{"id":831,"date":"2015-05-16T20:18:08","date_gmt":"2015-05-17T03:18:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/re-tales.net\/?p=831"},"modified":"2015-06-05T07:17:49","modified_gmt":"2015-06-05T14:17:49","slug":"15-not-so-delicious-candy-gimmicks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/re-tales.net\/?p=831","title":{"rendered":"15 Not-So-Delicious Candy Gimmicks"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introducing a new candy item and getting it to stay on retailers shelves is one of the hardest things to do. \u00a0Having shown you some gross toys for kids, it shouldn’t shock you to learn of some crazy candy items that were tried as well.<\/p>\n

I admit to having tried Boston Baked Beans, but I don’t think anyone would want to be caught sucking on Willy Wonka’s Watermelon, do you?<\/p>\n

From \u00a0CollectingCandy.com<\/a>, \u00a0 Check out these 15 candies that dared to be different.<\/p>\n

1. CADBURY WRIGGLER<\/h4>\n
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While Cadbury was famously preoccupied with Easter in the U.S., its New Zealand division had other ideas: fruit-flavored \u201cjelly worms\u201d pockmarked this chocolate treat in the 1990s. In a strange case of life imitating bar, the BBC reported in 2003 that Cadbury\u2019s India arm had come under fire after consumers alleged they found live insects<\/a> in one of their products.<\/p>\n

2. GOOFY GROCERIES<\/h4>\n
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The Philadelphia Chewing Gum Corporation knew the gum market was a merciless territory, which is why they placed an emphasis on wacky packaging. Their Goofy Groceries line from the late 1970s consisted of parody boxes of popular supermarket items, including Hamburger Helper (above), Ritz and Tide.<\/p>\n

3. GIANT BOSS BUBBLE GUM<\/h4>\n
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Another brainstorm from Philadelphia Chewing Gum Corp., this ad from September 1969 introduced kids to the grown-up world of TMJ syndrome. \u201cGiant bubble gum sticks were produced by a number of companies around this time,\u201d Liebig says, \u201cthough this may have been one of the biggest.\u201d<\/p>\n

4. SPACE DUST<\/h4>\n
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This spin-off of General Foods\u2019 own Pop Rocks was powdered rather than granulated and proved to be a popular target for candy bootleggers who sold it outside of the company\u2019s test markets in the late 1970s. Criticized by parents<\/a> for being nutritionally bankrupt even by candy standards, the product hit a snag after the company discovered \u201cspace dust\u201d was slang for the dangerous street drug PCP, a.k.a. “angel dust.” They later changed the name<\/a> to Cosmic Candy.<\/p>\n

5. BOSTON BAKED BEANS<\/h4>\n
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Not a bean and not made in Boston, these treats from Leaf were actually peanuts wrapped in a candy coating. You can still find them today from the fine people at Ferrara<\/a>, though the little legume getting a suntan appears to have retired.<\/p>\n

6. QUICKSAND BUBBLE GUM<\/h4>\n
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Via some kind of chemical reaction we didn\u2019t learn about in school, Fleer\u2019s Quicksand was powdered bubble gum that congealed when it got wet. The novelty was popular enough to last from the 1960s to the 1980s, though it never worked quite as advertised. \u201cTo my recollection, you never got as much chewing out of it as you’d hope,\u201d Liebig says. \u201cA lot of powder turned into a relatively small gob of gum.\u201d<\/p>\n

7. WONKALATE BAR WITH NERDS<\/h4>\n
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Once again, it\u2019s foreign markets that have all the fun. Nestle introduced this Frankenstein creation in 2000, blending a purple chocolate base with \u201csnozzberry\u201d flavored Nerds candy. Resembling a lump of Technicolor vomit, the Wonkalate quietly slid off shelves after a six-figure<\/a> ad campaign.<\/p>\n

8. KOJAK POPS<\/h4>\n
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Who loves ya, baby? Certainly not your oral hygienist if you overindulged on these lollipops endorsed by Telly Savalas\u2019 iconic \u201870s television detective. Manufactured by Four Star Candy for Universal, the pops were flat, not bulb-shaped, and joined the show\u2019s merchandising efforts which included a board game<\/a> and a dapper action figure<\/a>.<\/p>\n

9. CRACKHEADS<\/h4>\n
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\u201cYeah, Crackheads was real,\u201d Liebig says. \u201cIt was only really distributed to candy specialty stores as well as places like Spencer Gifts.\u201d \u00a0The energy treats are still being sold and boast as much caffeine as six cups<\/a> of coffee. If you like the idea of never sleeping again but find the packaging offensive, manufacturer Osmanium offers the same product<\/a> under the name Jitterbeans.<\/p>\n

10. THE CHARLESTON CHEW PONY CONTEST<\/h4>\n
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You wanna move some candy? You\u2019d better be prepared to give away some livestock. In the 1970s, Charleston Chew held a contest in which entrants could send in their wrappers for a chance to win an actual pony, \u201cor a horse if you prefer.\u201d Earlier, the candy bar made a similar offer for a live monkey that came already dressed<\/a>.<\/p>\n

11. WILLY WONKA\u2019S WATERMELON<\/h4>\n
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Whether Willy Wonka specified this oversized jawbreaker was \u201cseedless\u201d as a joke or legal obligation is lost to history. Sold in \u201ccrate\u201d packaging and able to change color from green to white to red like the real thing, the Wonka Watermelon stuck around for a good chunk of the ’80s.<\/p>\n

12. DIP-IT LOCK AND KEY<\/h4>\n
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When a new candy takes off, it\u2019s likely to spawn lots of imitators. After Fun Dip mania seized the nation, Topps released Dip-It, a combination lock-and-key novelty that allowed sugar fiends to use a key to scoop candy from the padlock. \u201cI recall the key was edible,\u201d Liebig says. We\u2019re pretty sure he\u2019d remember if it wasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

13. BIG LEAGUE PLUG<\/h4>\n
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Big League Chew, which used shredded gum to mimic chewing tobacco, was popular enough in the 1980s that the company branched out to the chocolate market. (The “plug” was the blob of chocolate chew oozing from your mouth.) The idea was that the bar could be snacked on in intervals and stuffed in a back pocket without melting. The idea was not a good one. It lasted a year.<\/p>\n

14. MR. BONES<\/h4>\n
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Fleer resurrected this 1970s offering for Halloween 1993: interlocking pieces of hard candy that could be assembled to make a skeleton. But not all<\/a> of the necessary pieces were in each coffin-shaped package, meaning you might need to buy more than one.<\/p>\n

15. GARBAGE CAN-DY<\/h4>\n
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What kid doesn\u2019t like to pretend to eat trash? Topps issued this plastic garbage can stuffed with candy shaped\u00a0bottles, old boots, tin cans, and fish bones in different fruit flavors. The waste bin-themed offering didn\u2019t last long, but Topps persevered: not long after, theyintroduced<\/a> the Garbage Pail Kids.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Introducing a new candy item and getting it to stay on retailers shelves is one of the hardest things to do. \u00a0Having shown you some gross toys for kids, it shouldn’t shock you to learn of some crazy candy items that were tried as well. I admit to having tried Boston Baked Beans, but I Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-831","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-retail-humor"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/re-tales.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/831","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/re-tales.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/re-tales.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/re-tales.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/re-tales.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=831"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/re-tales.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/831\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":933,"href":"https:\/\/re-tales.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/831\/revisions\/933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/re-tales.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=831"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/re-tales.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=831"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/re-tales.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=831"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}