I saw this commercial this weekend while watching Law and Order. Let’s face it – Law and Order is the common thread that defines the human condition, it being on almost any time of the day or night. This is one of the few commercials that has made me laugh out loud. The attack ostrich is hilarious. Have you seen any commercials like this recently that really tickled you?
Click the image to buy the book from Amazon.
This week we’ve been telling you about great candy contests you can enter like the $100,000 giveaway from Black Forest Gummies, $5,000 for a creative idea from Stride gum, and getting Snickers to pay off your mortgage.
The most famous candy contest of all time, of course, was the one featured in Roald Dahl 1964 classic, Chocolate and the Chocolate Factory. A series of golden tickets hidden in Wonka bars contained the highly-prized admission to Willy Wonka’s candy factory. I remember reading the book and seeing the movie as a little girl with no clue what my grown up life would be like. Little girl Susan would be so proud of grown up Susan for working in the candy industry, but disappointed to learn that she still hasn’t found that magic fizzy lifting drink.
Actually, there are a lot of candies mentioned, especially in the book, that I really wish someone would invent. With that in mind, here is this week’s top five list.
Top Five Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Candies I Wish Someone Would Invent
1. Three Course Dinner Chewing Gum
I am a huge fan of sugarless gum and love to try all new flavors. Roast beef would be weird, but I’d give it a go – especially if followed up with blueberry ice cream. But I do not want to turn into a blueberry like that pesky Violet Beauregarde. That girl can’t handle her gum. Amateur.
2. Chocolate Bar TV
Let’s say you just settled down to watch the latest episode of Glee or House. You realize you’d really love a taste of your favorite chocolate, but there is none in the house. What will you do? Oh, just reach right into the television set and grab one out? Sounds good! Also, the next day I’d really like to be able to ride my hovercraft to work. OK? Thanks!
3. Invisible Chocolate for Eating in Class
I can’t remember if this made the movie or not, but it’s definitely in the book. While I no longer have class (get it?), I can imagine all sorts of times this would come in handy. Actually mainly just for the times I don’t want to share with anyone.
4. Rainbow Drops
About these colorful treats Mr. Wonka said, “Suck them and you can spit in six different colors!” I’m not much of a spitter, but if I could do it in six colors I might reconsider. It’s a neat parlor trick at the very least. Well, I wouldn’t want to actually spit in the parlor, but you know what I mean.
5. Toffee Apple Tree
Plant a tree in your backyard and the tree bears candy- or caramel-covered apples? Yes, please. That would be especially appealing to my friend Jaimie and I’d probably never get her to leave my house.
What candy from the book or movies do you wish someone would actually invent?
Maybe candy-coated pencils? Cavity-filling caramels? Cows that give chocolate milk? Edible marshmallow pillows? Lickable wallpaper? Stickjaw for talkative parents? The rock candy mine?
The Friday Five is a Top 5 list of just about anything related to candy. If you have ideas for an upcoming Friday Five, please let us know.
My lovely wife suggested that we put up some of the old commercials for Almond Joy and Mounds. These sure were some of my favorites as a lad, with their goofy images and madcap high jinks. Something struck me as I watched these, though. The commercials clearly refer to the Peter Paul brand, and that got me wondering what ever happened to that company.
Here is a brief explanation I found on the Hershey site, detailing the history of these particular candy bars:
The first product of the Peter Paul Candy Manufacturing Company, established in 1919 in New Haven, Connecticut, was called “Konabar” and was a blend of coconut, fruits, nuts and chocolate. All products were made at night when air was coolest and sold fresh, door-to-door the following day. In 1920 the MOUNDS candy bar, sweetened coconut enrobed in dark chocolate, was introduced.
During World War II Peter Paul was faced with severe shortages of sugar and coconut which had been shipped from the Philippines before war broke out. Rather than sacrifice quality, the company discontinued some of its lesser selling brands and concentrated production on the MOUNDS candy bar. Over the years Peter Paul added several products to its line, including ALMOND JOY candy bar and YORK Peppermint Pattie.
Cadbury and Peter Paul merged in 1978, and Hershey Foods purchased the company’s U.S. operations in 1988.
Interesting stuff. And now here are the commercials we all loved:
From 1970:
From 1977:
Thank you, lovely wife. That was a heck of a suggestion!
Almond Joy by Rakka.
Remember the owl who told the young boy how many licks it took to get to the center of the Tootsie Pop? The video below is the most popular version, being just 30 seconds, but there is a one-minute version, which is like an extended play remix. You know, for candy.
Many thanks to Jenni Spinner for recommending this one. What’s your favorite?
This is TV week here on Candy Dish Blog and I have been looking up old candy commercials from my youth. I have looked at lots of old Kit Kat commercials on You Tube and am amazed that although none of them seems particularly familiar, the catchy tune is imprinted on my brain and probably always will be. I suppose that’s the mark of a good ad campaign.
What is your favorite candy commercial from either back in the day or yesterday?
I don’t think this commercial aired in the U.S. but I could be wrong. All said and done, I am not sure why this ad works but it does. It’s catchy, cute and you really just want to go nuts when the girl starts freestyling. It’s like watching really good breakdancing.
For the record, in my years of doing portraits, the kids I have photographed easily number in the tens of thousands and I have never had any of the do this.
8
Dec
One question we always get is how candy is made. Since it is the right time of year, I thought this candy cane video would be fun to share.
This is a great video. I had never seen the whole candy cane manufacturing process mechanized before. Previously I had seen people rolling candy canes by hand, or else getting the peppermint sticks from a roller and crooking them by hand. It’s neat to see how all this is done by machine.
