Easter Week Countdown – Sunmark’s New Easter Treats for 1996!

CC_Sunmark Easter 1995 TITLE PLATE

Kicking off my week of Easter candy coverage is today’s post on Sunmark’s “New Easter Treats” for 1996.  For those that aren’t familiar with the name, before Nestle acquired them, Sunmark was the company best-known for the Willy Wonka candy brand.

In the Fall of 1995 Sunmark released a magazine advertisement to the candy trade showcasing their new Easter holiday products for the coming year.  Today I’ll be admiring that neat ad and highlighting its contents.

I’ve mentioned before how much I enjoy collecting vintage candy trade magazines as they’re an invaluable source of historical information and images that you cannot find anywhere else, and today’s ad sheet is no different.  The products it includes are pieces I don’t have in my collection, nor have I ever encountered them anywhere else – I’ve only ever seen them on this single ad.  That makes this a pretty neat piece of recent candy history, so let’s take a look:

Sunmark - Candy trade magazine Easter ad from September 1995

Sunmark – Candy trade magazine Easter ad from September 1995

This ad is ripe with neat Easter-themed candy packages I’d love to eventually find – and here are my three favorites:

Willy Wonkas Easter Pop-Up book for Easter 1996

Willy Wonka’s Easter Pop-Up book for Easter 1996

I’m not exactly sure what Willy Wonka’s Easter Pop-Up book was, but I’ll assume that it was similar to the Sweet Storybook model where it contained an assortment of Wonka candy goodies along with the added element of pop-up book type graphics.  Sounds pretty awesome and it’s a piece I’d love to one day find and document here on the site.

Easter Tangy Taffy for 1996

Easter Tangy Taffy for 1996

Next up is this Easter package for Sunmark’s classic Tangy Taffy, featuring the neat 1980’s/early 1990’s Tangy Taffy fruit mascots.  It also features the introduction of Tangy Taffy in a “bite-size” which may have foreshadowed the eventual merging of the Tangy Taffy and Laffy Taffy brands.  [Tangy Taffy bars would eventually transition to be called Laffy Taffy while traditional Laffy Taffy product would continue to be sold in bulk.  The Tangy Taffy brand name would be retired after this transition.]

Willy Wonkas Easter Tart N Tinys package for 1996

Willy Wonkas Easter Tart N Tinys package for 1996

Last up is a groovy cello pack for an Easter edition of Tart n Tinys.  I always love finding any kind of packaging for the classic-but-now-discontinued Tart n Tinys, and this Easter package is no exception.  It’s a great-looking cello pack that I’d love to track down some day.   For now, I’m excited to have an image of it and to be able to share that here.

And that wraps up my highlights of the trade ad.  And don’t get me wrong, I love ALL of the pieces pictured; the Quik Bites, the Easter Laffy Taffy package, the SweeTarts Basket Treats and the Laffy Taffy Ropes.  I’d be excited to uncover any one of these – as they’re all great examples of vintage candy holiday packaging.

And that’s everything for today.  I hope you enjoyed our Easter week countdown kickoff, and I’ll be back tomorrow with more Easter candy fun.  See you next time!

About Jason Liebig

A New York City based writer, editor and sometimes actor. After spending much of the 1990′s in the comic book business helping tell the stories of Marvel Comics’ X-Men as series editor, he has since split his time between developing his own entertainment properties while still consulting and working on others. Having been described as “the Indiana Jones of lost and forgotten candy”, Jason is one of the country’s premier candy collectors and historians with his discoveries appearing in countless blogs, magazines, newspaper articles, and books. Always happy to share his knowledge and unique perspectives on this colorful part of our popular culture, Jason has consulted with New York’s Museum of Food and Drink and has also been a featured guest on Food Network’s Heavyweights, France’s M6 Capital, and New York’s TheActionRoom.com. My Google Profile+
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