Candilicious – A 1980’s Fruit-Chew-Cousin to Bubblicious!

Back in 1988 Warner-Lambert, the company that created Bubblicious bubble gum a decade earlier, released Candilicious.    A fruit chew confection that I’m guessing was similar to Starburst, Candilicious featured colorful packaging and a name/logo combination that was clearly inspired by the success of the Bubblicious brand.

The connection between Bubblicious and Candilicious is what first caught my attention a few years ago.  I immediately noticed a similarity between the two logos:

Candilicious-Bubblicious logo comparison

I’ve had a few pieces of Candilicious packaging in my collection for a while, but late last year I was finally able to zero in on exactly when they were released, thanks to this great vintage circular ad:

Warner-Lambert Candilicious newspaper circular ad – 1988

That ad has a number of great qualities.  First, it shows that the Candilicious candy pieces were packaged similarly and had roughly the same shape as Bubblicious bubble gum. The ad also showcases a flavor of Candilicious I’ve never come across before – Tropical:

Tropical Candilicious image from circular ad – 1988

The ad is promoting a 1-pound bag size of Candilicious and I am fortunate to have an example of one in my collection.  This was the first Candilicious piece I came across as a collector:

Candilicious chewy candies bag – 1988

Though that ad doesn’t show one, Candilicious was released in standard, candy-isle-sized single packs.  I have two versions of the standard packaging I can share today.  The first is from when the product was brand new:

Warner-Lambert – Candilicious -NEW- chewy candies – candy package – 1988

And here’s a pack from a little later, after the “NEW” call-out was dropped:

Warner-Lambert – Candilicious chewy candies – candy package -1989

Finally, here are what the individual wrappers looked like:

Warner-Lambert – Candilicious chewy candies – inner wrappers – 1988

While discussing today’s topic with my older brother, he recalled seeing a comic book ad for Candilicious while sorting through some old comics recently.  The comic ad features what was likely the early slogan for the brand, “Bigger Than You Figure”:

Candilicious comic book ad – Bigger than you Figure – 1988

Candilicious never really caught on, though it probably made its way into the 1990’s before finally disappearing.

I have one last item to share today, an early animated television commercial for the brand.  This comes from the YouTube channel of the animator who directed the spot, Sally Cruikshank, and it’s pretty cool!

Check out this groovy Candilicious tv spot:

And that’s everything I’ve got on this interesting fruit-chew-cousin of Bubblicious bubble gum.

See you next time!