SpongeBob usually lives in a pineapple under the sea, but he will finally return to his part-time residence: a blue box.
On Sept. 26, Kraft Mac & Cheese announced it’s welcoming a fan-favorite shape back into its lineup: SpongeBob SquarePants. Mr. SquarePants and his friends will be rolling out on shelves nationwide starting in October.
Kraft Mac & Cheese SpongeBob SquarePants Shapes will be soon available in both the brand’s classic blue box and Easy Mac cups in packs of four, joining other themed shapes like Unicorn, Black Panther and Paw Patrol.
Kraft’s Bikini Bottom-themed pasta will feature a quartet of fan-favorite character shapes: SpongeBob himself, Squidward, Patrick and Gary. Maybe next time, Plankton (*cue the evil laughter*).
“After unprecedented demand — thousands of fans took to social media, emailed our CEO, and even started a Change.org petition — Kraft Mac & Cheese is officially bringing back the beloved SpongeBob SquarePants noodle shape Mac & Cheese,” reads a Kraft news release.
And it’s true: Many folks on TikTok, Reddit and X (formerly known as Twitter) have made their love for all things absorbent, yellow and porous known to the masses.
Multiple Change.org petitions have also been started over the years, with the most popular one, “Bring back Spongebob Mac & Cheese shapes,” launched in 2017, and then others followed in 2020 and 2021.
“This is a shameful tragedy that must be undone. Olaf just doesn’t taste the same as Gary the snail,” one petitioner wrote in 2021. “Bring me justice!”
Kraft first introduced SpongeBob-shaped mac and cheese in the early 2000s, and then, according to the brand, it “left shelves in the early 2010s.”
And then, in November 2020, the brand brought back the SpongeBob-themed boxes for a limited time, revealing the news with a popular Spongebob meme on X, indicating that it does listen to the internet’s desperate pleas for nautical nonsense.
