Some days I have trouble coming up with a topic for CollectingCandy, and some days it’s like the pieces just fall into place. For today’s column, I was really drawing a blank.
So, as I sometimes do, I took my empty head and simply flipped through sections of my collection, hoping for inspiration or for something to jump out at me that might be fun to write about and share.
It was during a perusal of things that I realized that I had candy wrappers featuring both Elvis Presley and Michael Jackson — the original King of Rock n Roll and the original King of Pop. A pair of Kings – now that’s a post!
These are the kinds of wrappers that aren’t getting tossed in the trash like regular candy wrappers. They are created to have a collectible aspect about them, which makes them an exception in the world of candy wrappers, and makes them a bit more common. In spite of that, they happen to make for a great thematic bit of coverage today. So let’s get to it:
First up are the “Michael Jackson” bar wrappers. Produced and sold in Europe, these were introduced in the late 80’s, a time when Jackson’s popularity was still pretty high around the rest of the world, though his star had fallen a bit in the United States. Based on the graphics used for the wrappers it seems clear that these were part of the licensing from out of the 1988 Moonwalker film.
Europe – Triumph International – Michael Jackson – Milk Chocolate with broken hazelnuts – 1989
Europe – Triumph International – Michael Jackson – Swiss Milk Chocolate – 1989
So it was that Jackson got the candy treatment during his own lifetime. For Elvis Presley, this unusual honor would come 30 years after his passing, in 2007.
That year Reese’s released special edition peanut butter cups with different versions of Elvis on the wrappers. But more than that; they took inspiration from one of Presley’s own favorite indulgences, the peanut-butter-and-banana-sandwich, and created a special flavor of Reese’s Cups to go along with the promotion. These wrappers were the result:
Reese’s Peanut Butter Banana Creme – Elvis – candy wrapper – 2007
Reese’s Peanut Butter Banana Creme – old Elvis – candy wrapper – 2007
Reese’s Big Cup Peanut Butter & Banana Creme – Hawaii Elvis – candy wrapper – 2007
I have to say that I wasn’t the biggest fan of the PB & Banana Creme Reese’s, but I count the Elvis wrappers as some of my all-time favorite special edition wrappers. They’re pretty awesome.
And that’s all I have for you today on these two Kings and their candy connections. See you next time!
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I have a couple hundred peanut butter banana cups in my freezer