Cup Noodles Turns Its Broth Blood Red, and Throws In a $4,000 Casket for Good Measure

Cup Noodles is selling Halloween with its actual product this year instead of just its packaging. Vampire Noodles is a limited-edition hot garlic chicken flavor that turns blood-red the moment hot water hits it, thanks to natural beet coloring doing the dirty work under a "bold hot garlic flavor and savory chicken umami" label. It hit Walmart shelves nationwide on September 24 for $1.18 a cup, while supplies last, which is a wild amount of theater for something that costs about as much as a gumball.

The real stunt is the tie-in: a $3,999 collector's casket built with Titan Casket, done in deep maroon high-gloss with blood-drip detailing and an embroidered "IT'S TO DIE FOR" panel, given away through a sweepstakes on @originalcupnoodles. Nobody needs a casket to eat instant ramen. That is the point. A dollar-eighteen cup of noodles does not earn a news cycle on flavor alone, but a noodle that bleeds and a coffin sweepstakes will get itself photographed, screenshotted, and argued about, which is the only currency a seasonal LTO actually needs.

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Kyle Duford, Founder & Editor, BRNDWIRE. More from Kyle →