Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups are not the same as all other candies.
Even H.B. Reese, the man who created the most popular candy in America, had disappointments in his career as a confectioner before becoming famous for his fabled “Penny Cups.”
According to the Hershey Corporation archives, Reese’s original chocolate-covered almonds and raisins were not a successful combination in the early 20th century.
Several other candy producers throughout the years have attempted to create enticing treats that will eventually rule America, just as Reese did. They all failed, several of them miserably.
Even goods that may have first appeared like a fantastic concept would ultimately succumb to shifting consumer preferences and other strong market pressures.
So let’s review some of the once-exciting candies that, for whatever reason, simply didn’t work out.
Discontinued Candies
Butterfinger BBs
Back in the Clinton Administration, turning the iconic Butterfinger candy bar into little bite-sized orbs was a huge hit.
According to Snack History, Butterfinger BB’s inexplicably vanished from shelves in 2006 despite being just as “crispety, crunchety” as the original.
Nestle, the maker, never provided an explanation, leaving enthusiasts to speculate. Others attributed this to The Simpsons’ waning popularity, whose brightly colored cartoon characters covered the box.
The popular candies haven’t been seen in almost ten years, but the long-running animated comedy is still on the air today.
The Butterfinger BBs were chosen as the 1990s food that people missed the most in a 2021 Mashable survey.
Milky Way Lite
This low-calorie variation of the iconic Milky Way, introduced in 1996, will always be remembered as the first candy bar to legitimately qualify for the “light” label, according to FDA regulations.
The Los Angeles Times reported that the manufacturer Mars substituted low-carb polydextrose to reduce the calories from 220 to 170.
Milky Way Lite, a product of its diet-conscious era, was an immediate hit and one of America’s best-selling candy bars in only its first year, according to Mashable.
Yet, when the low-fat trend faded, so did its appeal, up until Mars stealthily switched the “lite” off.
Altoid Sours
Altoids formerly produced sour candies in addition to its “curiously powerful” breath mints, which are its best-known product.
These five-flavor sours, which were introduced in 2004 and came in apple, lime, mango, raspberry, and tangerine varieties, were “unceremoniously withdrawn” in 2010 as a result of what producer Mars subsequently referred to as “poor national demand,” according to Bustle.
Ironically, however, there appears to be a lot of demand now that they’re gone. On eBay, unopened containers with price tags as high as $99.99 are available for collectors to purchase.
Hershey’s Swoops
When they were originally introduced in 2003, Hershey’s chocolates in the form of wavy potato chips caught America’s attention.
“We believed the chocolate was a potato chip-shaped wrapper; otherwise, why would it have this particular shape?”
The idea was covered by Fast Company in its “What Were They Thinking?” series.
“Without even a middle layer of peanut butter or peppermint to please us, there was no surprise within.
Swoops “this became an oops, “The business journal made a joke. In 2006, Hershey’s discontinued the treats.
Reggie! Bar
Reggie Jackson, a star baseball player who played for the Baltimore Orioles in 1976, is credited as saying:
“If I played in New York, they’d name a candy bar after me.” He was granted his request two years later.
As Jackson joined the team, fans at Yankee Stadium were the first to try the brand-new “Reggie!” bars, which are comprised of peanuts, caramel, and chocolate.
Several onlookers threw the candy onto the field after the batter hit a home run in celebration.
This perplexed Jackson, who subsequently admitted to the Los Angeles Times that he interpreted the action as a criticism of his own candy.
According to Snack History, the “Reggie!” bar only existed as long as Jackson played for the Yankees. All of that came to a stop in 1981.
However, the candy did briefly return in the 1990s as a result of Jackson’s election to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Nestlé Wonder Ball
Nestlé’s spherical, hollow chocolate shell was initially filled with a little toy reward and was dubbed the “Magic Ball.”
However, Bustle reports that when parents protested that the toys may be choking risks, the business stopped making them in 1997.
Nestlé resurrected it under the name “Wonder Ball” in 2000, but this time it included little chocolates rather than toys.
Nestlé eventually abandoned the hollow chocolate ball idea completely and sold it to another business in 2004 before having it discontinued.
Hershey’s S’mores Bar
According to The Food We Loved Wiki, Hershey introduced this chocolate-covered marshmallow and graham cracker candy bar in 2003 and discontinued it less than ten years later.
It was obviously modeled on the well-known campfire delight. The nostalgic treat still fills the hearts of many admirers.
One fan recently said on Reddit, “I would kill to eat one of them.” “Best candy bar ever made,”
Fruit String Things
Betty Crocker’s Fruit String Thing was one of the numerous fruit-themed snacks that were popular in the latter half of the 20th century.
It was packaged as one long edible rope, and TV advertisements urged youngsters to play with it as much as they ate it.
According to Snack History, as entertaining as they may have been, the stringy things probably failed due to competition from comparable treats Fruit Roll-Ups and Fruit by the Foot.
Life Savers Holes
These tiny apparent leftovers of the Life Savers production process, which are hard candy’s equivalent of doughnut holes, first showed up in major supermarkets in 1990.
The following year, RJR Nabisco issued a recall due to “a few rare occurrences” in which small toddlers choked or choked on the product’s plastic flip-top packaging, according to the Chicago Tribune.
The little candies were never reintroduced, despite the company’s promise to do so in safer packaging.
Sugar-Free Haribo Gummy Bears
You’ve probably heard the old adage that an illness is worse than its treatment.
This is the ideal case study. Haribo, the firm that created the first gummy bear, wanted to make a healthy, sugar-free version.
However, the human body cannot completely absorb the hydrogenated syrup that was used to replace the sugar, according to Forbes.
Consumers deluged the product’s Amazon page with horrifying accounts of gastrointestinal anguish brought on by the candies, which forced Haribo to shrewdly discontinue the offering permanently.
Resource: Discontinued Candy