In the wake of the huge success that was Nerds, the Willy Wonka company attempted a number of similar follow-ups. One such treat was Willy Wonka’s Rinky Dinks, tiny jawbreakers with printed faces served up in a three-flavor, compartmentalized box.
First launched in 1984, the Rinky Dinks items I have in my collection and which I’ll be sharing today are from the 1986 Match & Win promotion.
First up is a Rinky Dinks Match & Win candy box:
Sunmark – Willy Wonka’s – Rinky Dinks candy box – Match and Win Shopping Spree contest – 1986
And here’s the Match & Win game rules insert:
Rinky Dinks – Match and Win contest rules insert – 1986
As you can see, the three separate box tabs allowed you to choose which flavor of Rinky Dinks you were accessing. That packaging feature was a big part of what set Nerds apart from the competition, and it was something that Willy Wonka Brands utilized to bring some of that Nerds success to this product.
The one thing that I really dig about Rinky Dinks is something I didn’t even realize for a number of years, which is that each little jawbreaker had a cartoon face printed on it. I’ve had that Rinky Dinks box for some time, and even though it says right on it “candy with faces” I just thought that it was the typical Wonka mascot illustration reference, not the candy itself. So when I found this next item, a newspaper circular for Rinky Dinks, I realized it was a literal description. [I’m happy to say that these next two images are CollectingCandy.com Exclusives – you won’t find them anywhere else online.]
Willy Wonka Brands – Rinky Dinks Match & Win Game – newspaper circular advertisement – 1986
As you can see from this ad, there were two different flavor assortment for Rinky Dinks, though I only have one in my own collection – something fun to hunt for!
Here’s a close-up of some of the Rinky Dinks candy-with-faces from the ad:
Rinky Dinks faces close-up
And that’s everything for today’s fun Friday post. I hope you’ve enjoyed this glimpse back at the candy-with-faces, Willy Wonka’s Rinky Dinks!
See you next time!
Fun stuff! I wonder why they didn’t brand them under the Gobstopper name.
I loved the candies of the eighties!!!!
These were my most favorite candies ever. I used to stuff Sunday newspapers at a candy store on cape Cod in the summer in the 80’s and would gt paid in bags of candy.