Long before it became the WWE, the World Wrestling Federation seemed to be the only wrestling game in town.  And it was big, really really big.  The WWF was so big that back in 1991, the world was even presented with a pair of chocolate bars based on the WWF Superstars franchise brand.  Today we’re going to take a look at a pair of surviving wrappers for them.

Though professional wrestling might be a bigger business today, in the late 80′s and early 90′s it was exploding onto the pop-culture scene in ways it never had before.  There were WWF action figures, bed sheets, video games and everything in between.

The “WWF SuperStars” branding was part of the WWF’s trademarked licensing push and it even showed up in the cereal isle.  I have a Superstars cereal box example my cereal  collection:

Ralston – WWF Superstars cereal box – Hulk Hogan – 1991

I’ve always thought that cereal box was fun (especially with Hulk Hogan gracing the front of the box) but it is the rarely-seen WWF SuperStars candy bar wrappers that are the focus of today’s post, so let’s get to them.

The bars themselves appeared to have been pretty standard fare, with a plain chocolate bar as well as a chocolate and peanuts offering.   The description on the wrappers lead me to believe that images of the wrestlers themselves were molded into the chocolate, though I can’t be sure.   Each wrapper featured small illustrations of three different wrestlers, as you can see here:

Candy USA – WWF World Wrestling Federation Chocolate N Peanuts bar – candy wrapper – 1991

Candy USA – WWF World Wrestling Federation Milk Chocolate bar – candy wrapper – 1991

The backs of these wrappers sported a crossword puzzle, though I don’t think there was any kind of variety.  These wrapper backs shared the same repeating pattern, so it’s likely there was only ever this single crossword created for the brand.  Here it is:

Candy USA – WWF World Wrestling Federation – candy wrapper crossword puzzle back – 1991

And that’s our look at the candy bar wrappers that were given life by the WWF craze of the early 1990′s.  It’s pretty fun stuff, and I think wrestling fans would agree that this era was a pretty special time for the sport.

That’s all for today.  See you next time!

Having created much more than just their famous Spud, Owyhee have been producing one particular delicious treat for over three decades; the aptly-named Old Faithful.

Owyhee’s Old Faithful tended to be a regional treat over the years and these days is one that, outside of the Idaho area, you’re most likely to find at a candy specialty store.

I have one vintage example of an Old Faithful wrapper in my collection that dates back to the early 1980′s.  Here it is:

Idaho Candy Company – Owyhee – Old Faithful – candy wrapper – 1982

During a recent visit to Nebraska I was able to pick up a current Old Faithful at Omaha’s Hollywood Candy store.  Old Faithful bars are still produced by the Idaho Candy Company, but I did notice that the Owyhee name is no longer included on packages.  Here’s how the wrappers look now:

Idaho Candy Company – Old Faithful – candy wrapper – 2013

I’d never had an Old Faithful before and I gotta say it was quite delicious!  I’ll certainly be picking a couple up again the next time I see them.

And that’s everything for this Old Faithful Friday.

See you next time!

Back again for another edition of Wacky Wednesdays today with an offering from the recently-released Wacky Packages All-New Series 10 – Allmud Joy!

Wacky Packages All-New Series 10 (or ANS10) was released in March 2013 and included a number of candy parodies within the set.  Allmud Joy is one that I particularly enjoyed and thought it would be a nice way to kick off coverage of the set.  Here’s a closer look at the sticker:

Wacky Packages 2013 All-New Series 10 – Allmud Joy

Based upon the current Almond Joy wrapper, it’s a fun little parody with a lot going on.  I especially like the pig character in place of the coconut graphic as well as changing “Peter Paul” to “Piggy Paul”.  Fun stuff.  Here’s a matching Almond Joy wrapper for comparison:

Hershey – Peter Paul Almond Joy – candy bar wrapper – 2013

And that’s everything for today’s edition of Wacky Wednesdays.  I plan to cover a few more of the candy offerings from ANS10 in the next couple months, so stay tuned.

See you next time!

If you’d like to pick up some Wacky Packages ANS10, they’re currently sold out at Topps, but I found some of them available on Amazon:

Several times here on this site I’ve reminisced about visiting my hometown Woolworth’s store while growing up and how those are some of my most vivid childhood candy memories.  I even dedicated a post to my love of Woolworth’s and my candy past with it.  In that piece I included examples of Woolworth’s branded candy packaging for bulk, unaware that (up in Canada at least) Woolworth’s got the full-on chocolate bar treatment.

My childhood Woolworth’s would eventually disappear and sadly I’ve never been able to track down any photos from inside the store.  I do have a postcard from my hometown which featured our store prominently and that’s where I pulled the background of today’s title image from.  Here’s a better look at the storefront:

My Childhood Woolworth’s Columbus Nebraska – Circa 1960′s

Though that image is from the 1960′s, the store still looked remarkably similar when I would candy shop there as a kid and young teenager, grabbing classics like Gobstoppers and Bazooka as well as memorable one-offs like Dip-It Candy.

Beyond the postcard, I’ve also enjoyed tracking down at least one holiday candy newspaper ad for Woolworth’s.

I was excited last year to write about Woolworth’s-branded bulk cellophane candy packages and I had assumed that was all there was to be uncovered with regard to official Woolworth’s candy packaging:

Woolworth’s – cellophane candy bag – old stock – 1970′s

As it turned out there was more to be discovered because up in Canada at least two different Woolworth’s chocolate bars were released over the years.  The earliest example in my collection coincides with the store’s 100th Anniversary in 1979:

Canada – Woolworth 100 Year Anniversary candy bar wrapper – 1979

Woolworth’s followed that Anniversary offering just a few years later with this (might this be for Woolworth’s sister store, Woolco?):

Canada – Woolworth – Chocolate and Almonds – candy bar wrapper – 1980′s

[Chocolate and almonds, one of my favorite confectionery combinations!]

It’s especially fun for me to tie my current hobby of candy package collecting directly to a store that was important in creating so many of my earliest candy memories.  With that in mind, I hope you enjoyed seeing these unusual Woolworth’s branded bar wrappers.

And that’s everything I’ve got to report on the subject for now.   But who knows… there could be a whole world of Woolworth’s candy packaging out there just waiting to be found.  I’m certainly going to be keeping my eyes peeled.

See you next time!

Looking for something fun and unusual to post over the weekend, I happened upon my assortment of Cinnabon wrappers and decided they’d be the perfect subject for today’s entry.

It wasn’t long ago that the Cinnabon chain briefly entered the world of candy wrapper confectionery. Partnering up with the Standard Candy Company, folks best known for their Goo Goo Clusters, Cinnabon released a series of bars back in 2007-2008.

As one might expect, the Cinnabon offerings came out a bit like a deluxe range of Cinnabon-inspired Goo Goo Clusters, and that’s pretty tasty-sounding to me.  Here are the wrappers in my collection:

Standard Candy Company – Cinnabon – Cinnamon Pecan Roll – candy wrapper – 2007

Standard Candy Company – Cinnabon – Cinnamon Caramel Pecan Cluster – candy wrapper – 2007

Standard Candy Company – Cinnabon – Cinnamon Mousse Pecan Cluster – candy wrapper – 2007

Though I only had that trio of wrappers in my own collection, I found a fourth on my pal Brad Kent’s wrapper archive:

Standard Candy Company – Cinnabon – Cinnamon Cream Pecan Cluster – candy wrapper – 2007 – Courtesy Brad Kent

And that’s everything that came out of Cinnabon’s brief entry into the candy wrapped world.

Before I close out today, I just wanted to apologize for my lack of consistent content the last few weeks.  I’ve been stretched a wee bit thin on my non-candy work this past month, but I hope to get on top of that soon and be back to posting here on a semi-daily schedule.  I’ve got so many great things to share – and I’m dying to bring it all together here.

See you next time!

For a candy collector the redesign of a major brand tends to be a big deal and that’s especially true for a confectionery classic like Wonka Nerds.  While visiting my family for my niece’s High School graduation last week, I spotted a Nerds box that didn’t look familiar.   Though it is not a complete redesign, quite a number of things have changed on this new Nerds box – so let’s take a look!

Back in 2009 the entire Wonka line received what was in most cases a pretty dramatic packaging design revamp.  Nerds were the least affected by that 2009 wave of change and here too we see more of a packaging evolution than any kind of major visual overhaul.

Nestle – Wonka – Nerds – Strawberry & Grape – candy box – April 2013

Nestle – Wonka – Nerds – Seriously Strawberry & Gotta-Have Grape – candy box – May 2013

The first thing I noticed on the new box was the addition of the “For the Love of” line as part of the Nerds logo, and this hints at what I believe to be the underlying theme of this new design – an appreciation of nerds (nerds-as-people, in addition to the candy).

Also of note is the fact that the flavor descriptions are now found in boxes and they’ve become flavors-with-adjectives!  Grape has become “Gotta-Have Grape” and that is joined by “Seriously Strawberry”.  Finally, the box prominently sports the logo of the Stomp Out Bullying organization.

Going to the back sides of the boxes, the 2009-2013 version features text that focuses on the world of Willy Wonka and the magic of his candy factory.  It even invites consumers to check out the source of the Wonka character, Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.  In contrast, the newly-designed 2013 box reverse puts the focus and positive spin on the term “nerds”.  I really like the message here – as I’ve been and continue to be all kinds of nerdy.

And that’s everything I’ve got to share on the new Nerds box design.  I have yet to find the new design used on any of the other flavor Nerds boxes, but I’m assuming that it’s coming.

Keep an eye out because pretty soon that old Wonka Nerds box design will be a thing of history and maybe a treasured piece of a candy nerd’s collection.

See you next time!

Back in the early 1970′s, the M&M/Mars company took a stab at replicating some of the new found success of rival Hershey’s Kit Kat bar by introducing something that looked and sounded pretty familiar, the Snik Snak.  Since first discovering the Snik Snak, I’ve been fascinated with the brand and its brief confectionery run.

Snik Snak was released in 1973 and was announced to the candy business in April of that year, as found in this vintage trade announcement:

M&M-Mars – Snik Snak – candy trade announcement – April 1973

The earliest wrapper in my collection matches the primarily white wrapper found in that early trade clipping.  [Note:  It was quite a year for M&M/Mars as just a few months later they would introduce my personal favorite, the Marathon bar.]:

M&M Mars – Snik Snak Stiks [Kit Kat] – candy bar wrapper – 1973

M&M Mars – Snik Snak Stiks [Kit Kat] – candy bar wrapper – late 1974

M&M Mars – Snik Snak – chocolate candy bar wrapper – 1977

That’s the extent of the Snik Snak wrappers that I’ve tracked down over the years.  Based on the lack of evidence to the contrary, I believe that Snik Snak was discontinued by 1979 and that there may have been no other major looks for the brand.

I do have one other piece of packaging that sports the Snik Snak logo.  The brand is promoted on the back of this one pound M&M’s package:

M&M Mars – M&M’s Plain Chocolate Candies – One Pound bag – Snick Snack Sticks on back – mid-1970′s

And that’s everything I’ve got to share on the brief history of M&M/Mars’ delightfully-named Snik Snak.

See you next time!

[Note: Today's post marks the 350th entry for CollectingCandy.com.  We'll be breaking off a piece of a Kit Kat bar in celebration.  Woo-hoo!]

This one was produced by a company called Candy USA, which I don’t recall ever seeing before. It’s a pretty neat-looking offering from the early days of everyone’s favorite video game plumber.  Check it out:

Candy USA – Super Mario Bros Milk Chocolate – candy bar wrapper – 1989

As you can see this one prominently features the official Nintendo licensed seal.   I’d be curious to know if Candy USA produced any other similar licensed bars.

Though I can’t be certain, I’d bet that this is the first example of licensed confectionery for the Super Mario Brothers franchise.  There have certainly been many since, and now that I’m thinking about it, I’ll have to gather them together for a future post.

For today, that’s everything I’ve got on this golden offering from way back in 1989.

See you next time!

We’re back with a new edition of Wacky Wednesdays and today we’ll be looking at a sticker from the recently-released Wacky Packages All-New Series 10 – 3-Racketeers.

Today marks the second time I’ve covered a 3-Musketeers related Wacky Package for Wacky Wednesdays – the first was for the 1970′s 3-Mosquitoes parody in August of last year.

The 3-Racketeers sticker is one of several bonus stickers from the All-New Series 10  that were released exclusively at Target stores and only within special double-packs.  So this one is a bit unusual as it could only be found in those special packs sold at Target.

Let’s take a closer look at it:

Wacky Packages ANS10 – 3 Racketeers – 2013

The parody takes the 3-Musketeers idea and gives it an edgy Sopranos/Goodfellas transformation.  Chocolate whipped becomes pistol whipped, and though the classic 3-Musketeers line “All for one, and one for all!” is not on the original wrapper, it is played upon and given a greedy twist here.

Here’s a look at the version of 3-Musketeers wrapper that 3-Racketeers was based on:

M&M-Mars – 3-Musketeers chocolate candy bar wrapper – 2011

As you can see, the design and look of the original 3-Musketeers wrappers was kept largely in place in the 3-Racketeers Wacky.  I think they did a very nice job.

And that’s everything for today’s edition of Wacky Wednesdays.

See you next time!!

I’m finally feeling better and I have a fun little post for today dedicated to that exotic creature that is M&M’s White Chocolate!

To the best of my knowledge, back in the early 2000′s when white chocolate was making its way into limited editions of brands like Twix, KitKat, Reese’s, and Take-5 – it never arrived to M&M’s.

I believe the first example of a white chocolate M&M came in the summer of 2006 when M&M’s celebrated the release of the film Pirates of the Caribbean – Dead Man’s Chest:

Mars – M&M’s White Chocolate Pirate Pearls – Pirates of the Carribbean Dead Man’s Chest – 1.5 oz candy package – Summer 2006

Branded as “Pirate Pearls”, these white chocolate M&M’s were the size of the normal milk chocolate M&M’s and only lasted a single season.

M&M’s White Chocolate would finally return a number of years later, for the Easter 2012 season.  This time the M&M’s were larger, more similar to an M&M’s Peanut Butter than the previously-released Pirate Pearls.   I believe these new versions were sold as a Target-Exclusive item.

While I don’t have an example of the Easter 2012 variety in my own collection, my candy-colleague Cybele has a lovely shot of a package on CandyBlog.net – she also reviews the candy there:

M&M’s White Chocolate – Easter 2012 9.9oz packaging – Image courtesy Candyblog

Though I missed the 2012 Easter release of M&M’s White Chocolate, I was more fortunate this year when I found the 2013 version at Target.  These were still released during the Easter candy season though the packaging design does not include any Easter imagery, perhaps to avoid being clearanced out the day after the holiday:

Mars – M&M’s White Chocolate – 9.9 oz Easter candy package – Target – March 2013

M&M’s White Chocolate have thus far been a one-shot release in support of a major film, and may now be an annual Easter Holiday tradition.

I am left to ponder if M&M’s White Chocolate might ever become a year-round item like KitKat White and the other similar white chocolate offshoots of standard brands?  It’s certainly possible, as is evidenced by the fact that white chocolate has already joined the standard flavor assortment for M&M’s in Brazil.

Here’s a look at a current Brazilian white chocolate M&M’s package I recently picked up:

Brazil – Mars – M&M’s Chocolate Blanco – White Chocolate – candy package – 2012

And that’s everything for today’s post.

See you next time!