Smarties

This article is about the European chocolate confectionery. For the American sugar candy, see Smarties (Ce De Candy).

UK Smarties, before and after blue was removed. Current UK Smarties include a natural blue in place of white.

UK blue Smarties, old and new.

Nestlé Smarties are a colorful sugar-coated chocolate confectionery popular in Europe and the Commonwealth of Nations. They have been manufactured since at least 1882, originally by H.I. Rowntree & Co..

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, tartan, blue, green, mauve, pink and brown.

History

Rowntree's of York, England have been making "Chocolate Beans" since at least 1882. The product was renamed "Smarties Chocolate Beans" in 1937. Rowntree's were forced to drop the words "chocolate beans" in 1977 due to trading standards requirements (the use of the word "beans" was felt to be misleading) and so adopted the tagline "Milk Chocolate in a Crisp Sugar Shell".

The brand became known as "Nestlé Smarties" in 1993, five years after Rowntree's was acquired by Nestlé. Smarties are no longer manufactured in York; production has now moved to Germany, where a third of them were already made. Outside Europe, Nestlé's largest production facility for Smarties is in Canada.

Colors

In one of the earlier ranges of colours, there was a light-brown Smartie. This was replaced in 1988 by the blue Smartie. Before 1958, the dark-brown Smarties had a plain-chocolate centre, while the light-brown one tasted of coffee. The orange Smarties contained, and still contain in the UK, orange-flavoured chocolate.

In 2006 it was announced that Nestlé were removing all artificial colorings from Smarties in the UK, owing to consumer concerns over the effect of chemical dyes on children's health. Nestlé decided to replace all chemical dyes with natural ones, but as they were unable to source a natural blue dye, the blue Smarties were removed from circulation, and white Smarties were introduced in their place. White Smarties were later removed from the range.

Blue Smarties were re-introduced in the UK in February 2008, using a natural blue dye derived from the cyanobacteria spirulina.

Violet Smarties are dyed with cochineal, a derivative of the Cochineal insect which is listed in the ingredients as carminic acid. Its presence means that these Smarties are neither kosher nor vegetarian.

Variants

Smarties are not distributed in the United States, except by specialist importers. The Ce De Candy company manufactures a hard, tablet sweet under the name Smarties, which is unrelated to the Nestlé product. M&Ms are also similar to Smarties.

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 known as Smarties Fusion. A variant on Smarties ice cream is the Smarties McFlurry, sold by McDonalds. A Smarties Blizzard is available at Dairy Queen in Canada.

In 1997, larger-sized Giant Smarties were introduced, and, in 2004, Fruity Smarties. Another variation of Smarties, which contained white chocolate rather than milk chocolate, was also introduced. These were trialed as Smartics, however upon their proper release a year or so later, they were simply called White Chocolate Smarties.

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 was a limited line of red and white smarties where the white smarties sport a red maple leaf, reminiscent of the Canadian flag. Holiday packaging for Christmas and Valentines Day (containing only pink and red Smarties) is common. Also in Canada, Nestle has introduced Peanut Smarties.

Around Christmas, Nestlé Australia and Canada often releases Smarties in the Christmas colours of red, green and white.

European packaging redesign

Smarties in the UK were traditionally sold in cylindrical cardboard tubes, capped with a colourful lid usually having a letter of the alphabet on it. The purpose of this, according to a Rowntrees' spokesperson in the 1980s, was for them to be useful as a teaching aid to encourage young children to recognise the letters. Over the last 25 years, Nestlé has manufactured five billion Smarties lids. Some lids are very rare and are now regarded as collectors' items.

In February 2005, the Smarties tube was replaced with a hexagonal design. The rationale behind changing the design was, according to Nestle, to make the brand "fresh and appealing" to youngsters; the new packaging is also lighter and more compact. The last 100 tubes to leave the factory in York had a certificate inside them.

In other countries, like Canada, there is more variety in packaging. Smarties can be purchased in rectangular boxes, a giant tube, or in a stand-up plastic bag.

Advertising slogans

Britain

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.

Canada

The words for the Canadian advertising jingle from the 1970s until the mid-1990s 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?". This jingle was set to the tune of Billy Jones and Ernest Hare's "Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavour On The Bedpost Overnight. Today "Show your colours!" are splashed across the packaging.

The 2008 advertising campaign shows various people who sang to the song "Everyday People" by Sly and the Family Stone.

Germany

The German Smarties Slogan is "Viele, viele bunte Smarties" (which translates as "lots and lots of colourful Smarties").

South Africa

In South Africa the slogan is "wotalotigot" ("What a lot I've got").

See also

• Nestlé Smarties Book Prize
• M&M's
• Minstrels
• Reese's Pieces
• Smarties: Meltdown

External links

• Smartie Museum
• www.smarties.co.uk
• Blue is Back!
• How Smarties are made
• Smarties set to lose their tube — BBC news