Smarties
Nestlé Smarties are a colourful sugar-coated chocolate confectionery popular in Europe and the Commonwealth of Nations. They were first introduced in 1937, by Rowntree Mackintosh, and in 1992 became a Nestlé product during the aquisition of Rowntree's.
They are not distributed in the United States, where another type of confectionery uses the "Smarties" name, except by specialist importers.
Smarties are oblate spheroids with a minor axis of about 5 mm (0.2 in) and a major axis of about 15 mm (0.6 in). They come in eight colours: red, orange, yellow, green, mauve (or purple), pink and brown in the UK. In Canada and Australia, blue smarties are included.
In the UK, an average of 307 packets are consumed every minute. Sales of Smarties are worth £73 million each year. [citation needed]
Variants
Smarties are also sold in the form of chocolate bars and eggs with fragments of Smarties in them, and chocolate-and-vanilla ice cream with Smarties pieces in it. A variant on Smarties ice cream is the Smarties McFlurry, found in McDonalds. You can also get a Smarties Blizzard at DairyQueen In Canada.
Smarties are also made with fruit chews inside: these are called Smarties Fruity.
In 1998, a product known as 'Smarties Secrets' was introduced which contained sweets of varying designs, colours and flavours. The packaging also contained a small comic book. This product is no longer available.
In Canada, there is a limited line of red and white smarties where the white smarties sport a red maple leaf, reminiscent of the Canadian flag.
Packaging redesign
In 2005, the Smarties tube was replaced with a hexagonal design. The older design, which had been used since the 1930s, featured a cylidrical package, modern variants of which included coloured plastic lids with various designs including letters of the alphabet. The rationale behind changing the design was according to Nestle, to make the brand "fresh and appealing" to youngsters.
Advertising slogans
British
The current Smarties slogan is "Only Smarties have the answer", which has been used since the early 1980s; however, the previous slogan, "Do you eat the red ones last?", has still been used afterward.
In the 1950s and 1960s, the phrase "Buy some for Lulu" was sung schoolyard-style (i.e. in the fashion of nyah-nah-nah nah-nah) as a tagline in commercials. This was before the rise of the singer Lulu.
Mid-1980s television commercials were notable for their advanced use of computer-generated imagery, produced by the advertising agency Lambie-Nairn. [1]
Canadian
The words for the Canadian advertising jingle from the 70's until the mid-90's was "When you eat your Smarties, do you eat the red ones last? Do you suck them very slowly, or crunch them very fast? Eat those candy-coated chocolates, but tell me when I ask, when you eat your Smarties, do you eat the red ones last?"
Smoking
Because Smarties can be ground into a powder, many preteens buy loads of them to grind them up and smoke them using the wrapper, in similarity to a marijuana joint.
South African
In South Africa the slogan is "wotalotigot" ("What a lot I've got").
See also
- Nestlé Smarties Book Prize
- M&M's
- Reese's Pieces
- Lentilky, the Czech Smarties, now also by Nestlé
- Smarties: Meltdown