Fleer’s Little Zitts – A CollectingCandy.com Exclusive!

Today, I have the pleasure of sharing a piece of candy packaging history you can’t see or read about anywhere else on the internet – it’s a CollectingCandy.com exclusive world premiere.

I don’t remember this product from my own youth, and I suspect few if any of you will.  My guess is that this was only out for a short time and then discontinued.

It’s one of the many gems that is part of the lost history of candy, though I’m doing my best to uncover and preserve pieces like this bit by bit (or Zitt by Zitt, in this case).

So, without further discussion, here is the package for Fleer’s Little Zitts:

Fleer – Little Zitts candy package – late 1970’s

Likely dating from the 1977-1979 period, the package itself is about the size of a Fleer Razzles pack, but this was not a Razzles-like product.  Featuring a fun logo and great selection of little mascots, it’s a piece of vintage candy packaging I’m excited to get to show you today.

Nowadays, I’d expect any candy called “Zitts” to be a gross-out type of item, but that clearly wasn’t the case here.  Instead, this one aims to have some fun, even offering up the slogan “CANDY you can love!”

If anyone remembers Little Zitts, please comment and let me know – I’d love to hear about your recollection of them.   And that’s all for this Sunday.   See you next time!

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Topps’ Answer to Nerds: Bazooka Zooks!

In 1982, the Willy Wonka company unveiled Nerds candies and they soon took the candy world by storm.   In 1985 Topps attempted to tap into that popularity by releasing a Nerds-like bubblegum product called Zooks (from Ba-zook-a).

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Posted in 1980's, Bubble Gum, Gum, Novelty, Topps | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Cadbury’s Batman Bar! Since there’s some movie coming out this weekend…

This weekend marks the premiere of the third (and final) Batman movie from Christopher Nolan; Batman – The Dark Knight Rises.   In order to celebrate the film’s release, I’ll be marking it by sharing an offering from 1992, and out of Cadbury’s New Zealand branch – the Batman Bar.

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The King of Rock ‘n Roll and The King of Pop – A Pair of Kings in Candy!

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!

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Posted in 1980's, Hershey, Peanut Butter | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Wacky Wednesdays – Martian Hats!

For today’s edition of Wacky Wednesdays, we’ll be going back to 1974 and the Wacky Packages Series 12 sticker, Martian Hats.

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Posted in 1970's, Gum, Novelty, Topps, Wacky Packages | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Hot Tamales Get a Firey Facelift!

Collecting candy oftentimes starts like many collectible hobbies in that it can begin with a search for some kind of personal nostalgia – that’s what first prompted me to start hunting down old candy packaging.  In my case, I was looking for the old style of Hot Tamales box that I grew up with.

But sometimes collecting candy starts when a person notices a change on the store shelves – suddenly, a product that they had become familiar with loses a mascot, gets a logo change, or otherwise alters its look.  I’ve talked to several collectors who started with that as their initial impetus – a change in packaging.   It is for that reason and more that when a classic candy brand receives a significant packaging redesign, we here at CollectingCandy.com take notice.  Not to mention that the product we’ll be looking at today is one of our faves: Hot Tamales!

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Ode to SDCC 2012 – Fleer’s X-Men Tattoo Bubble Gum!

Today marks the end of another San Diego Comic Con, and while I couldn’t attend this year, I did endeavor to follow the fun online.   To tip my hat to this year’s event, I wanted to write up something from a time when I was heavily involved in the comic book biz: 1995’s X-Men Tattoo Bubble Gum.

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Posted in 1990's, Bubble Gum, Fleer | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Cadbury’s LAUGHS – A Full Set of UK-Pranks!

Cadbury released a variety of special brands and sets of wrappers containing dairy milk bars in the 1970’s.  They were always the same chocolate bar inside, but they differentiated themselves by the wrapper’s concept and theme.   Cadbury’s Laughs was one of those and each of the six wrappers included a description of a different wacky prank on its reverse.    Today, I’ll be giving you a look at the whole set of these wonderful pieces of prank-packed packaging.

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Posted in 1970's, British, Chocolate | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Whoppers and Waffelos! Yum!

I only recently posted my extensive review of Whoppers history, so bringing up the brand again so soon might be a bit premature.   But this new addition to the collection deserves mention – a 1982 Ralston Waffelos box that features “Free Whoppers Inside”.

You heard right; you got Whoppers in your Waffelos!  Yee-haw, pardners!

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Wacky Wednesdays – Bleeds!

On today’s edition of Wacky Wednesdays we’ll be looking at Bleeds, a parody of Reed’s Butterscotch candy from Wacky Packages Series 16.

Released in 1976, Series 16 is notable as it was the last of the original 1970’s Wacky Packages series run.  There would be no series 17, and no follow-up of any kind until a number of years later.

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Posted in 1970's, Hershey, Topps, Wacky Packages | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments