Milwaukee Magazine doesn’t like to brag. But I do, and my boss gave me the password to our website so here we are.
I was right. On May 17, I wrote a silly little article lamenting Oscar Mayer’s announcement that it was changing the Wienermobile’s name to the “Frankmobile.” And at the end of the article, I wrote:
Tell us who you’d pick to be a Betty this year!
“Thankfully, this renaming seems like it might just be a publicity stunt by Big Hot Dog. … We’re hopeful this is just a way to drum up some interest and get gullible journalists (Hey, there!) to write articles about the name change. That would be greatly preferable to a permanent alteration to the beloved wiener transportation device. So, I hope that in a few months – after the press has died down – the company will announce that fans have unanimously demanded a return to the Wienermobile name, and the ‘Frankmobile’ will be left on the ash heap of history.”
Well, guess what happened this week.
The company announced, via a meme on Instagram, that it’s changing the name back to Wienermobile. The purveyors of fine wieners wrote: “It’s been a franktastic summer! But like you, we missed this BUNderful icon. Help us welcome back the Wienermobile!”
Well, color me BUNsurprised.
So now everything’s back to normal with our beloved mobile meat machine, and wienie fanatics across the globe can all sleep easy once again. As was predicted, the Frankmobile change was, at its 100% beef heart, a stunt to garner attention – and as I write this, my second, essentially pointless article about a vehicle shaped like a tube of cow bits, I can confidently report that the stunt very much succeeded.
