Willy Wonka is a huge brand name in the candy business today but it might be the 1980’s when the brand experienced its first golden age of success with new introductions like Nerds. The 80’s are also when non-Wonka products that had been around for a decade already were brought into the Willy Wonka family with Wacky Wafers, Bottle Caps, and Gobstoppers receiving full Wonka branding.
Today, I’m going to look at a promotional brochure that represents one of the early efforts to tie those formerly non-Wonka products together for the Halloween holiday and under the Willy Wonka brand.
The following brochure was released to the candy trade in 1984, with text focusing quite a lot on consumer recognition of the Willy Wonka character. As today’s title image already lets on, the brochure also features some terrific monster illustrations in and around the candy photos. Here it is:
1984 Willy Wonka Halloween Bag Line Brochure – Page 01
1984 Willy Wonka Halloween Bag Line Brochure – Page 02-03
1984 Willy Wonka Halloween Bag Line Brochure – Page 04
Here are close-ups of the three main photos from the brochure:
1984 Wonka Halloween Bag Brochure close-up – Bottle Caps
1984 Wonka Halloween Bag Brochure close-up – Wacky Wafers
1984 Wonka Halloween Bag Brochure close-up – Everlasting Gobstopper Midgets
While I don’t have any of these pieces, my pal Dan Goodsell does have one of the Gobstopper bags in his own collection:
Willy-Wonka-Gobstopper-Midgets-bag-1980s – Image Courtesy Dan Goodsell
I dig how these Halloween bags include a big illustration of the classic Willy Wonka mascot. It’s such great packaging and any of these Halloween bags are pieces I would love to add to my own collection some day.
And that’s everything for today’s Halloween post. See you next time!
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Today’s post has been part of CollectingCandy.com’s 2013 Countdown to Halloween. To check out other sites celebrating Halloween all month long, check out the official CountdownToHalloween site.
Guess some things do improve, since I think the labels now are better than these old ones. These seem overly simplistic.
I STILL miss Wacky Wafers! Every so often I send a comment to Wonka Brands begging them to bring them back. Always a big fan of Wonka candies, at least I can still find Bottlecaps to satisfy my sugar fix.