost anywhere in the world.

Varieties

Wheat Thins come in a wide array of flavors and product types. You can even get big ones that are about double the size of the original snack. There are some flavors that are limited edition and that come and go, as well as some discontinued products that are likely not going to come back. However, with the ability of consumers to petition for their favorite snacks to come back these days, you never know what might happen!

Wheat Thins are always sold in a yellow box, but the logo can appear differently on each kind of Wheat Thin product to help match the variety that is contained inside of the bag. Wheat Thins Big have a much more stripped-down logo so that you can see just how big the crackers inside the box are, just as an example. You will also find that products like Tomato & Basil Wheat Thins have a red banner under the logo to help to match the recipe of the product inside the box.

• Artisan cheese: Wisconsin Colby
• Artisan cheese: Vermont White Cheddar
• Big
• Chipotle
• Dill Pickle
• Fiber Selects 5-Grain
• Flatbread Garlic & Parsley
• Flatbread Tuscan Herb
• Hint of Salt
• Honey Mustard
• Lime (limited time 2013)
• Multigrain
• Original
• Popped – a popped chip variety of Wheat Thins
• Ranch
• Reduced Fat
• Sour Cream and Onion
• Smoked Gouda
• Smoky BBQ
• Spicy Buffalo
• Sundried Tomato & Basil
• Sweet Onion
• Sweet Potato
• Zesty Salsa

Limited Edition or Discontinued Flavors:

• Baked Snack Reduced Fat
• Cream Cheese & Chives
• Harvest 5-Grain
• Harvest 7-Grain
• Harvest Garden Vegetable
• Honey
• Lightly Cinnamon
• Low Sodium
• Parmesan Basil

Logo

Ingredients

This is the recipe from the Original product that is found on the Wheat Thins site:

• Whole Grain Wheat Flour
• Canola Oil
• Sugar
• Cornstarch
• Malt Syrup (from corn and barley)
• Salt
• Refiner’s Syrup
• Leavening (calcium phosphate and baking soda)
• BHT added for freshness

The company lists that the Original product just contains wheat. Other products in the lineup will have contents that are not vegan-friendly, like milk which is found in the seasonings.

Most of the products in the Wheat Thins stable will use this base recipe and then have added seasonings thrown into the mix. The basic cracker itself is not altered in most of the varieties that Wheat Thins make. Seasonings can vary widely, however, so you will need to check the ingredients of each box of this snack if you are worried about allergies or other kinds of dietary limitations.

The company advertises these products to be free from high fructose corn syrup, artificial flavors, and colors and made with 100% whole grain wheat. They also state that these products contribute 21g of whole grain per each 31g serving. This makes them leaps and bounds better than some other snacking options on the market if your goal is to eat whole grains instead of processed snack products.

Nutrition

• Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000-calorie diet.

Pictures

Commercials

Perhaps the best-known Wheat Thins ad is the one that features the Family Guy characters, Brian and Stewie. Due to the way that Stewie speaks, the ad centered around the concept that Stewie pronounced the name of the products with a heavily-spoken WH. This is pretty much the only activity of the entire ad, but it was a really good way to get the brand into the public eye in a fresh, new way.

A classic Wheat Thins TV ad:

A Wheat Thins ad from the 70s. This is actually a Superbowl ad and it is one of the most famous of the ads for the products. It features Sandy Duncan, who was well-known at the time.

FAQ

Brianna York

My name is Brianna and I love writing on all topics. Candy history fascinates me and I am passionate about sharing my love of this topic with everyone else!