(NEXSTAR) – Kraft Macaroni and Cheese will no longer be known as “Kraft Macaroni and Cheese,” but rather the shortened, more colloquial “Kraft Mac & Cheese.”
Kraft announced the arguably negligible change Wednesday morning, explaining that the new name is meant to “reflect the way fans organically talk about the brand.”
Along with its new name, Kraft Mac & Cheese is also getting modest updates to its signature “blue boxes,” which will now feature only a “single-color hue of blue” rather than the light-blue-to-dark-blue gradient that its “Macaroni and Cheese” boxes previously featured.
The new box “amplifies the brand’s most recognizable asset — the noodle smile,” which now looks “even more delicious and dripping with creamy, cheesy goodness,” according to Kraft. (The Kraft Heinz Company)
Kraft believes the single-color box “amplifies the brand’s most recognizable asset — the noodle smile,” which now looks “even more delicious and dripping with creamy, cheesy goodness.”
“There is a familiar, craveable, positive comfort to Kraft Mac & Cheese that makes it so special and iconic to millions of people across the world and our new look is a reflection of what our brand means to our consumers,” said Victoria Lee, the brand manager of Kraft Mac & Cheese, in a press release.
Kraft Dinner boxes as they appeared in 1937 (top) and 1953. (The Kraft Heinz Company)
The new packaging is expected to arrive on store shelves in August, according to Kraft.
Wednesday’s announcement, meanwhile, is far from Kraft’s first foray into rebranding.
Upon its debut in 1937, Kraft’s boxed macaroni and cheese product — then called Kraft Dinner — was primarily yellow, with the exception of a few navy sections on the front of the box. This color scheme remained the standard for nearly two decades (the navy sections had all but disappeared by 1953) until Kraft switched to an earlier version of its now-recognizable blue boxes, which debuted in 1954.
In the years since, Kraft has toyed with other color schemes — namely blue and white, in both the ‘70s and ‘80s — but gravitated back to blue over the last several decades.