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Author Archives: Jason Liebig
New for 2015: Cost Plus World Market’s Halloween Bridebar and Frankenbar!
Though I haven’t written much about them here, Cost Plus World Market carries a wonderful breadth and depth of candy products at their stores. [Note: I have devoted an episode of The Candy Geek to a visit to Cost Plus’ … Continue reading
Posted in Chocolate, CountdownToHalloween, Halloween, Holiday
Tagged Bride of Frankenstein, candy collecting, candy collection, candy collector, candy wrapper collection, candy wrapper collector, collectible, collecting candy, confectionery, confections, Frankenstein, Frankenstein's Monster, Halloween, Halloween candy, packaging, packaging design, sweets, Universal Monsters, vintage candy wrappers, wrapper
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M&M/Mars’ 2003 Halloween Lineup Sales Catalog!
Jumping back to 2003, today I’ll be sharing a product catalog put out by MasterFoods, a distribution arm of the M&M/Mars company. This catalog covers a range of the Halloween candy that Mars was offering that year with a special … Continue reading
Posted in Chocolate, CountdownToHalloween, Halloween, Holiday, M&M's, Mars
Tagged 2000's, candy collecting, candy collection, candy collector, candy marketing, candy wrapper collection, candy wrapper collector, Cartoon Network, catalog, collectible, collecting candy, confectionery, confections, Dexter's Laboratory, Halloween, Halloween candy, licensed, M&M's, Mars, packaging, packaging design, sweets, vintage candy wrappers, wrapper
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New for 2015: A Twizzlers Halloween Frankenstein Redesign!
It should come as no surprise that when you run a website called CollectingCandy.com, you spend a lot of time exploring and studying the contents of the candy isle. Do that long enough and you start to pick up on … Continue reading
Posted in CountdownToHalloween, Halloween, Hershey, Holiday
Tagged candy collecting, candy collection, candy collector, candy wrapper collection, candy wrapper collector, caramel apple, collectible, collecting candy, confectionery, confections, Frankenstein, Halloween, licorice, mascot, monster, monsters, packaging, packaging design, seasonal, sweets, Twizzlerize, Twizzlers, Universal Monsters, vintage candy wrappers, wrapper
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Nestle’s 1970’s Halloween Treats Newspaper Ads!
Jumping back to the mid-1970’s for today’s Countdown-to-Halloween post, I wanted to share a pair of vintage ads promoting Halloween treats from Nestle. Make the jump to check them out!
Posted in 1970's, Chocolate, CountdownToHalloween, Halloween, Holiday, Nestle, Uncategorized
Tagged 1970's, 70's, 70's candy, candy collecting, candy collection, candy collector, candy wrapper collection, candy wrapper collector, collectible, collecting candy, confectionery, confections, Halloween, Halloween candy, Nestle, packaging, packaging design, sweets, vintage candy wrappers, wrapper
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Russell Stover’s Billion Dollar Halloween Bars!
There are certain seasonal candy items you see on store shelves year after year and as they become linked to the holiday, encountering them can become celebratory and comforting, like seeing an old friend. For the Halloween holiday season, Reese’s … Continue reading
Posted in Boxed, Chocolate, CountdownToHalloween, Halloween, Holiday
Tagged candy collecting, candy collection, candy collector, candy wrapper collection, candy wrapper collector, collectible, collecting candy, confectionery, confections, Frankenstein, Halloween, Halloween candy, mosters, packaging, packaging design, seasonal, sweets, vampire, vintage candy wrappers, witch, witches, wrapper
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Flashback with Leaf’s 1973 Halloween Candy Sales Brochure!
Today I’m pleased to share a wonderful piece of candy history that you won’t see anywhere else. It’s a sales brochure from 1973 that was sent out to candy salesmen to help them sell Leaf brand product to their retail … Continue reading
Posted in 1970's, Bubble Gum, Chocolate, CountdownToHalloween, Gum, Halloween, Sour Candy
Tagged 1970's, 1970's candy, 1970's Halloween, 70's, candy collecting, candy collection, candy collector, candy wrapper collection, candy wrapper collector, collectible, collecting candy, confectionery, confections, Halloween, Leaf, Leaf Brands, packaging, packaging design, salesman, seasonal, sweets, vintage candy wrappers, wrapper
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New for 2015: Just Born Serves up a Trio of Awesome Halloween Boxes!
Over the last several years, Just Born has been on a roll, introducing refreshed versions of their main line packaging across-the-board. And where these updates have really shined has been in their seasonal offerings. This year, they’ve outdone themselves with … Continue reading
Posted in Boxed, CountdownToHalloween, Halloween, Holiday
Tagged candy collecting, candy collection, candy collector, candy wrapper collection, candy wrapper collector, collectible, collecting candy, confectionery, confections, Halloween, Halloween candy, Hot Tamales, Just Born, Mike and Ike, Mike and Ikes, packaging, packaging design, sweets, vintage candy wrappers, wrapper, zombie, zombie candy, zombies
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Kicking off our Countdown To Halloween with Zombie Mouth Bubblegum!
Today kicks off our official Countdown to Halloween coverage for 2015, and we’ve got a lot to show you this year. It should be noted that this first seasonal post is a different kind of entry for CollectingCandy.com as, rather … Continue reading
Posted in Boxed, Bubble Gum, CountdownToHalloween, Gum, Halloween
Tagged candy, candy collecting, candy collection, candy collector, candy wrapper collection, candy wrapper collector, collectible, collecting candy, ComicCon, confectionery, confections, Cosplay, Darth Vader, Halloween, packaging, packaging design, Star Wars, sweets, TheWalkingDead, vintage candy wrappers, wrapper, Zombie Apocalypse, zombies
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1989’s “Now Plumper” Nerds! Plus: Hot and Cool Nerds Revisited!!
Hi all! Going to be kicking off our Halloween programming at the half-way point of October this year rather than our traditional month-long coverage. I’ll explain more on that tomorrow (Spoiler: We’re trying to launch a new bubblegum!) but today … Continue reading
Posted in 1980's, Boxed, Wonka
Tagged 1980's, 1980's candy, candy collecting, candy collection, candy collector, candy wrapper collection, candy wrapper collector, collectible, collecting candy, confectionery, confections, Nerds, packaging, packaging design, sweets, vintage candy wrappers, Willy Wonka, Willy Wonka's, Wonka, wrapper
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A Century of History for Ghirardelli’s (and Tjerrild’s) Chocolate Flicks!
Flicks chocolate wafer candies are a treat that should be well-known to those who grew up on the West Coast of the United States but for people outside of that part of the country they probably won’t be so familiar. … Continue reading
Posted in 1960's, 1970's, 1980's, Chocolate, Timeline
Tagged California, candy collecting, candy collection, candy collector, candy wrapper collection, candy wrapper collector, collectible, collecting candy, confectionery, confections, Flicks, Ghirardelli, Ghirardelli's, packaging, packaging design, sweets, vintage candy wrappers, wrapper, zero flicks given
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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)