Halloween is just around the corner and anyone who tells you they aren’t excited is either denying their inner child or is seriously depleted of their fun fuels. Who doesn’t love a good fright every now and again (not to mention a perfectly valid reason to scare the bejeebies our of your friends)? We here at Mutant Media are horror fanatics and so with creepy decorations, bone-chilling movies, and all things scary galore, what’s not to love? If all that talk of ghosts and goblins doesn’t tickle your fancy, we know just what will – the hordes of candy that inevitably come with each and every October 31^st! So, in honor of the approaching saccharin fest quickly nipping at our heels, we put together a brief visual history of some of the most classic candy wrappers. But be warned: unless you’re ok with a sweetness-induced sugar coma, be sure to be clear of any candy or chocolate before reading.

ZERO BAR:

Released in the early 1930s, this caramel nutty delight was originally called the Double Zero Bar, but in 1934 its name was shortened to simply Zero. The first image is the original wrapper from 1931, which helps to shed a little light on the mysterious name – this treat was so cool that on the thermometer of coolness it would just hit zero degrees! Ahhh, it all makes sense now.

Take a look at the ad on the left of the wrapper. It’s from a quaint time from somewhere between Way Back When and The Good Old Days when children actually saved their allowances for The Whizzer – ‘a real steam engine that runs!’ – golly! Most kids nowadays would probably wonder what the heck a steam engine is and whether or not it’s compatible with their iTouch.

The second, current wrapper still features those cool colors from the original, but looks more futurist than cold (although we secretly wish we could still save up for The Whizzer).

It still has those “cold” colors, but looks a little more futuristic then cold.  I wish I could still save up for a whizzer though.

BUTTERFINGER:

The Butterfinger was invented by the Curtiss Candy Company of Chicago, Illinois, in 1923. In true buzz-building fashion, the company held a public contest to choose the name of the ‘crispety, crunchety, peanut-buttery’ candy bar. The name Butterfinger was, and still is for certain generations, a slang term used to describe a clumsy person, most notably an athlete who can’t hold onto the ball. The Butterfinger candy bar was later sold to Nabisco and then resold in 1990 to Nestlé.

The original wrapper was fairly simple and, as you can see, sold for a whopping one cent! The ’80s wrapper kept the originally coloring and stayed that way until the word ‘Butterfinger’ was spiced up a bit for the new millenium.

These days, you can even get some extra caffeine to go with your already caffeinated chocolate with the Butterfinger BUZZ, which claims to have as much of the jitter-inducing ingredient as an energy drink! As if the sugar wasn’t enough for your children, now you can get them even MORE amped up on this treat! Parents, rejoice!

SNICKERS:

Introduced in 1929 by Frank and Ethel Mars, the Snickers bar was named after their family horse and originally sold for a nickel. Now, Snickers is the best-selling chocolate bar of all time and has annual global sales of US $2 billion – INSANE!

The original wrapper doesn’t appear to have any of the signature brown in it at all. Actually, nothing from the original seems to have been carried through into the current wrapper – aside from the all-uppercase lettering of the word ‘Snickers’.

In 2007, a retro version of the wrapper that mocked the original was produced but even that still incorporated the brown.

BABY RUTH:

The Curtiss Candy Company has traditionally claimed that the Baby Ruth candy bar was named after President Grover Cleveland’s daughter, Ruth Cleveland. Skeptics are quick to point out that not only did Ruth Cleveland die 16 years before the introduction of the Baby Ruth bar, but also that the company had originally negotiated a failed endorsement deal with legendary baseball player Babe Ruth. Some have suggested that secretly naming the candy bar after Ruth was a way to tie him to their product without having to pay any royalties – kind of clever, eh? Today, the Baby Ruth bar is owned by mega-candy conglomerate Nestlé.

The original wrapper and the 1960s wrapper don’t differ all too much, but the jump from that to the ’80s design is notably significant. While the simple white and a similar typeface were retained, the mess that was surrounding the logo was removed in favor of a sleeker, more streamlined look. The current one has a sporty line thrown into the mix, but other than that, it remains fairly similar to its 80s counterpart.

Now that you’ve been significantly schooled in some classic candy wrapper designs, go ahead and indulge in that wealth of trick-or-treating candy you, er, your kids collected this Halloween. At least now while you grow your waistline, you can grow your brain too!