Snickers review

Here we go people. Strap in, because its time to finally review the Snickers.


Walking the Candy Aisle rates Snickers - 5 / 5

This is a true classic and one of the few heavy hitters that seemed to have slipped by me until now. For the next little while I'll be working to rectify that by addressing a few of the biggest candy and chocolates that I've missed, but remember you can always drop me an email, or post a comment below if you have a suggestion for a review.

Snickers is a Mars product, for more please visit the aptly named http://snickers.com/. And for more reviews please head over to our Reviews Page.

Buttons, Bites, Clusters, Minis and More

Since moving from the States to Canada I've noticed a few products on the shelves that have surprised me. I've also noticed some surprising packaging of products. When I lived in San Francisco I didn't pay excessive attention to the packaged theater style candy, I eman it was usually in a different aisle altogether, or at the very least way down the end, and the selection was always limited. The mini, or bite sized phenomenon is definitely not such a big thing in the States. But in Canada I am absolutely floored by how much aisle space is given over the smaller sized versions of regular candy. If its a rare variation in the States, and usually something only found in that format, here in Canada the opposite is true. Almost everything in the theater candy section is a version of a bigger standard product, and its super popular.

These are the buttons, bites, clusters, minis, and more found while walking my candy aisles now.

I was looking all over this packaging and other than the character art I can't seem to find any difference between these Dairy Milk Buttons. Anyhow, these are of course the standard straightforward Cadbury chocolate buttons. And like the Dairy Milk itself, they are stamped as Fair Trade.

Hershey's answer to the Buttons are of course the Drops, which have as far as I know been fairly successful. In a surprising turn Hershey's has an actual new product on shelves now featuring whole nuts!

Dark and Milk Chocolate options with whole nuts... seems like a pretty good idea. |If only Hershey's chocolate was better quality.

Sticking with hershey's though we also get an entry into the Minis catagory.

Dark Chocolate, Milk Chocolate, Mr Goodbar (Milk Chocolate and Peanut), and Krackel (Milk Chocolate and Rice Crispies). While this mix bag is a common sight around Halloween, the most important thing to note here is the Krackel. Hershey's does not offer Krackel in a full sized bar. So if you want to try it, this is how its got to be done... in Miniature form.

Now I'm not 100% sure these Allan bagged candy should count since they're not chocolate, and aren't based on anything but they look good so I'll mention them.

Allan is of course the company behind the Big Foot gummy feet candy, and although I don't eat too much of their stuff I have to say I'm impressed with what I've seen. I wonder if these dessert bites have a true gummy center.... probably. I mean that would make sense from this company. but what do you think the outer frosting coating is? just sugar? or could it be like yogurt or something? Either way these look pretty tasty.

Now for some oddball entries from Cadbury.

The Mais Souffle is exactly what it looks like: caramel popcorn coated in chocolate. And honestly when you just hear it you know its a winner. And then there's the Toffee Clusters, which definitely hold some appeal, although I don't know if they're as sure a thing as the popcorn for me.

Let's move on to some small versions of big bars, these things seems so popular here in Canada.

Simple idea with the Kit Kat, Seems like a good one to me.

This one is good, but a bit odd since I thought you could still find the mini York Patties around. I'd say these bites are silid though, just maybe not as sharable as individually wrapped minis.

I don't know how Hershey's keeps claiming that Reese Sticks are new since they clearly aren't, but these Reese Sticks Minis are definitely a newer product. Since I like the reese Sticks I bet I'd go for this.

Another Reese product, I don't know if the Minis count. I mean aren't they always changing the size of the Reese Cups anyhow.

Coffee Crisp Bites on the other hand are a great idea from start to finish. I'd like to try these and review them for the site.

Playing on the Cadbury Caramilk secret these minis look great. I am a HUGE fan of Caramilk so these are sure to be awesome.

Big Turk of course has to make an appearance here. While I wasn't terribly impressed with this Turkish Delight chocolate bar in its big form I bet the Bites would improve the experience. More chocolate, and more of a candy experience. This might just work.

Oh Henry bites are not a great idea in my opinion. The bar was busy enough. Making it more compacted is not a recipe for success. I think this might be an even bigger garbled mess of a chocolate bar experiecne than the big version.

This is a case of good idea, bad idea. The good idea is making a small bite sized version of the Crunchie bar. The bad idea is making it a Cluster... why on earth didn't they just make it a straightforward Bite? I am confused, and suspect the flakey nature of the Crunchie would make this experience very weird.

As I mentioned in my Aero reviews they also come in Bubble form. This is an absolute no brainer when you think of the product, their marketing imagery and how well it ties in. I don't know that I've ever had them though, and I'd be very interested in checking it out.

Also while its rare to come across the full sized Aero bar in its Orange flavor, the Orange Bubbles are all over the place. At least that's been my experience.

This is a bit of a head scratcher. Aren't Rolos already mini???

And finally we come to one only recently reviewed here on the Candy Aisle the Skor Minis.

I think these might work better in mini form as well. While I didn't hate the bar or anything, it wasn't too exciting. I expect this would be about the same, or maybe a tiny bit better.

Anyhow, that's all I've got for you today. As I said off the top, it seems a bit odd that there are so many of these mini chocolates and candies here in Canada. Who is buying these when they could geta  full bar instead??? Whoever it is they must be doing ti a lot though. Since there seems to be no end in sight for these bags of minis, bites, and clusters.

Cadbury Fudge review

Today we've got another British Candy review for you, it's Cadbury's Fudge.


Walking the Candy Aisle rates Cadbury Fudge - 4 / 5

For more on Cadbury Fudge check them out online at http://www.cadbury.co.uk/. For more reviews make sure to subscribe to the YouTube Channel, and browse through our Reviews Page.

Hershey's mr. Goodbar review

Here we've got another somewhat infamous Hershey's product, today lets have a look at mr. Goodbar.


Walking the Candy Aisle rates Hershey's mr. Goodbar - 1 / 5

This is one to pass on. There's just no point... Anyhow, if you want to learn more you can visit Hershey's page on the chocolate bar, and for those interested here's a link to more info on the Looking for Mr Goodbar film (as far as I can tell its also one to pass on).

Thanks for watching, for more reviews stick right here and don't forget to visit our Reviews Page to browse everything we've covered.

Frosting Creations in the Aisle

Here's an interesting new product I stumbled across at Target last weekend. Frosting Creations from Duncan Hines. Pretty cool stuff!

In case it isn't straightforward, the basics are as follows. You start with the plain frosting.

Then you add the flavor packet and mix to create your new frosting mix.

The most interesting thing though are the flavor selections.

If you think about the kind of demographic who are going to be interesting in this kind of a product it makes sense. These are flavors made for kids, and the joy of something like this is the mixing and creation factor. A very cool product for kids. And its not like Duncan Hines would ever really put out a bubble gum flavored frosting for reals, so this is perfect.

Obviously one of the great things here is you could make multiple flavors batches of frosting out of a single jar. But for my money the best thing though will be the flavor combinations kids can create by actually mixing two or more of the flavors together. I mean what kids hasn't taken their cup at the soda fountain and mixed together a little bit of all the drinks?! I would probably try Chocolate Mint and Strawberry Shortcake, or maybe Chocolate Marshmallow and Orange Creme. The possibilities are kind of endless.

Weather this is successful or not remains to be seen, but I applaud the innovation.

Munchies review

Today we continue our look at all things British with Nestlé's Munchies.


Walking the Candy Aisle rates Munchies - 3 / 5

I just don't think this is what I'll be reaching for the next time I've got the munchies... For more on Munchies though please check them out online. Anyhow, we've got a few more weeks of British reviews coming at you. For all the goods please stay right here, or go over to our YouTube channel.

Skor review

Another day, another review. Today on the block, we've got Hershey's Skor.


 
Walking the Candy Aisle rates Skor - 3 / 5

Very middle of the road stuff here. I'll have to pick up a Heath bar soon and try that as a comparison. Anyhow, if you want to know more about Skor you can check out the official page on Hershey's site.

For more WTCA goodness feel free to check out all of our reviews on the Reviews Page.

M&Ms Ads - Becoming Superstars

When last we talked about the M&Ms the little candy coated super-stars we're headed full tilt into the new Millennium. While other companies we're floundering to maintain clean cut mascots in a world full of cynical and way too smart kids the M&Ms managed to ride a tide of good will bolstered by smart mature humor and a constantly evolving sensibility that kept them fresh. Maybe what worked so well for them was that they stopped being aimed specifically at kids. The M&M characters left their pure cartoon roots with the introduction of the mixed media CG versions of the characters, and Mars stopped even making commercials without them. They reached a mass awareness that few mascots have ever achieved and kept on pushing, to become, and stay, the biggest of mega-stars in the candy world.

To be honest, figuring out how this all went down is pretty confusing so |I'm going to assume I will be getting some of this wrong. Lets be clear: I am not a historian. This is a light fun pop survey of the modern M&M characters as seen through their advertizing. There are other places on the web, or in print if you're looking for cold hard facts. Like Yellow, we're just here to have a good time :)

So as we got into the early 00s foreign markets expanded, the brand grew, and ads specifically targeted at non-western markets began to hit. This change alone makes sifting the chaff on the internet pretty complicated especially since some of the campaigns and ads were used in different countries at different times, or under different circumstances. Anyhow, suffice it to say the opening of foreign markets and ad campaigns, makes it extremely messy.

Lets take a step back though and have a look at some ads.  As the century ended, the M&Ms were interacting with celebs in new mixed media adverts, and establishing the core dynamic of the Red Yellow relationship that we all know and love.

The candies declaring themselves the Spokescandies of the new Millennium at end of '97, and I missed one ad they featured in one that I had to share. I love this one, and wanted to make sure I posted it.



Its great to see Dick Clark still young (youngish) and its nice that he was comfortable making fun of his age.

With the launch of Crispy M&Ms in '99 there were more than a few ads featuring the new character and flavor.



Oh Puddy. You always entertain me :D



And Red, you're always pulling fast ones...

As I said Red and Yellow especially we're developing the classic Laurel and Hardy playing off each other riffs, and the public loved it. Here are a few other turn of the century ads that feature the M&Ms just being their own funny selves.



That is a little disturbing. funny but disturbing. This next one just features Red, but its pretty cute.



And finally here's an ad from '99 that I think shows where all the ads were headed in the early '00s.



This is a really great one. The airport ad is awesome because it showcases Red and Yellow doing their thing. It's got them bickering lovingly, being funny interacting with our world. They even break the fourth wall directly, they acknowledge that they are in fact candy, and it all wraps up with a solid tag at the end. This is the shape of the ads to come.

Getting into the 2000s for real-sies now they launched a fun campaign at the start of the year.



This is great on a number of levels, but I think the most important thing to note is the solo color offering. This is one of the first time solo colors were offered for a promotion. AND this wasn't a promotion tied into a holiday like Easter or Xmas where they gave us specially colored (or flavored) editions of the candy. This was just for the heck of it.

Another fun thing came up in the year 2000. And the next very serious ad addresses it perfectly.



That's right. Plain has changed, and in 2000 M&Ms re-branded their classic candy as Milk Chocolate. Such an obvious thing, but remember back when M&Ms started it was really a different world.



One more cute one on this, because I as I've mentioned before I smile for Patrick Warburton and always want him to succeed.

2000 also saw the release of two new M&M video games: The Lost Formula and Mini Madness.



In 2001 M&Ms started a long and strange journey trying out a lot of weird and sometimes very interesting flavors. For this outing they tried their hand at Dulce de Leche in some 5 Hispanic countries. Although it was a valiant attempt and actually sounds pretty good there wasn't much interest apparently and the product line was discontinued by '03.



In 2002 the ads continued, only got a bit more sophisticated. The Laurel and Hardy routine that Red and Yellow we're perfecting still had to be tempered. As much as I like the Airport commercial above its also VERY 90s. Here's the kind of standard ad that typified the early 2000s. Even though it only has Red you can see that it shows a literal and quirky take on the candy. More importantly it's just plain funny.



Love that Bradley Whitford (and this ad is during the height of his run on The West Wing).

2002 also saw the return and update of a previous successful ad campaign. The Global Color Vote was essentially the same trick they'd pulled in '95 but this time it was between Pink, Purple, or Aqua as the new color.



Here's a French ad featuring some cheerleaders?!



After Purple won the contest, it became an M&M color for a limited time. I'm not sure why they didn't keep it around or give us a new mascot like they did when Blue made the scene but they did feature a nifty contest looking for the bag full of Purple M&Ms to win a prize.



In 2004 the M&Ms launched another cool color campaign, only this one was all about the missing color! The hunt was on to find Grey M&Ms this time and it all started with this funny ad.



Here's one that maybe explains it a bit better.



And I always loved this bloodhound one though. Great stuff.



One of the interesting things about M&Ms getting so popular in the 2000s is that they started doing huge tie in marketing promotions. M&Ms had a number of movie tie ins over the years  2004 saw the start of the cross media tie ins, And not just with The Wizard of Oz. No instead I mean this beauty below inspired by the Addams Family to promote another limited run on Dark Chocolate M&Ms.



That's not all from '04 though. M&Ms also got big, and I don't mean regular big, I mean OGRE sized!



I actually think this tie in with Shrek 2 is a great one. M&Ms and Shrek are a really perfectly paired brand. But since M&Ms were in the midst of experiments in size and shape 2004 saw the first appearance of the most radical change yet, the M-Azing chocolate bar!



It sounds like the M-Azing bar was only moderately successful. The bar apparently stuck around in some form or another straight through until today and was finally re-branded and re-launched in 2013 as the new M&M chocolate bar. A bit more on that in the next post.

Aside from featuring in the new M-Azing  bar, the M&M Minis we're also going strong in '04. I posted a few ads from this era of the Minis in my last blog post on this subject but here is another one to show you where the Mini advertizing was at the time.



At first I thought it seemed like a very 90s ad but then I realized that the M&M minis were being targeted at kids, while regular M&Ms were targeted at everyone.

Speaking of mass marketing the following year M&Ms teamed up with another film franchise that had probably the biggest mass market appeal possible. Watch the ad below to see the M&Ms join the Dark Side...



Watching this I have to wonder why Mars never just out and out put out a Dark Chocolate M&M on a permanent basis. I know they've got a few specialties at all times these days, but its weird that they kept bringing it back as a limited run.

2005 also saw the launch of Mega M&Ms. I'm guessing that the Ogre sized M&Ms went over so well that they decided to continue the line.



I know that ad didn't have the M&M characters in it but its pretty funny..

If the Chocolate M-Pire tie in wasn't the breaking point then it had to be the M&M tie ins for '06. These guys weren't just well known spokes-candies, they were true celebrities unto themselves. In 2006 Red and Yellow made a mark adjacent to Joan Rivers at the Academy Awards pre-show. To me this is huge.



Think about the number of eyeballs on that broadcast. Think about the fact that there are people who care about this from really all over the world. Its pretty serious stuff. I mean as serious as you can get for entertainers who aren't actually stars on the big screen.

They may be super-commercialized.... but can you blame them? I mean they are commercial characters. 2006 also saw ties ins for Pirates 3, and Shrek 3.


Pirates 3 in saw the launch of limited time white chocolate M&Ms, and Shrek the Third saw the return of Ogre sized M&Ms again, as well as this vacation contest.



I'm going to jump ahead a bit now, in 2008 M&Ms finally hit on a weird urban myth for their gain. At Valentines they launched a limited run of all green M&Ms. Green you ask? yes. I'm not sure how well known the rumor is now, but I totally remember as a kid hearing that green M&Ms we're for sexy time...



These also came at Christmas time that year. As good a time as any for an aphrodisiac (weather its true or not).

The summer of 2008 saw another side product launched from M&Ms. The M&M ice cream bar.




Its true...



That's pretty funny :)

 New limited time flavors also emerged in 2008. Wild Cherry hit the scene alongside Mint Crisp M&Ms as a promotion tied into Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull.



The biggest promotion of 2008 though came with the launch of mymms.com. Now there was finally a chance to change things up, and get your face, or whatever you wanted printed onto your M&Ms. Very exciting stuff.


After this commercial Mars took a different tack making a bunch of pretty funny commercials letting regular people become an M&M.


That ones probably my favorite, but there are some other great ones.


ha, contacts...


Gross but funny.


ha, earholes...


Good stuff all around.

Before I finally wrap this very long blog post up I'll mention one more 2008 M&Ms item. The launch of Premiums. Ms Green finally got something all her own here and it turned out quite well.

5 flavors of premiums were launched. I know I ate a few of them. They had a 'high end' vibe to them and I suppose they were pretty decadent.


Of course we know that Mint has been around since this time in on again off again limited runs, but this is where I first had it. A few more of the flavors were Rasberry Almond, which is actually a current limited run flavor, and Triple Chocolate. Both sound great to me.



I've had these and they do taste great.



mmm... so delicious sounding.

When we come back to this topic, I'll pick up from 2008 and we can watch some more ads together. These crazy M&Ms just became superstars right under your noses...  pretty impressive.  Thanks all, later :)

Dairy Milk Caramel review

Today we've got a great one for you. Continuing our look at UK Candy and chocolate here is the Dairy Milk Caramel.


Walking the Candy Aisle rates Dairy Milk Caramel - 5 / 5

Another great bar from Cadbury, should we really be surprised at this point, with this and the Caramilk they are just tops in the caramel and chocolate arena! For more on this and all the various Cadbury products you can always surf over to their website http://www.cadbury.co.uk/

For more from the Candy Aisle check out our Reviews Page, and make sure to keep an eye on all the UK Candy specifics over at YouTube.

Maynards Wine Gums review

Today we've got another Maynards product on tap for review, its time to look at the very popular Maynards Wine Gums!


Walking the Candy Aisle rates Maynards Wine Gums - 4 / 5

For more on all things Maynards and Cadbury please check out this website right here. For more from the Candy Aisle please browse on over to our Reviews Page.