Australia’s Starburst Gummies & More!

As a candy enthusiast, historian and collector, I love finding unusual product or flavor extensions of candy brands I already know well.  There’s just something especially compelling about that familiar logo matched up with unfamiliar elements that makes up a new brand extension – it’s fun!  Sometimes those extensions can take the form of a particularly jarring oddity and other times they can make perfect sense.  Today’s post covers a great example of the latter as it seems to be a natural evolution for the Starburst brand name to cover a family of fruit-flavored gummies.  And that’s just what’s being done Down Under in the Australian (and New Zealand) markets.  So make the jump to check out Australia’s Starburst Gummies!

Before I begin, I’d like to shout out and thank fellow collector and New Zealand native Steve Williams.  Steve’s been a great friend to CollectingCandy.com and over the years has provided me with so many treats you can only find in the New Zealand and Australian territories.

While the Starburst brand in the United States is typically relegated to its original fruit chew format, it has also become a successful seasonal jelly bean item.  But to my knowledge, we’ve never had a Starburst-branded gummi here.  It’s nearly the opposite in Australia, where you can find a solid lineup of colorful and fanciful Starburst gummies for sale.  The first time I encountered them was just a few years ago, in the form of “Starburst Snakes”:

Australia-New Zealand – Wrigley – Starburst Snakes – 300g gummy candy package – 2012

Not long after I added that first Snakes piece to my collection, Starburst Gummies packaging got a bit of a facelift as well as an expansion into other shapes and themes.  I’ve managed to pick up most of what’s followed from the line and I’m excited to share them today.

First up is an updated Snakes package, featuring a more mascot-friendly illustrated version of the confectionery creatures:

Australia-New Zealand – Wrigley – Starburst Snakes – 180g gummy candy package – 2014

And now take a look at some of the other gummi shapes they’ve released under the Starburst umbrella.  This Animal Friends package is great as it includes some wildlife trivia on the back of the pack:

Australia-New Zealand – Wrigley – Starburst Animal Friends – 180g gummy candy package – 2015

Babies!!!

Australia-New Zealand – Wrigley – Starburst Babies – 180g gummy candy package – 2014

I assume this next one is meant for a game of gummi-infused Tic-Tac-Toe…

Australia-New Zealand – Wrigley – Starburst Noughts & Crosses – 180g gummy candy package – 2014

Australia-New Zealand – Wrigley – Starburst Snakes & Ladders – 180g gummy candy package – 2014

Australia-New Zealand – Wrigley – Starburst Fruitful Mix – 180g candy package – 2014

Australia-New Zealand – Wrigley – Starburst Mixed Berries – 170g candy package – 2014

Of course, Australia still shows their love of the original individually-wrapped Starburst fruit chew, though they’ve released flavor assortments of them with packaging in line with their gummies:

Australia-New Zealand – Wrigley – Starburst Very Berry Chews – 170g candy package – 2014

That’s everything I’ve got to share on Australia’s Starburst Gummies (and more!).   I hope this is a line that continues to be successful Down Under and that it leads to many more fun shapes and extensions along the way.  It’s definitely a fun one to collect and if it continues, with luck I’ll be back to cover it again.

See you next time!