Spangles
Encyclopedia
Mars, Incorporated
Mars, Incorporated is a worldwide manufacturer of confectionery, pet food, and other food products with US$30 billion in annual sales in 2010, and is ranked as the 5th largest privately held company in the United States by Forbes. Headquartered in McLean, unincorporated Fairfax County, Virginia,...
in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
from 1950 to the early eighties. They were bought in a paper tube with individual sweets cellophane
Cellophane
Cellophane is a thin, transparent sheet made of regenerated cellulose. Its low permeability to air, oils, greases, bacteria and water makes it useful for food packaging...
wrapped. They were distinguished by their shape which was a rounded square with a circular depression on each face.
Introduction and marketing
When Spangles were first introduced in 1950, sweets were still on ration, and the price of sweets had to be accompanied by tokens or points from one's ration book, but Spangles required only one point instead of the two required for other sweets and chocolate. This bonus, accompanied by effective marketing, made Spangles even more popular. American actor William BoydWilliam Boyd (actor)
William Lawrence Boyd was an American film actor best known for portraying Hopalong Cassidy.-Biography:...
was chosen to front the advertising campaign as a character he made famous in numerous films, Hopalong Cassidy
Hopalong Cassidy
Hopalong Cassidy is a fictional cowboy hero created in 1904 by the author Clarence E. Mulford, who wrote a series of popular short stories and twenty-eight novels based on the character....
, along with the slogan "Hoppy's favourite sweet".
Regular Spangles
The regular Spangles tube (labelled simply "Spangles") contained a variety of translucent, fruit flavoured sweets: strawberry, blackcurrant, orange, pineapple, lemon and lime.Originally the sweets were not individually wrapped, but later a waxed paper, and eventually a cellophane wrapper was used. The tube was a bright orange-red colour, bearing the word "Spangles" in a large letters. In the seventies a distinctive, seventies-style font was used.
Over the production period many different, single flavour varieties were introduced including Acid Drop, Barley Sugar, Blackcurrant, Liquorice, Peppermint, Spearmint and Tangerine. A white mint Spangle, complete with hole, was produced as a competitor to the Polo Mint.
Old English Spangles
The Old English Spangles tube contained traditional English flavours such as liquorice, mint humbug (sweet)Humbug (sweet)
Humbugs are a traditional hard boiled sweet available in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. They are usually flavoured with peppermint and striped in two different colours . They have a hard outside and a soft toffee centre...
s, cough candy, butterscotch
Butterscotch
Butterscotch is a type of confectionery whose primary ingredients are brown sugar and butter, although other ingredients such as corn syrup, cream, vanilla, and salt are part of some recipes...
and pear drop
Pear drop
A pear drop is a British boiled sweet made from sugar and flavourings. The classic pear drop is a combination of half pink and half yellow in a pear-shaped drop about the size of a thumbnail, although they are more commonly found in packets containing separate yellow drops and pink drops in roughly...
s. One of the flavours was an opaque mustard yellow colour, and one was striped.
The sweets' individual wrappers were striped, distinguishing them from regular Spangles. The tube was black, white and purple, and designed for a more mature and specific clientele than the regular variety.
Mystery Spangles
At one point a mystery flavour was released where the wrappers had question marks on them and one was invited to guess the flavour. It is not known whether this flavour was ever officially revealed. Later, circa 2001, StarburstStarburst
Starburst may refer to:*Starburst region, a generic term to describe a region of space with a much higher than normal star formation*Starburst galaxy*Starburst , the breaking up of a large company...
candy also included a mystery flavour. Starburst is also a Mars confectionery product.
Discontinued
Spangles were discontinued in the early eighties, and briefly reintroduced in 1995, including in WoolworthsWoolworths Group
Woolworths Group plc was a listed British company that owned the high-street retail chain, Woolworths, as well as other brands such as the entertainment distributor Entertainment UK and book and resource distributor Bertram Books...
outlets in the UK, though only available in two flavours – orange or blackcurrant (not only were they made in square boiled sweets; they were also available in ice lollies form in either flavour). There are many nostalgic references to them from children who grew up with them. Spangles are associated with the post-war era and they, like Space Hopper
Space hopper
A space hopper, also known as a moon hopper, skippyball, kangaroo ball, bouncer, hoppity hop, or hop ball, is a rubber ball with handles which allow one to sit on it without falling off...
s or the Raleigh Chopper
Raleigh Chopper
The Raleigh Chopper is a children's bicycle, a wheelie bike, manufactured and marketed in the 1970s by the Raleigh Bicycle Company of Nottingham, England. Its unique design became a true 70s cultural icon, and is fondly remembered by many who grew up in that period...
, have become shorthand for lazy nostalgia
Nostalgia
The term nostalgia describes a yearning for the past, often in idealized form.The word is a learned formation of a Greek compound, consisting of , meaning "returning home", a Homeric word, and , meaning "pain, ache"...
for the time, as in the phrase "Do you remember Spangles?" In 2008, Spangles topped a poll of discontinued brands which British consumers would most like to see revived.
Today the Tunes brand is the only remaining relation of the Spangles brand, sharing the shape and wrapping of the original product. In the UK however, Tunes no longer have the Spangles style packaging, and they are now lozenge-shaped.
In popular culture
Spangles were mentioned in the The Kinks' song "Art Lover", from their 1981 LP Give the People What They WantGive the People What They Want
-Personnel:*Ray Davies - guitar, keyboards, vocals*Dave Davies - guitar, vocals*Jim Rodford - bass*Mick Avory - drums*Ian Gibbons - keyboards...
.
In 1977, British novelty pop band Lieutenant Pigeon
Lieutenant Pigeon
Lieutenant Pigeon was a British novelty popular music group, originating from Coventry.-Career:Lieutenant Pigeon was a British musical group popular in the early 1970s. A spin-off from an experimental music band Stavely Makepeace, it was fronted by Rob Woodward and managed by David Whitehouse....
released an instrumental single titled "Spangles".
The Fall song "It's A Curse" on the album "The Infotainment Scan
The Infotainment Scan
The Infotainment Scan is an album by The Fall, released in 1993 on Permanent Records in the UK and by Matador Records in the US. It was considered at the time of its release as the band's most accessible album, and came when the band were experiencing unprecedented recognition in the media...
" also includes a reference to Spangles.