Here’s How Cracker Jack Is Supporting Female Athletes This Summer

Cracker Jack packaging is getting a major transformation this summer. After over 100 years, the now Frito-Lay-owned brand is giving sports fans something to look forward to beyond the prize inside: A real-life athlete on the packaging. 

Professional women’s sports are more popular than ever, and Cracker Jack is reprising an initiative to support female athletes.

Back for its third year, The Cracker Jill Spotlight Squad highlights five high-achieving women athletes as role models for the next generation of girls in athletics. Each selected athlete excels in a different sport, including water polo champion Ashleigh Johnson, boxer Jennifer Lozano, wrestler Kennedy Blades, wheelchair basketball star Lindsey Zurbrugg, and Para Track & Field record holder Noelle Lambert. 

As part of the campaign, Cracker Jack will award $10,000 in donations to five different fans and also offer $500 to five athletes to support their own sports endeavors. Additionally, Cracker Jack is donating $200,000 to the Women’s Sports Foundation (WSF) for the third consecutive year, supporting WSF’s mission to help girls and women play, compete, and lead in sports and beyond. To win, fans can promote the Spotlight Squad on their own social media handles, starting on June 12. 

Cracker Jack’s ongoing amplification efforts for women’s sports are fueled by a survey the brand conducted of 700 teenagers across America. Only 12% of participants could name a single women’s professional athlete competing on the global stage this summer, and 45% of teens couldn’t name a single women’s professional athlete. 

“The Cracker Jill mantra emphasizes that sometimes all it takes to believe in your potential is seeing someone like you succeed first,” Zurbrugg told Food & Wine. In fact, Cracker Jack found that 1 in 4 girls who have played sports would be motivated to continue if women’s sports had more visibility.

“Women athletes who came before me inspired my younger self to try a new sport and fueled my passion for growing the sport of wheelchair basketball,” said Zurburgg. “Icons like Billie Jean King, who broke barriers in women’s sports, and contemporary trailblazers like Sue Bird and Becca Murray continually inspire me. Every day I find motivation in my teammates and the strong women role models around me. Great role models can be found everywhere; they could be as close as your best friend or parent.” 

In 2023, Zurburgg won an I Am Cracker Jill contest and will be the first athlete ever featured on Cracker Jack packaging, starting this summer. “I remember enjoying Cracker Jack with my grandfather when I was growing up. I never imagined that one day I’d see my face on the bag, so that was a very surreal moment,” she says.  The most important thing for me is that more people will be exposed to wheelchair basketball and hopefully be curious to learn more about my awesome sport.”