Free Republic

Local geezers could go on at great length about Necco Wafers, a candy invented hereabouts in the mid 1800s. Now the candy’s maker, the New England Confectionary Co. of Revere, wants its sweets to be equally esteemed by young consumers. So, following an ad agency review, the company selected the Noonan Creative Group of Framingham to design a website that might beguile a younger demographic of candy lovers and to alert them that Necco doesn’t just make its eponymous Wafers, but that its candy line-up also includes such classics as the vintage peanut-butter chew known as the Mary Jane, not...

When the people who make Necco Wafers changed their recipe to use natural flavors and colors in 2009, they thought they were doing their customers a favor. But then those customers told the New England Confectionery Company — loudly, and repeatedly — that they preferred artificially enhanced candy. "Our normal mail volume probably went up twenty-fold" after the change, says Necco Vice President of Research and Quality Jeff Green says. "Some positive, and some negative. But a lot of negative." The common theme from Necco's longtime customers, Green tells NPR's Michele Norris, was, "You ruined my product, I will never...

It has been a long time since so much syrupy nostalgia has been in evidence at the White House. But Tuesday night, when President Bush announced his choice for the next associate justice of the Supreme Court, it was hard not to marvel at the 1950s-style tableau vivant that was John Roberts and his family. There they were -- John, Jane, Josie and Jack -- standing with the president and before the entire country. The nominee was in a sober suit with the expected white shirt and red tie. His wife and children stood before the cameras, groomed and glossy...