The news broke the first week of January 2014. Football fans in the heat of the NFL playoffs were facing potential disaster. It wasn’t a potential strike of NFL players or a lockout by management. And it wasn’t a dispute between a cable company and the network broadcasting the big game, threatening a blackout of the Super Bowl over a major urban area. No, this was something really serious, the Cheesepocalypse—a shortage of Velveeta with which to make queso dip for Super Bowl and playoff watch parties.
It started when Advertising Age magazine contacted Kraft Foods after news reports surfaced of shortages at East Coast grocery stores. Kraft spokeswoman Jody Moore told Ad Age, “Given the incredible popularity of Velveeta this time of year, it is possible consumers may not be able to find their favorite product on store shelves over the next couple of weeks.”
Kraft took a humorus response to this mild shortage, declaring that America was in the midst of a “cheesepocalypse.” Here are several links that deal with the cheesepocalypse:
- Dip Dilemma: Is Kraft Running Out of Velveeta? (Ad Age)
- Kraft confirms Velveeta shortage, a.k.a. cheesepocalypse (LA Times)
- #Cheesepocalypse: Surviving the Superbowl without Velveeta (The Washington Post)
- Velveeta Shortage: ‘Cheesepocalypse?’ (NPR)
- Velveeta’s Official Tumblr – A message to Velveeta fans in response to the current so-called cheespocalypse