Only A 90s Kid Will Totally Ace This 90s Candy Quiz...
- by Willy Vision
- – on
- in Entertainment
Congratulations! You won the Golden Ticket for a trip down memory lane to look back and see what you can remember about your favorite candies from the 90s.
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory was released as a film during 1971. In that film, Gene Wilder played Willy Wonka. Decades later, Johnny Depp played the Willy Wonka character in a remade version of the story entitled Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The remake of the film started as a project during the 1990s at Warner Brothers; however, it took until 2005 for the film to be completed and released.
In both films, Willy Wonka is the founder and owner of the Wonka Candy Factory. Willy Wonka makes some wonderful candies. A brand of Willy Wonka candies was created because of the first film’s popularity. It offered many varieties of candies that became quite popular during the 1990s.
Another characteristic of candies from the 1990s were extreme flavors that were either very sour or really hot. There was also a trend to make candies that were a bit challenging to eat including some that exploded in your mouth. For this quiz, we mixed the candies with some classic images from the 1990s for that completely cool retro feel. Sweet!
Take this quiz and find out how much you remember about candies that were available for enjoyment during the 90s.
Which one of these is NOT a flavor of AirHeads?
AirHeads are made from taffy by the Perfetti Van Melle Company at a factory in Erlanger, Kentucky. The process of making the candy is a mold extrusion method much like the way that kids use a toy extruder with Playdoh. AirHeads were created in 1985 by Steve Bruner. They became popular during the 1990s. Airheads partnered with Mattel and had coupons for Mattel’s X-V Xtreme Skateboarders on its package. Its popularity increased from a television advertising campaign called “Out of Control.” There are over 16 different flavors.
Finish the slogan used for this candy: Sour. Sweet. ______
The inventor of Sour Patch Kids is Frank Galatolie who worked for Jaret International. This candy was originally called “Mars Men.” Towards the end of the 1970s, Malaco Licorice Company from Sweden and Cadbury formed a partnership to produce them and set up a factory in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. In 1985, the candy got a new name of “Sour Patch Kids,” in an attempt to benefit from the immense popularity of the toy dolls “Cabbage Patch Kids.” This concept helped it become one of the favorite candies during the 1990s.
What is the name of this candy?
This candy was shaped like an already popular toy used by children to build walls and things. They are made from compressed dextrose and come in a nice variety of flavors and colors, including blue color (raspberry flavor), white color, (pineapple flavor), orange color (orange flavor), yellow color (banana flavor), red color (cherry flavor), purple color (grape flavor, and green color (lime flavor). They are fun for kids who enjoy playing with their food. You can build stuff with them and then afterward, you get to eat it.
Which Mentos do not work as well for this effect because they have a wax coating?
Mentos have been around since 1948 when they were invented by the Perfetti Van Melle Company from the Netherlands. The product got a major publicity boost when a chemistry teacher named Lee Meyrick when on David Letterman’s television show and demonstrated the effect of dropping Mentos into a bottle of diet soda. This causes a reaction that makes the soda shoot up out of the bottle in a geyser-like fountain that can go up as high as six meters (20 feet).
Finish the slogan used for this candy: You can lick it, shake it, and ______
Baby Bottle Pop is a type of lollipop introduced in 1998 by the candy maker Topps. The lollipop is in the shape of a baby’s bottle. It comes in a variety of flavors that includes cherry, blue raspberry, bubblegum, grape, green apple, strawberry, and watermelon. To eat this candy, you take the lollipop portion, which is in the shape of the baby bottle tip and use it to dip it in powdered sugar that is in the base of the baby bottle.
What is this candy called?
The flavors of this candy during the 1990s were banana, blue raspberry, cherry, orange, strawberry, and watermelon. They were made by Nestlé and marketed under the Willy Wonka brand label. There was also a tropical variation that included the flavors of mango and pineapple. A “Rock'n” variation had the flavors of, grape, lemon, pineapple, raspberry, and watermelon. They have a hard candy shell with a slightly softer dextrose center. They were sold in packages and also were popular in bulk candy vending machines. With the payment of a quarter and a twist of the crank, a vending machine would give a handful of this delicious candy.
What ingredient in Pop Rocks makes it pop?
Pop Rocks is a type of candy that when eaten it makes a popping and sizzling sound. It also creates a tingling sensation on the tongue. An urban legend says that if you eat this candy while at the same time drinking soda, it could cause a person's stomach to explode. The legend went claimed that the television actor who played Mikey in the Life cereal commercials died while eating Pop Rocks and drinking Coca-Cola. This false story caused many parents to worry that it was dangerous for their children to eat this candy. Later, this urban legend was debunked by the television show Myth Busters.
What method do you use to enjoy this candy?
This candy called “Ice Cream Candy” looks cool and tastes great. It is a soft fruity candy packaged in what looks like an ice cream cone that comes in three flavors of cherry, blue raspberry, and strawberry. It is too bad the company did not make more ice cream candy flavors that are like the flavors of real ice cream, such as chocolate, vanilla, and anything that comes from Ben & Jerry’s. To get to the candy, you open the top where the cheery is located.
What is the name of the 7-Eleven brand of drinks based on the ICEE formulas of sodas and candies?
The ICEE Squeeze is a candy based on the very popular ICEE drinks that were sold by many convenience stores. This candy was meant to give the user a taste that is similar to the ICEE drinks and came in the popular flavors of Cherry and Blue Raspberry. During the 1960s 7-Eleven made a deal to distribute the ICEE drinks under its own brand name and ran a popular advertising campaign on MTV called “Brain Freeze.” In the Brain Freeze commercial those who tried the drinks turned into a block of ice.
How long is Hubba Bubba Bubble Tape?
Hubba Bubba Bubble Tape is a long strip of bubble gum that comes in a container that holds a spiral of the bubble gum tape. The style is similar to a tape measure used by a carpenter. Because of the design, it is possible to enjoy as much of the gum as you want. Some chew on little pieces of it. Most kids chew on a full mouthful. There is an Internet-based challenge, which came after the 1990's, to chew a whole pack and make gigantic bubbles with this gum.
What flavor do these candies have in common?
Atomic Fireballs and Red Hots made by the Ferrara Candy Company turn your tongue red when eaten. They also are challenging to eat because of the hot flavor. This was a trend during the 1990s to make candy that kids would dare other kids to eat. It was a dare that created a rite of passage from being a “baby” to a tougher tween and teenager. Other candies that were popular with this flavor are Hot Heads and Hot Tamales.
What was the type of packaging that made regular, original Nerds special?
Nerds were invented in 1983 by Angelo Fraggos. In 1985, the candy was named “Candy of the Year.” Nerds are part of the Wonka brand. By the 1990s, Nerds were very popular. They came in many flavors. The original flavors expanded from strawberry and grape to include many more with unusual names such as Double Dipped Lemonade-Wild Cherry, Sour-Lightning Lemon, Amped Apple, Surf 'n Turf-Totally Tropical Punch, Road Rash Raspberry, Peach, Watermelon Punch, and Wildberry. From the original candy there have been many variations including Sour Nerds, Rope Nerds, Giant Chewy Nerds, Jumbo Nerds, and even a Nerds breakfast cereal, now discontinued.
Why did inventor, Frank Richards, make the ring pop?
Frank Richards invented the Ring Pop during 1979 for the candy company Topps. By the 1990s it was a hugely successful candy selling each year in the millions. Its clever design was a ring that could be worn on a finger and then licked or sucked because the candy was a jewel-shaped piece in the center. This was a child’s imagination of a fashion accessory, mixed with a tasty, sugary treat. Ring Pop came in delicious fruit flavors, with the most popular being cherry.
How is someone supposed to enjoy this gum?
Hubba Bubba Bubble Jug was a new way to package bubble gum. It was a grainy powder that came in a small plastic jug. The Hubba Bubba brand was marketed as less sticky, so blown bubbles did not easily stick to your skin. This meant, kids were free to blow as big of bubbles as possible and not have trouble removing the popped bubble gum from their faces. The Hubba Bubba brand disappeared in the early 1990s; however, it made a comeback in 2004 and it is currently still available.
This candy was marketed as being ________ sour.
Toxic Waste candy was part of the trend during the 1990s to take frightening themes and make them into candy. Psychologists would have a field day describing this almost psychotic fascination with huge environmental problems and why the adult candy designers turn these disaster themes into candies for children. This candy had a cartoon character as its mascot that looks like a nuclear explosion with a serious hangover. This candy was so sour it challenged anyone to try to eat it.
What other special characteristics, besides glowing, did this candy have?
Snap N Glow treats are lollipops that have a glow stick. They came in three flavors of Blue Raspberry, Cherry, and Green Apple. They were popular among those who enjoyed the Rave dance and party culture during the late 1990s because of their ability to glow in the dark. Many would be dancing the night away to blasting techno music, high on designer drugs like Ecstasy, and getting a sugar rush from these candy lollipops at the same time. When the lights went down for a moment the entire audience had a colorful glow from these candies and other forms of glow sticks.
What other popular candies are made by this company?
The makers of this extremely popular candy Atomic Fireball had many major hits of candies they made, which became so popular during the 1990s and continue to this day. The geniuses of the Ferrara Candy Company headquartered in Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois, seem to know exactly what candies we want and make the brands that last for decades. It is extremely comforting that the candies enjoyed by ourselves when we were kids will be enjoyed by our own children and our grandkids to the great frustration of the dentists that wish that candies would completely go away. So sorry dentists, we love sugar! After all, without this, you might be out of a job.
Complete the slogan for Now and Later candies... Share the _____.
Ferrara also makes the hugely successful Now and Later candies, which are a taffy candy in many flavors. Currently, there are nineteen flavors available for the traditional Now and Later and chewy varieties. The marketing message is to buy enough of these candies to be able to eat some of them now and save some of them for later. This simple, yet powerful theme causes the average consumer to buy more of this candy than they normally would buy so that they have some for later. This is a brilliant marketing strategy and highly effective.
How long did the extremely sour taste of Cry Baby Gum last, according to the package?
Cry Baby Bubble Gum was marketed as being so sour initially that chewing it made a person’s eyes tear up. It was launched in 1991, as part of a trend that made eating candies a physical challenge. Teens loved to watch their friends try to chew this gum without crying like a baby. This candy and many other tortuous types were really popular because the kids like to challenge each other to suffer through the experience. For those that could get through the initial sour taste, they were rewarded with a very nice sweet-flavored gum.
What candy style started with bears and then expanded to an immense variety?
This candy made first by Haribo from Germany in the 1940s caught the attention of global market. When the patent ran out, what started as a bear, turned into replicas of pizza, cheeseburgers, French fries, Coca-Cola bottles, blue sharks, peach rings, worms and even fried eggs. This candy even was made into human body parts such as hearts and feet. The trend in the 1990s was to make candies that looked like things that are very gross, like worms and to eat them in front of friends to show how courageous you are.
Which one of these exotic flavors is NOT a Kit Kat bar flavor?
Kit Kat bars were invented in the 1930s by Roundtree, a UK company. Roundtree licensed worldwide rights, except for the USA, to Nestlé. Nestlé makes and distributes Kit Kat candy bars in 16 countries. In America, the license for Kit Kat is held by Hershey’s. Kit Kat bars started in 1996 to become available in a variety of non-traditional flavors. Since then, there have been over 200 flavors introduced, many of them special edition, limited versions that are only available for a short time.
Which shape is NOT one of Garbage Can-dy?
Garbage Can-dy was the creation of the inventor, Art Spiegelman, who was working for the Topps Bubble Gum design and development department. The candy came in a small plastic garbage can and was fruit-flavored. The taste was “zingy” and sweet, not as tart as Sweet Tarts and sweeter than Pez. Spiegelman went on later to invent a series of collectible cards called "Garbage Pail Kids," which were a satirical take-off based on the popularity of "Cabbage Patch Kids." Because of the similarities, the Topps Company was sued. As part of the legal settlement, Topps made changes in the card designs and logo so as not to so closely resemble the Cabbage Patch Kids.
What ingredient(s) in Cow Tails actually come from a cow?
Cow Tales were first released in 1984 as an elongated, stick-shaped, extension of the Caramel Creams made by the Goetze Company. Their popularity soared during the 1990s and they are still available today. They are available in four flavors of caramel apple, chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla. The flavors are the creamy center, which is surrounded by a delicious chewy caramel layer. Cow Tails are made in the USA and do not contain any nut ingredients, so they can be enjoyed by those who have a nut allergy.
What was the first flavor of the liquid antibiotic amoxicillin that became popular?
During the 1990s, pharmaceutical companies found that if they made candy-flavored amoxicillin, the sales, especially for use with pediatric illnesses, would skyrocket. Instead of having children need to take an antibiotic injection for common bacterial infections such as ear aches, pediatricians were able to give a small cup of extremely sweet and tasty liquid amoxicillin that children actually begged for. The manufacturers had to invest in the invention of special child-proof containers in order to avoid poisoning accidents when children got a hold of this medicine and tried to drink too much because it tastes so good.
By what mechanism did one use to make the Lolli-Go-Round turn?
Lolli-Go-Round brought new fun to the lollipop because it turns to make it easier to enjoy the candy. The candy would spin in the mouth to make a mouth-watering flavor with the least effort possible. Three flavors are available with each Lolli-Go-Round, strawberry, blue raspberry, and watermelon. You can switch between rotating flavors from these three whenever you like. This makes it really enjoyable and makes the tongue change to rainbow colors. Even when the candy runs out it is possible to put a new lollipop in one of the three spinning containers to continue the enjoyment.
Fill in the missing word in the candy’s slogan "The Original _____ Art you can Eat!"
Raven's Revenge comes packaged in plastic bottles that look like test tubes, which can be squeezed to get the candy to come out. The flavors all have crazy names, such as Anarchy that is black and yellow color with a sour black cherry lemonade flavor. There is the Avenged Revenge that is purple and white color with a cherry regal crown flavor. Double Immunity is blue and white color with a tangy tart apple fruit punch flavor. Rave is red, white, and orange color with the flavors of cherry, tart apple, and tangerine, respectively. Raven’s Fury is red and yellow color with double mango chili flavor. Finally, there is Sweet Revenge, which is blue and green color with green apple fruit punch flavor.
Finish this slogan for the Dove “Promises” message found inside the foil wrapper of the Dove Chocolate miniatures. “Temptation is fun, giving in is ___.”
Mars acquired the right to make the Dove chocolate bars and ice creams during 1986. The Dove ice cream bars already had achieved a cult-like status. By the 1990s, the Dove dark chocolate bar led the way for a new product line of upscale, gourmet, chocolate candy that was marketed more towards adults than children. The idea was that adults needed a bit of indulgence to satisfy their sweet-tooth cravings just like kids; however, they needed to enjoy candy in a more sophisticated way.
What was the controversy surrounding this candy?
When mobile phones first came out they were very large and really expensive to use. Instead of using mobile phones most people used a beeper. Beepers gave a signal and digitally displayed a short text message or a telephone number for the beeper's owner to use to call back. Kids enjoyed this candy that looked like a beeper and had 17 sticks of bubble gum. It had a cool clip-on feature that allowed it to be attached to a belt or a pocket, like a real beeper. After the gum was all chewed it could be used to carry small things like other candies or coins.
Who invented Big League Chew?
Big League Chew came on to the market during the 1980s and was an immensely popular form of bubble gum in the 1990s among people of all ages. It is a shredded form of pink bubble gum packed in a foil pouch and promoted with an advertising campaign as an alternative to unhealthy tobacco-chew products that were popular with baseball players. The advertising slogan used for this candy is "You're in the big leagues when you're into Big League Chew!"
What is a reason why parents liked this bubble gum?
Ouch! is a bubble gum manufactured by the Wrigley Company as part of the Hubba Bubba brand. Introduced during the 1990s, the gum originally came in the flavors of strawberry, grape, and watermelon. Recently added was bubble gum flavor. The wrapping of each piece of gum resembles a Band-Aid and the gum came in a metal box similar to how Band-Aids are packaged with a collectible game inside. Parents could give this candy to a child, when a child got an “ouch,” to make them feel better and stop crying.
What is the name of the candy made as a Wonka brand jawbreaker?
The Willy Wonka Candy brand was developed under a licensing arrangement to market candies along with the first release of the "Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory" film in the 1970s. The candy brand became very popular after the movie was successful. The brand was purchased by Nestlé who expanded the candy offerings under this brand during the 1980s and 1990s. There was a fictional jawbreaker in the film story that changed to many tastes and lasts forever. A real jawbreaker with this name was made in an unusual shape. If you got the "Golden Ticket" and you went to Wonka's factory and you passed the integrity test by not stealing the secret formula for this candy, you inherited the entire candy factory and, like Charlie, you lived happily-every after.
What is the base used for the “chicle” in this gum?
This Chiclets brand of gum has been around since 1900. A popular version of this fruit-flavored bubble gum that was available during the 1990s was the Chiclets Tiny Size. Unfortunately, the tiny size has been discontinued. It was certainly a fun gum to enjoy during the 1990s. Many wish it was still available today. Because the tiny pieces could be chewed for awhile and then more added to the mouth, it was possible using this gum to keep the flavor going for quite some time before getting a full mouthful.
What major change was made at one time in the design and marketing of Astro Pops?
Astro Pops came about because of the public interest in all things about astronauts and space exploration in the 1960s. The design was actually made by real rocket engineers and modeled after a three-stage rocket design. It claimed to be the world’s longest-lasting lollipop when it first came out. The ownership of the brand changed hands in the 1980s and it got a marketing push by Spangler Candy starting in 1987, which continued until the product was discontinued 17 years later. The good news is Leaf Brands has taken the brand on to put it back into production as part of its efforts to bring back retro candies.
Why did the manufacturer discontinue this candy bar’s production?
Mars made the PBMax bar to challenge the dominance of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. It was not a copycat like other challengers; instead, it was a cookie topped with peanut butter and then chocolate. It was first available during the early 1990s. It was actually successful in gaining traction and sales were quite good. Joël Glenn Brenner, who is the author of the book entitled "The Emperors of Chocolate" noted a strange reason for the candy bar’s discontinuance in spite of its sales success.
What happened in the television advertising campaign for this candy?
Nabisco popularized Bonkers, which was a chewable, fruity candy with a gum-like outer shell and soft fruity inside with popular commercial campaign. Sales went up; however, once the advertising campaign waned, so did the sales, so Nabisco discontinued this candy. The good news is Leafs brand bought the brand and brought the candy back in 2014, so now we can not only reminisce about this candy, we can buy it for our kids and sneak a few delicious pieces for ourselves as well.