Fruit Of The Month - #21: Mike and Ike Stripes

My Fruit Of The Month post for February 2012 coincides perfectly with today's holiday. Here in the U.S., we celebrate President's Day today! I can remember when we celebrated Lincoln's and Washington's birthdays on separate holidays, but these days they have to share.

This candy box is a patriotic variety of the classic Mike and Ike called Stripes. The candies were red, white and blue, of course, flavored as cherry, blueberry and vanilla cream.

The little fruit guys here were on other Mike and Ike boxes in the early to mid 2000s. They were typically a cherry and a lemon, but here the lemon is morphed into a blueberry for the special occasion.

Also, I'm presenting this Just Born sales flier which shows us that the Stripes candy was introduced for President's Day in 2002 -- 10 years ago!

I hope this makes you feel extra patriotic today, setting aside political differences to remember what makes our country great.

Fruit Of The Month - #20: Frosty Chewy Lemonhead & Friends

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas!

Here's the Fruit Of The Month winner for December 2011. Expanding from last month's winner, Orangehead, Ferrara Pan has assembled some of his friends on a delightful new Christmas themed box.

Chewy Lemonhead & Friends are now Frosty Chewy Lemonhead & Friends. Lemonhead, Cherryhead and Applehead are having a good time making snowballs in their Santa hats amidst a beautiful green backdrop.

Interestingly enough, the lemon candies inside are white instead of the usual yellow. Along with the green Appleheads and red Cherryheads, the now-white Lemonheads fit in nicely with the holiday colors.

Congratulations and thanks to the Ferrara Pan candy company for a wonderful new stocking stuffer!

Fruit Of The Month - #19: Orangehead

Here's my Fruit Of The Month post for November 2011. Just barely got this one in before December!

This month I'm celebrating a tangy treat from Ferrara Pan -- Orangehead candy!

Orangeheads were introduced in March of 1996 as an extension of their popular Lemonhead candy line. Small semi-hard candies with a softer, flaky candy shell, these are really tasty.

Quite unfortunately, I have to report that Orangehead was discontinued earlier this year. I've confirmed that fact with a Ferrara Pan company representative.  :-(

Here's a box that I saved from 2008. The good old Orangehead mascot has looked the same on the box ever since the product's inception.

 

When the Chewy Lemonhead & Friends assorted pack was introduced, it included a chewy version of Orangheads along with the other flavors. Tastes just like the original Orangheads, but softer on the teeth.

Here's a box of those that I saved from 2008. You can see that they gave Orangehead a redesign here, but that redesign never made it to the regular Orangehead box, as far as I've seen at least. Applehead, Grapehead and Cherryhead, however, got their own new box designs earlier this year.

 

While regular Orangehead has been discontinued, fortunately the chewy version is still in the Chewy Lemonhead & Friends pack. Hopefully that will not change. Long live Orangehead!

Fruit Of The Month - #18: Pumpkin-Face Gum

Since we are closing in on Halloween, I picked an appropriate choice for Fruit Of The Month. For October 2011, I'm highlighting Pumpkin-Face Bubble Gum!

Pumpkin-Face Bubble Gum was a holiday creation from Fleer, makers of myriad cool and creative gum products over the years. The company was especially on a roll in the 1980s, which is when this package was made.

Pumpkin-Face gum was introduced to the market in 1982 (reference). By the 1990s, the package was re-designed to look like this.

The pumpkin, or jack-o-lantern here proclaims itself as "sweet 'n juicy", although pumpkin flavor gum does not sound all that appealing to me. I don't remember trying this product before, but it's a fun little collectible.

Happy Halloween!

Fruit Of The Month - #17: Sour Punch Watermelon

Here's my Fruit Of The Month post for September 2011 -- Sour Patch Watermelon candy.

I picked up this tasty box of chewy candy in 2010. Why limit yourself to one product mascot when you can have a whole slew of little watermelon guys?

Fruit Of The Month - #16: Sour Punch Candy

Here's my Fruit Of The Month post for August 2011 -- Sour Punch Bits candy.

I noticed last year that American Licorice introduced a new box design for their Sour Punch Bits, so I thought I would show the before and after photos.

Here are the tangerine-lemonade boxes first from 2009 and then 2010 below. Fortunately, the little Sour Punch mascots made the leap onto the new boxes. The new design seems to stand out more, so I'd say it was a good move.

Fruit Of The Month - #15: Loud-Mouth Lime

The Fruit Of The Month award for July 2011 goes to none other than Loud-Mouth Lime! LML was one of the original flavors of Pillsbury Funny Face drink mix in 1964, along with Goofy Grape, Rootin'-Tootin' Raspberry, Injun Orange, Freckle Face Strawberry and Chinese Cherry. Together they quenched a lot of thirsts in the groovy 1960s.

Here's an unopened, vintage pack from 1965-1966. This was a second series pack.



By 1967, the lime flavor was discontinued. Lefty Lemon became Lefty Lemon-Lime. Our friend Loud-Mouth Lime took on a new persona (and flavor) as Loud-Mouth Punch. Compare the two packs below. The Punch pack is from the early '70s, but it's still basically the same mascot, lime-shaped but now with a really snazzy hat.



Take a look at this vintage commercial on YouTube:



Several years ago, Funko put out an awesome set of Wacky Wobbler bobblehead figures, expertly designed in the likeness of six of our Funny Face friends. Loud-Mouth Lime somehow did not make the cut in that set. However, I'm happy to report that last month Funko released this wonderful new LML bobblehead!





Really cool.

Also in modern Funny Face news, there's still a cartoon series in the works, as I've posted previously on this blog. Take a look at a newly animated Loud-Mouth Lime in this cartoon short on Daily Motion.


Organic by funnyface

I'm looking forward to seeing more from this new venture!

I hope you've enjoyed this Fruit Of The Month segment celebrating our little lime friend.

Fruit Of The Month - #14: Hunt's Snack Pack Peaches

Here's my Fruit Of The Month post for June 2011.

This is a flashback for us kids of the 1970s! Hunt's Snack Pack products, primarily pudding and fruit cups, made regular appearances in my lunchbox back then. This month I'm happy to show this great Snack Pack Diced Peaches box from 1974.

There's the Snack Pack kid, who was nameless as far as I know, smiling big and proudly showing us that the lids are now safe for kids. Let's not kid ourselves -- those lids were deadly and everybody knew it! Raise your hand if you ever got cut by one of those lids. (I'm raising my hand from 4th grade.)

I've got a few other Snack Pack collectibles and did a bit of research on the product line. The Diced Peaches were introduced in 1969.I'm fairly certain that this box is from 1974, having found evidence of the Snack Pack kid being used only between 1973 and 1974. Prior to that they had a horse named "Snack Pack", and then by 1975 they brought in a new mascot named "Snack Pack Jack".

The kid here also appeared on the pudding boxes during those years, but I do not have any of them.

Open wide and have a spoonful of peaches! I hope it puts a smile on your face.  :-)

Fruit Of The Month - #13: Trix Funny Fruity Stickers

Here's my Fruit Of The Month post for May 2011.

Right now, on a cereal aisle near you, you can get Trix cereal with these Funny Fruity Stickers inside. There's a wacky assorted bunch of fruit characters to collect -- lemon, orange, watermelon, banana and more!

To me this is an old-school promotion. I love the totally generic premiums like we used to get back in the '70s. They're not promoting a movie or a TV show. It's just good goofy fun, the way it should be.

There are four different sticker sheets, each with three sections. Here's the first one I got, showing the three sections separately here.







Here's the cereal box:

Fruit Of The Month - #12: Burger King Raisin Training

Here's my Fruit Of The Month post for April 2011.

Meet Morris, Doris, Norris, Cloris and Boris! Collectively these little raisins got together to teach us a fun magic trick. Follow the instructions here on the side of the box and put on a show to impress your friends and family with your Raisin Training skills!



I spotted this magical quintet on the side of a Burger King kids meal box -- a Magic Meal to be precise. It's a fun little box dating to 1981. There's the old Magical Burger King mascot on the box, too. He always had a few tricks up his sleeve.

Fruit Of The Month - #11: Gummy Black & Red Berries

Here's my Fruit Of The Month post for March 2011 -- Gummy Black & Red Berries candy.

As you can see, here we have some berry characters putting on a show for us. Conveniently they are black and red, just like the product name says. It looks like the gang is dancing under the spotlight to an audience full of adoring berry fans.

The Cinema Sweets brand comes from China, distributed here in the U.S. by Greenbrier International of Chesapeake, Virginia.

I found this at one of the dollar stores back in 2009.

Fruit Of The Month - #10: Orange Plus

Here's my Fruit Of The Month post for February 2011 -- Orange Plus.

Orange Plus was a brand of orange juice that was made by Birdseye. This is a coupon form was used to mail away for their plush mascot. If the mascot has a name, it has escaped me. The form simply refers to it as "Orange Plush". Notice the "+" sign on its hat!

This offer came out either in 1969 or early 1970. The reverse side says it expired June 30, 1970.

I don't believe I've seen one of these actual plush toys. Does anyone out there have one?

Fruit Of The Month - #9: Wild Crazy Fruit Snacks

Here's my Fruit Of The Month post for January 2011 -- Wild Crazy Fruit Snacks!

From Global Brands, made in Indonesia and sold here in the U.S., this product features a trio of wild and crazy guys. There's Groovy Grape on a skateboard, Jammin' Strawberry on roller blades and Very Berry Cherry on a scooter.

I have a theory on why these guys look so kooky. They're not wearing helmets, knee pads or elbow pads, so they've probably had some wicked spills out on the pavement. Just a thought really.

The only other question I have is about Very Berry Cherry. Tell me, since when is a cherry considered a berry?

This box is from 2010 and has a really nice overall design.

Fruit Of The Month - #8: Orange Julius / Orange Owen?

Here's my Fruit Of The Month post for December 2010 -- a festive little fruit mascot from Orange Julius!


This electronic coupon arrived in my inbox today in advance of my birthday this month. I take any opportunity I get to enjoy an Orange Julius, though that means a trip to the dreaded shopping mall. Still, I'll be cashing in on this coupon in the near future.




You can sign up for OJ Quench Club and get one for yourself. You'll see the orange guy again here, where you can sign up.

Digging a little further on the Orange Julius website, I came across the "Fun Fingers" game. See the screenshot below which shows a different, animated orange character named Owen!

So maybe the birthday orange is Owen, too. Maybe not, but both oranges make for a fun little discovery this month.

Thanks to Julius Freed for inventing this delicious, frosty, fruit drink. I'll have one in my hands again in a few days.

Fruit Of The Month - #7: Mr. Sketch Markers

Here's my Fruit Of The Month post for November 2010 -- a whole host of fruit friends from Mr. Sketch water color markers!

Technically, this product is not a fruit, of course, though most of the markers are fruit scented. A few are non-fruits, as you'll see. The Sanford company made this Mr. Sketch box in 1998. Sanford was nice enough to give us a mascot for each scent, making this piece a real bonanza of advertising mascots!

Here's the box front:



Here's the box back:



Here are close-ups of the mascots from the box back:



The scents are Licorice, Cherry, Blueberry, Mint, Mango, Apple, Melon, Orange, Lemon, Grape, Cinnamon and Raspberry.

There are some other groovy, non-fruit, Mr. Sketch varieties shown on the box back. Big thumbs up for the great soap mascot!



I don't have much information on the history of these. I believe this box style goes back to the early 1990s. The Sanford company was absorbed by the Newell Company in 1992, which is now called Newell Rubbermaid.

This box design from 1998 is obsolete, though I don't know when it was re-designed. The current box has only one mascot - the watermelon guy, which you can see here.

Fruit Of The Month - #6: Rascals Candy

Here's my Fruit Of The Month feature for October 2010 -- four fruit friends collectively known as Rascals, as in Rascals candy.


I have this old candy bag from 1989. At the time, Rascals candies were made by Warner-Lambert. These fruit-shaped candy bits were likely intended to compete directly against Willy Wonka's Runts candy.





Here are close-ups of the four mascots -- a Native American styled apple (or is that a cherry?), a punching orange, a silly strawberry and a swimming watermelon.














I don't remember ever eating these, but I did enjoy Willy Wonka Runts, and still do.


Here's an old Rascals commercial at Retro Junk.


Rascals are now made by Concord Confections, and I found a current image this page. The mascots have been changed, but still look like a lot of fun.


If you know more about Rascals, please let me know. I haven't found much else. I'm guessing they were created in the 1980s. We'll have to wait for more information to surface.

Fruit Of The Month - #5: Top Crop Blueberries

September is here and it's time for the Fruit Of The Month announcement.

Recently I enjoyed this delicious package of blueberries from Top Crop. With many choices of fruits to eat, you can bet that I'm going for the one with the cool mascot on the label! This little guy is an anthropomorphic blueberry wearing a top hat and holding a cane.

I contacted the fine folks at Top Crop to get more information about their mascot. While he does not have an official name, he's often referred to as "Toppy" or "TC". They were very kind to send me an awesome Top Crop t-shirt and a keychain!

Toppy / TC is also featured on the company's website: Top Crop

This mascot evokes memories of the beloved Fruit Pie The Magician from Hostess fame. He's "No Ordinary Berry" indeed. Well done, Top Crop!

Here are the front and back sides of the t-shirt:

Here is the keychain:

And I can't forget the envelope these arrived in:

Here's another in-store mascot photo courtesy of Donio / Top Crop.

Big thanks to Top Crop for the goodies and permission to use the in-store mascot photos!

Fruit Of The Month - #4: Chewy Extinguisher

Here's my Fruit Of The Month post for August 2010.

From the American Licorice Company in 2008 here's a box of Chewy Extinguisher candy, sour citrus variety. They treated us to four fun fruit mascots on this box -- Tangy Tangerine, Sour Lemon, Super Sour Lime and Berry Sweet Relief!

Along with the fun characters this was an easy grab for me because I really enjoy any kinds lime and tangerine candies. Apparently you're supposed to be so shocked by the sourness of the orange, yellow and green candies that you've got to down a blue one for some relief.

I assumed these would be outrageously sour, but they were actually rather mild. Still it was some very good candy and a delightful box!

See more of these guys at http://www.extinguishercandy.com/

Fruit Of The Month - #3: McDonald's Maine Blueberries

Here's my Fruit Of The Month post for July 2010. (Sorry I missed June!)

The month we're going back to the late 1990s to enjoy these fine little Maine Wild Blueberry mascots from McDonald's. This is a promotional button worn by employees of McDonald's in Maine during blueberry season.

I'm told that they offered Maine blueberry pies and blueberry pancakes -- and possibly other items. This came to me from a lady who worked there at the time. Sounds delicious!

See you back here in August with the next Fruit Of The Month!

Fruit Of The Month - #2: Mr. Melon

The Fruit Of The Month for May 2010 is none other than Mr. Melon!

Mr. Melon was a candy made by the Ferrara Pan candy company. Not surprisingly, it was watermelon flavored. Mr. Melon himself was a friendly little fellow, smiling and waving right on the box, inviting shoppers to pick up a box by the checkout stand.

This box is from 1985 and still full of vintage candy. I have no plans of eating it, of course, but wanted to photograph it for posterity. 

I don't know much more about Mr. Melon. When was he first created? How long was he on the market? Questions to be answered. Please post a comment if you have information to share.

For now, we'll just enjoy these photos and soak in some watermelon goodness.

Stay tuned for next month's Fruit Of The Month post!