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Author Archives: Jason Liebig
Celebrating Four Years of CollectingCandy.com with Four Fun Discoveries!
Today marks the fourth anniversary since the February 6th, 2012 launch of CollectingCandy.com and as such I wanted to select four amazing (and previously unseen) pieces from my archives to share in order to mark the occasion. Make the jump … Continue reading
Posted in 1960's, 1970's, 1980's, Boxed, Chocolate, Nestle, Sour Candy, Uncategorized, Wonka
Tagged candy collecting, candy collection, candy collector, candy wrapper collection, candy wrapper collector, collectible, collecting candy, confectionery, confections, packaging, packaging design, sweets, vintage candy wrappers, wrapper
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Happy Hanukkah With Paskesz Kosher Candy and More!
Hanukkah began on Sunday night earlier this week and it is a holiday I’ve been wanting to acknowledge here on CollectingCandy.com for some time. I’ve finally gathered up enough fun Hanukkah-related candy items to share, so make the jump to … Continue reading
Posted in 1970's, Chocolate, Gummies, Holiday, Sour Candy, Uncategorized
Tagged candy collecting, candy collection, candy collector, candy wrapper collection, candy wrapper collector, Chanukah, collectible, collecting candy, confectionery, confections, Hanaka, Hanukkah, holiday, Jewish, kosher, menorah, packaging, packaging design, sweets, vintage candy wrappers, wrapper
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New Moon Pie Bites! Plus Some History on the Full Cookie Dough Bites Lineup!
The folks who produce Cookie Dough Bites are rolling out their latest creation across the country; a “Bites” version of the classic treat, Moon Pies! Today I’m going to be covering those as well as the entire Cookie Dough Bites … Continue reading
Posted in 1990's, Boxed, Chocolate, Christmas, cookies
Tagged bite-sized, bites, candy collecting, candy collection, candy collector, candy wrapper collection, candy wrapper collector, collectible, collecting candy, confectionery, confections, cookie, cookie dough, packaging, packaging design, sweets, vintage candy wrappers, wrapper
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Brach’s 1953 Fall & Christmas Candy Catalog!
Now that our Halloween coverage for 2015 has ended (so very sad), it’s time to kick into the Fall! And while I like to hold most of my dedicated Christmas coverage until December, I thought today’s content was a perfect … Continue reading
Posted in 1950's, 1960's, Chocolate, Christmas, Halloween, Hard Candy, Holiday
Tagged 1950's candy, Brach's, candy catalog, candy collecting, candy collection, candy collector, candy wrapper collection, candy wrapper collector, collectible, collecting candy, confectionery, confections, packaging, packaging design, sweets, vintage candy, vintage candy wrappers, wrapper
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New for 2015: A New Halloween Ring Pop Package Design!
Happy Halloween!! One of the candy brands that tends to always provide specialty seasonal releases is Topps/Bazooka’s Ring Pop. This year is no different, with the added bonus of an entirely new look for their Halloween Ring Pop big multi-bag … Continue reading
Posted in CountdownToHalloween, Gummies, Halloween, Novelty, Topps
Tagged candy collecting, candy collection, candy collector, candy wrapper collection, candy wrapper collector, collectible, collecting candy, confectionery, confections, Dracula, Frankenstein, Halloween, mascot, monster, packaging, packaging design, Ring Pop, Ring Pops, sweets, vampire, vintage candy wrappers, wrapper
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400 Halloween Candy Images in Four Minutes!
As part of the ongoing Kickstarter campaign for Zombie Mouth Bubblegum, today I created a video incorporating over 400 Halloween candy images from the CollectingCandy.com archives that display in a seizure-inducing, Technicolor rapid-fire period of four minutes. Make the jump … Continue reading
Posted in 1960's, 1970's, 1980's, 1990's, Boxed, Bubble Gum, Chocolate, CountdownToHalloween, Fleer, Halloween, Hershey, Holiday, M&M's, Mars, Necco, Nestle, Novelty, Peanut Butter, Sour Candy, TheCandyGeek, Topps, Wonka
Tagged candy collecting, candy collection, candy collector, candy wrapper collection, candy wrapper collector, collectible, collecting candy, confectionery, confections, Kickstarter, packaging, packaging design, sweets, vintage candy wrappers, wrapper
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New for 2015: Halloween Chocolate Bars from Astor and Hammond’s!
Every year, the Halloween season sees the big guys delivering all manner of specially-branded items or repackaged editions of their main line products , but today I thought I’d look at a selection of seasonal releases from a pair of … Continue reading
Posted in Chocolate, CountdownToHalloween, Halloween, Holiday
Tagged candy collecting, candy collection, candy collector, candy wrapper collection, candy wrapper collector, collectible, collecting candy, confectionery, confections, Halloween, Halloween candy, packaging, packaging design, sweets, Target, Target exclusive, vintage candy wrappers, wrapper
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Halloween Candy Then-and-Now: Sweetarts Skulls n’ Bones!
Sweetarts have been a Halloween staple since the 1960’s and at least as early as the 1990’s the brand has delivered a special seasonal Skulls & Bones edition. Make the jump to see how they looked then and how they … Continue reading
Posted in 1960's, 1970's, 1990's, CountdownToHalloween, Halloween, Holiday, Nestle, Wonka
Tagged candy collecting, candy collection, candy collector, candy wrapper collection, candy wrapper collector, collectible, collecting candy, confectionery, confections, Halloween, Halloween candy, packaging, packaging design, Sweetarts, sweets, vintage candy wrappers, vintage Sweetarts, wrapper
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New for 2015: Mars’ Halloween Muskefears and Snickers XScream!
For Halloween this year, Mars came up with a pair of terrific seasonal editions of two of their all-year-round products: 3 Musketeers and Snickers Xtreme, re-branding them as Muskefears and Snickers XScream. These are two of my favorites from 2015’s … Continue reading
Posted in Chocolate, CountdownToHalloween, Halloween, Holiday, Mars
Tagged candy collecting, candy collection, candy collector, candy wrapper collection, candy wrapper collector, collectible, collecting candy, confectionery, confections, ghosts, Halloween, Halloween candy, packaging, packaging design, seasonal, Snickers, sweets, vintage candy wrappers, wrapper
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M&M’s Halloween Packs from Taiwan!
I’ve enjoyed highlighting some of the Halloween-themed M&M’s packs released over the last few years, from theater boxes, to candy corn packs and design evolutions. Today, I’m going to head to the other side of the globe for a set … Continue reading
Posted in Chocolate, CountdownToHalloween, Halloween, Holiday, M&M's, Mars
Tagged candy collecting, candy collection, candy collector, candy wrapper collection, candy wrapper collector, collectible, collecting candy, confectionery, confections, Halloween, Halloween candy, imported, M&M's, packaging, packaging design, sweets, Taiwan, vintage candy wrappers, wrapper
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![I was going to title this “If your family was poor and you grew up in the 1980s, this image will hit your soul.” but after some consideration, I realized that in 1983 your family didn’t have to be poor to want to find whatever way they could to save money.
Those early 1980s years were a period still coming to grips with years of inflation and other economic troubles. Those realities helped give way (and opportunity) to not only lower-cost private label products, but also “generics”.
The idea behind generics was that you were getting the absolute lowest cost possible for the item in question. Not a cent spent on design or advertising - it was plainly utilitarian.
The generics area of any grocery aisle (or your pantry) was visually stark and minimalist, so if you loved specific brands or eye-catching branding, it was also kind of sad. But for families that were struggling, cents mattered and these products were lifelines.
In the post pandemic years, we’ve had to endure similar inflation and so we’ve seen big growth in the private label category. Though I haven’t seen a movement to embrace “generics” in the same way.
Rather, private label has been an area of colorful innovation, offering the cost-savings without sacrificing all of the flash.
And while these generics of old were products one might have felt sad or embarrassed about having as a child, as a brand historian I find them nostalgic and deeply moving for the struggling family story they can help tell.
[Pictured are several early 1980s generic Mac and cheese boxes from my historical packaging archives.]
#privatelabel #branding #1980s #80snostslgia #genericproducts](http://collectingcandy.com/wordpress/wp-content/plugins/instagram-feed/img/placeholder.png)