{"id":17981,"date":"2016-02-13T16:05:13","date_gmt":"2016-02-13T21:05:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.collectingcandy.com\/wordpress\/?p=17981"},"modified":"2016-02-13T16:05:13","modified_gmt":"2016-02-13T21:05:13","slug":"a-history-of-willy-wonkas-valentines-gobstopper-heartbreakers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/collectingcandy.com\/wordpress\/?p=17981","title":{"rendered":"A History of Willy Wonka’s Valentine’s Gobstopper Heartbreakers!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"CC_Willy<\/p>\n

With Valentine’s Day arriving tomorrow, I thought it was the perfect time to dig into the history of a seasonal spin-off that has become a holiday classic: Willy Wonka’s (Gobstopper) Heartbreakers!\u00a0 Make the jump to check it out.<\/p>\n

Heartbreakers candies are heart-shaped jawbreakers with layers of changing colors and flavors, and these days they’re actually sub-branded as Gobstoppers<\/em> Heartbreakers, but that wasn’t always the case.\u00a0 For the first few years of their existence, they were simply Willy Wonka’s Heartbreakers.<\/p>\n

I’ve always enjoyed Heartbreakers as the smaller flatter size just made them an easier-to-consume form of jawbreaker.<\/p>\n

[Note:\u00a0 Early on, Heartbreakers were identified with two-words; Heart Breakers.\u00a0 But recently they appear to be known by the conjoined Heartbreakers.\u00a0 For the purpose of today’s post I will be using the modern, single-word form.\u00a0 It just seems to flow better.]<\/p>\n

According to my research, Willy Wonka’s Heartbreakers were first offered nationwide in 1983, but that followed initial test markets in 1981 and 1982.\u00a0 I’m fortunate to have an example of one of the early prototype\/test\/concept boxes in my archives from that 1981 run and here it is:<\/p>\n

\"Sunmark

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

The test box differentiates itself from the production version in a number of ways, which I will point out further down.<\/p>\n

The production packaging used during the 1983 launch still sports the 1981 copyright date, but that shouldn’t be confused for being on sale before the 1983 launch year.\u00a0 Willy Wonka Brands announced the official 1983 Valentine’s roll-out for Heartbreakers to the trade with a colorful sales brochure:<\/p>\n

\"Sunmark

Sunmark – Willy Wonka’s – Heartbreakers – NEW – Valentine’s candy promotional sales brochure – page 1 of 4 – 1983<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Sunmark

Sunmark – Willy Wonka’s – Heartbreakers – NEW – Valentine’s candy promotional sales brochure – page 2-3 center spread – 1983<\/p><\/div>\n

In a great bit of historical documentation, the sales brochure points out that the test-markets for Heartbreakers took place in the states of “Northern California, Ohio, Massachusetts, Vermont, Maine, and Michigan”.<\/p>\n

\"Sunmark

Sunmark – Willy Wonka’s – Heartbreakers – NEW – Valentine’s candy promotional sales brochure – page 4 of 4 – 1983<\/p><\/div>\n

That brochure includes a great look at the packaging design found on those 1983 launch boxes:<\/p>\n

\"Sunmark

Sunmark – Willy Wonka’s – Heartbreakers – Valentine’s candy promotional sales brochure – close-up<\/p><\/div>\n

Here is an example of one of those first production boxes, along with an early run 7 ounce bag:<\/p>\n

\"Sunmark

Sunmark – Willy Wonka’s – Heartbreakers – 1 11\/16 oz Valentine’s candy box – 1983<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Sunmark

Sunmark – Willy Wonka Brands – Heartbreakers – 7oz Valentine’s candy package – mid-1980’s<\/p><\/div>\n

And for a better look at the contrast between the test box and the initial production package, here’s a side-by-side look:<\/p>\n

\"Sunmark

Sunmark – Willy Wonka Brands – Heart Breakers – 1981 to 1983 side-by-side<\/p><\/div>\n

Willy Wonka’s Heartbreakers would continue to be available during the Valentine’s season throughout the remainder of the 1980’s, even making their way into the vending trade.\u00a0 Here are a pair of Heartbreakers vending machine insert cards, one from the late 1980’s and one from the early 1990’s.<\/p>\n

\"Sunmark

Sunmark – Willy Wonka’s – Heartbreakers – jawbreakers candy vending machine insert card – 1989<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Sunmark

Sunmark – Willy Wonka’s – Heartbreakers – jawbreakers candy vending machine insert card – 1994<\/p><\/div>\n

Sometime in the early 1990’s, there was a decision to re-brand Heartbreakers as a part of the Gobstoppers family, which only makes sense I think.\u00a0 Here’s an early example of a Willy Wonka’s Gobstopper Heartbreakers box I’ve got from 1993 – though I believe there were earlier versions in 1991 or 1992 :<\/p>\n

\"Sunmark

Sunmark – Willy Wonka’s – Gobstopper Heart Breakers – 1.87 oz Valentine’s candy box – 1993<\/p><\/div>\n

The re-branded Gobstopper Heartbreakers would of course continue along, and another variation is found on this piece of mid-to-late-1990’s promotional sales stationery:<\/p>\n

\"Nestle

Nestle – Wonka – Valentine Treats promotional stationery – mid-to-late 1990’s<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Gobstopper

Gobstopper Heartbreakers – mid-to-late 1990’s<\/p><\/div>\n

A few years later, the boxed Gobstopper Heartbreakers would undergo another evolution:<\/p>\n

\"Nestle

Nestle – Wonka – Everlasting Gobstopper Heartbreakers – 1.77oz Valentine’s candy box – 1999-early 2000’s<\/p><\/div>\n

That style of Gobstopper Heartbreakers appears to have been the last style available in box form.\u00a0 After the last major line-wide Wonka redesign I’ve only ever found them offered in the larger, 12oz bags.<\/p>\n

\"Nestle

Nestle – Wonka – Gobstopper Heartbreakers – 12oz Valentine’s candy package – January 2013<\/p><\/div>\n

For 2015, the package changed it up to include the front-of-pack calorie informatoin, and also altered its color scheme slightly:<\/p>\n

\"Nestle

Nestle – Wonka -Gobstopper Heartbreakers – 12oz Valentine’s candy package – January 2015<\/p><\/div>\n

And finally, for Valentine’s season this year, Gobstopper Heartbreakers joined the rest of the Wonka lineup in become non-Wonka branded products that also highlight their new status as containing “No Artificial Flavors”, as you can see here:<\/p>\n

\"Nestle

Nestle – Gobstopper Heartbreakers – 12oz Valentine’s candy package – January 2016<\/p><\/div>\n

And that concludes this history and brings us up to the most recent iteration of\u00a0 Gobstopper Heartbreakers.<\/p>\n

Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone.\u00a0 See you next time!<\/p>\n

\"CC_WillyWonkaHeartbreakerGobstoppers_CLOSING<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With Valentine’s Day arriving tomorrow, I thought it was the perfect time to dig into the history of a seasonal spin-off that has become a holiday classic: Willy Wonka’s (Gobstopper) Heartbreakers!\u00a0 Make the jump to check it out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,35,47,46,50,116,164],"tags":[321,316,328,351,332,14,324,78,333,29,21,450,1120,15,55,54,341,1220,11],"class_list":["post-17981","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-1980s","category-1990s","category-boxed","category-hard-candy","category-holiday-2","category-nestle","category-wonka","tag-candy-collecting","tag-candy-collection","tag-candy-collector","tag-candy-wrapper-collection","tag-candy-wrapper-collector","tag-collectible","tag-collecting-candy","tag-confectionery","tag-confections","tag-holiday","tag-packaging","tag-packaging-design","tag-seasonal","tag-sweets","tag-valentine","tag-valentines-day","tag-vintage-candy-wrappers","tag-wonka","tag-wrapper"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2aFGk-4G1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/collectingcandy.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17981","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/collectingcandy.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/collectingcandy.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/collectingcandy.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/collectingcandy.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17981"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"http:\/\/collectingcandy.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17981\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18020,"href":"http:\/\/collectingcandy.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17981\/revisions\/18020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/collectingcandy.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17981"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/collectingcandy.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17981"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/collectingcandy.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17981"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}