Shirley Temples are having a moment right now, thanks to six-year-old Leo Kelly. ICYMI: Kelly, who is the self-dubbed Shirley Temple King, regularly tries Shirley Temples at different restaurants and adorably reviews them on Instagram. He instantly went viral because duh.
Apparently, Hostess wanted to get in on the resurgence of love for the grenadine and ginger ale combo, so the company created a mock package for Shirley Temple Twinkies that’s got Twinkies fans all kinds of worked up.
“Hey Shirley Temple King…what would you rate these?” the brand wrote on Twitter, alongside a photo of the Twinkies. The package shows a huge Twinkie with what appears to be cherry pieces sprinkled inside. Twinkie’s Twinkie the Kid mascot is even clutching a Shirley Temple next to it.
Hostess also followed with the hashtags #Fake, #FakeProduct, #WeWish, and #JustKidding, but people still freaked out in the comments.
“You had my hopes up and then proceeded to quickly shoot them down,” one person wrote. “Please make it real,” another said. “I fake love them,” another chimed in.
Unfortunately for Shirley Temple lovers everywhere, this isn’t a real thing. But, hey—there's no reason why you can't take inspiration from it and elevate your standard Twinkie. Try cutting a Twinkie in half and shoving some maraschino cherries into the filling part. Serve it with a Shirley Temple on the side and dive in while binge-watching Kelly's sweet reviews. It's the next best thing, for sure.
