As an adult I realize that there is little nutritional value in the iconic snack so its possible demise isn’t as big a loss as say Kodak, although I say this as someone whose never had a fried Twinkie, even though it is on my ‘bucket’ list. But Kodak is the last bastion of traditional photography. Professional photographers, and school photography instructors have long lamented the difficulty of finding the correct roll of film, and dark rooms may be harder to come by or justify in a school’s budget. But an even greater impact will be felt by individuals who either don’t own, or want, a computer to transfer digital photographs- people like my father in law.
At 86 years young, he drives all over the continental US to visit relatives. Driving through rain, sleet, snow or hail, worthy of any mail carrier one quarter his age, his trusty camera was always at the ready. Unfortunately, he lost his camera somewhere in his travels last year and it has greatly affected him. In searching for a replacement, the major electronic chains we shopped at explained that they didn’t sell any simple click models just the disposable cameras, and even if we found a model, they would not accept it for repair.
Unlike the majority of folks whose pictures wind up on facebook and displayed for even strangers to see, his are solely for his own personal comfort and enjoyment, as he reviews each and recalls the time he spent with family- the loss of a twinkie could never be felt as severely. If there is any way for Kodak to revive itself, it would be for them to focus on the market that they and other companies have abandoned; the elderly.