{"id":17908,"date":"2016-02-06T15:33:59","date_gmt":"2016-02-06T20:33:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.collectingcandy.com\/wordpress\/?p=17908"},"modified":"2016-02-06T15:54:20","modified_gmt":"2016-02-06T20:54:20","slug":"celebrating-four-years-of-collectingcandy-com-with-four-fun-discoveries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/collectingcandy.com\/wordpress\/?p=17908","title":{"rendered":"Celebrating Four Years of CollectingCandy.com with Four Fun Discoveries!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"CC_4thToday marks the fourth anniversary since the February 6th, 2012 launch<\/a> of CollectingCandy.com and as such I wanted to select four amazing (and previously unseen) pieces from my archives to share in order to mark the occasion.\u00a0 Make the jump to check them out!<\/p>\n

It’s hard to believe it’s been four years since I launched this website.\u00a0 Much has happened in that short span of time; there have been ups and there have been downs.\u00a0 Sometimes I have not been able to post as consistently as I might like.\u00a0 Yet in spite of that fact, I’m proud to say that the four year journey of CollectingCandy.com has thus far resulted in nearly 600 posts, many of which brought together historical information and images that couldn’t be previously found anywhere else online.\u00a0 And that has always been so much of what my goal was and is for this site; to create a place where this history is preserved, understood, and enjoyed by anyone who might be curious to visit it.<\/p>\n

My passion for this material has only grown over the last four years and while I don’t always show up here with a new post, I am working behind the scenes on this every day.<\/p>\n

Among other things, I’m constantly seeking out unique and unusual material to help build the historical narrative of candy history that I’ve set out to document here.\u00a0 Finding and sharing things that have never been seen before (online, at least) is one of my favorite parts about producing this blog.\u00a0 It’s tremendous fun and today I’m excited to share four unique pieces you won’t find anywhere else; one for each year that CollectingCandy.com has been online.\u00a0 So let’s get to it.<\/p>\n

First up is a relatively recent acquisition as it only came into my collection last month.\u00a0 It’s a bar wrapper that dates back to 1969 for a product called Nutty Crunch.\u00a0 Before it joined my collection, I’d honestly never heard of it.\u00a0 This one hails from Nabisco’s candy division and during a time when they were putting out some amazingly well-designed wrappers – it’s a beauty!\u00a0 So without further ado – here is Nabisco’s Nutty Crunch wrapper:<\/p>\n

\"Nabisco

Nabisco – Nutty Crunch – 10-cent double bar – 1 1\/2oz chocolate bar candy wrapper – 1969<\/p><\/div>\n

I wish I knew who was working on the design team at Nabisco during this era, because they deserve to be recognized.\u00a0 The design work is easily some of the best I’ve ever seen and this Nutty Crunch wrapper has immediately become a favorite.\u00a0 During this same period, Nabisco also released one of my previous all-time favorite wrappers for a bar called The Wild One<\/em> – which I first covered in January of last year.<\/a>\u00a0 It seems pretty clear that the Nabisco Candy Division was on fire in 1969!<\/p>\n

\"Nabisco

Nabisco – The Wild One – chocolate candy bar wrapper – 1969<\/p><\/div>\n

Next up is a piece from the recent past – in fact it stands out within today’s post as it is one that arrived on shelves during the four years that this site has been active.\u00a0 And yet, in spite of that recent vintage, you won’t find images of this next piece anywhere else online.<\/p>\n

What I have to show you now is the box for a special edition of Wonka Nerds known as “White-Out Nerds”.\u00a0\u00a0 White-Out Nerds were produced in 2012 as part of the #NerdsUnite anti-bullying campaign<\/a> and were released as a free giveaway, only available for one day (June 5th) and only at Circle K locations across the United States.\u00a0 They are “White-Out” because the Nerds candy pieces themselves were all white, or colorless.\u00a0 I can’t say for certain why there are no other images of this box out there as it is so recent, but since there aren’t, let me be the first to unveil it here and now:<\/p>\n

\"Nestle

Nestle – Wonka – Nerds White Out flavor – Circle K exclusive giveaway box – June 5th 2012<\/p><\/div>\n

In the interest of full disclosure, in putting today’s post together I did find another image of this box (at the 11th hour), but it’s barely visible.\u00a0 It is included in the PR photo for the campaign featuring actor Wilmer Valderrama:<\/p>\n

\"Wilmer

Wilmer Valderrama on Tuesday June 5, 2012, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Matt Sayles\/Invision for Wonka\/AP Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

The third piece I’d like to share today is something that absolutely blew my mind when I first saw it.\u00a0 In fact it still does.<\/p>\n

Over time, and after thousands of hours of looking back over the history of most major candy brands, I’ve come to have a pretty good understanding of what existed and what was made.\u00a0 So even if I haven’t come across a certain piece or images of it, I feel pretty good about knowing that it was out there.\u00a0 But even after all of that, this next piece I have to show you was a total surprise and a delightful shock – here is a box for Willy Wonka’s Monster Beans, from 1981:<\/p>\n

\"

Sunmark – Willy Wonka Brands – Monster Beans – 1 5\/8 oz candy box – 1981 – test market\/prototype?<\/p><\/div>\n

I absolutely love this Willy Wonka Monster Beans box.\u00a0 Based on the style, I believe the cool monster artwork was illustrated by one of my all-time faves, Jared Lee<\/a>.\u00a0 Mr. Lee is the artist responsible for the classic “Bummers” feature from Scholastic’s 1970’s and 1980’s Dynamite Magazine<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Dynamite

Dynamite Magazine All Bummers issue – by Jared Lee<\/p><\/div>\n

Not a complete stranger to the confectionery world, Jared Lee also illustrated some of the promotional materials for Warner-Lamber’s Crack-Ups gum<\/a> not to mention my all-time favorite Happy Meal box<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I cannot say for certain if Willy Wonka’s Monster Beans was actually ever available at retail.\u00a0 You see, this box came to me from the personal files of a former graphic designer for the company, and as such it may have only ever been used for presentation or possibly a limited test market (this example also doesn’t include a bar code, adding to the likelihood of a non-retail existence).\u00a0 And that may explain why the only place you may ever see Willy Wonka’s Monster Beans mentioned is right here on this site.\u00a0 I don’t know for sure, but for now I’m thrilled to finally share it here.<\/p>\n

The final offering in today’s four-for-our-fourth quartet is a wrapper from Tootsie for a product called Tootsie Sours.\u00a0\u00a0 And just like with Nabisco’s Nutty Crunch, the first time I’d ever heard of this product was when I saw the wrapper.\u00a0 Here it is:<\/p>\n

\"Tootsie

Tootsie Sours Assorted – 1.20 oz – late 1960’s to early 1970’s<\/p><\/div>\n

Although I’d never heard of Tootsie Sours before, the one thing that struck me was how the illustration on the wrapper of the candy pieces looked remarkably similar to another Tootsie classic, Tootsie Pop Drops.<\/p>\n

\"Tootsie

Tootsie Pop Drops – Cherry – 1 1\/3oz roll candy wrapper – early 1970’s<\/p><\/div>\n

I’ve had that Tootsie Sours wrapper in my archives for a few years now, and when putting today’s post together I discovered that just nine months ago another wonderful reference to it had been posted online by none other than Tootsie Roll Industries themselves.\u00a0 Over on YouTube on Tootsie’s official account, they posted a pair of awesome vintage TV commercials for the product featuring a pair of great product images:<\/p>\n

\"Tootsie

Tootsie Sours tv commercial screen grab<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Tootsie

Tootsie Sours tv commercial screen grab<\/p><\/div>\n

Here are the two Tootsie Sours TV commercials:<\/p>\n