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Category Archives: 1980’s
They named it what?!? – A Zagnut-o-Rama!
I can’t imagine there’s a candy bar as oddly-named as the Zagnut, and while I’ve researched quite a lot on it, the origins of the name itself are lost to time. My initial attraction to the brand came from its … Continue reading
30-Year-Old-Snickers – Wrappers Recovered
Three weeks ago, I presented an assortment of unopened chocolate bars from 1981. As a candy collector, I originally acquired them with the desire to recover the packaging – not so much the decades-old chocolate inside. Opening those packages and … Continue reading
Posted in 1980's, Chocolate, M&M's, Uncategorized
2 Comments
Zotz – Where the fizz still is.
I have clear memories of Zotz candy from when I was a kid, both the packaging and the confectionery experience it contained. The Zotz name and logo was like a comic book sound effect, and it accurately described the exclamation … Continue reading
Posted in 1970's, 1980's, Hard Candy
Tagged 1970's, 1980's, 70's, 80's, candy, collecting, confection, fizzy, history, nostalgia, nostalgic, packaging, Pop Rocks, retro, sweets, vintrage collectible, wrappers, Zotz
12 Comments
Wacky Wednesdays – Dots n’ Shots edition.
Happy Leap Day, everyone! February 29th – a perfect day to launch Wacky Wednesdays. Long before I started collecting candy, I was collecting and sticking Wacky Packages. But my love of both originated at the same time; during my early … Continue reading
Posted in 1970's, 1980's, Gum
8 Comments
Rockin’ the 80’s – Tale of the 30-Year-Old Snickers
When you are a collector of old candy wrappers and candy boxes, you quickly learn and have to accept that you’re collecting what most folks consider trash. Candy wrappers are discarded, not saved. Because of that fact, you look for … Continue reading
Posted in 1980's, M&M's
Tagged 1980's, 3-Musketeers, 80's, candy, chocolate, collectible, confection, M&M's, Milky Way, Reese's, Snickers, sweets, vintage, wrapper
37 Comments
Cereal and Candy: Best of Breakfast Friends
Though I am a candy wrapper and candy box collector, I’m also a cereal box collector. Each hobby has it’s own wonderful quirks and qualities, and sometimes the two of those hobbies crossover. Marketers long-ago figured out that a kid … Continue reading
Tribute to the father of Lemonheads and Atomic Fireballs: Nello Ferrara 1919-2012
On February 7th, Nello Ferrara, the man who brought us Ferrara Pan’s Lemonheads and Atomic Fireballs candies (and probably much more), passed away. Due to this news, today’s post will be a celebration of two of his creations that were … Continue reading
Posted in 1970's, 1980's, Boxed, Hard Candy
Tagged 1970's, 1980's, 70's, candy, collect, collectible, confection, mascot, panned, retro, sweets, vintage
4 Comments
Hot Tamales – The cinnamon center of my collector-heart.
It was my nostalgic search for a vintage Hot Tamales box (as well as a 1970’s Marathon bar wrapper, but that’s another story) that would eventually lead me to become the passionate candy collector and historian I am today. As … Continue reading
It’s called soft-chunk! Or when Bubblicious was “New!”
Before I get to the subject of today’s post, I wanted to thank everyone for giving CollectingCandy.com such a terrific response yesterday. Thanks for the Tweets, the site mentions, the comments, and the e-mails. I approached that first article with … Continue reading
Posted in 1970's, 1980's, Bubble Gum, Gum
Tagged 1970's, 1980's, 70's, 80's, bubble gum, bubblegum, Bubblicious, candy, collect, collecting, confection, gum, packaging, retro, soft-chunk, sweets, vintage, Warner-Lambert, wrapper
13 Comments
![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)