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Mounds/Almond Joy - Early 1970s - "You Can Share Half & Still Have Whole"

Posted on 12/01/2006 5:10:31 PM PST by SamAdams76

Many Freepers are probably too young to remember but I can remember the day that when you bought an Almond Joy or a Mounds bar, you got the entire bar. Not "two halfs" sold as a "whole".

At some point during the early 1970s, Peter Paul decided to sell these popular bars as two individual pieces as opposed to a whole bar. I trace this seminal event as a turning point in my life - when I started to become cynical and jaded.

I forget the exact circumstances but I seem to remember these candy bars weighed in the neighborhood of 4 ounces and costed 10 cents each. A pretty fair price back in the day when Richard Nixon was making friends with China and the Boston Bruins were winning hockey games with a blond-haired guy named Bobby Orr.

But a terrible scam was perpetrated upon the American public. Suddenly, with no warning whatsoever, Mounds and Almond Joy bars started showing up in two pieces weighing a total of about 3 ounces between them.

Not only did Peter Paul cut the weight of their candy bars by a solid ounce but to add insult to injury, they raised the price of these bars to fifteen cents!

But that was not the worst of it. They used the extra profits gained by shrinking the candy bars and increasing the price by launching a multi-million dollar advertising campaign geared towards making the American people think that they were actually getting more for their 15 cents instead of less!

The advertising slogan was wickedly brilliant, evidently thought up some advertising executive with a very warped mind.

The slogan was "With Almond Joy...You Can Share Half and STILL have a WHOLE!"

I can still remember the TV commercials, probably shown during the first episodes of "Sanford And Son" and "The Waltons."

The commercials showed some smiling woman opening her Almond Joy bar and giving some dorky looking man (kind of looked like "Meathead" Rob Reiner) half and then taking the other half for herself. Thus the American people were duped into thinking they were getting "two" candy bars for the price of one when in actuality they were paying more for less.

Had Almond Joy and Mounds kept their original full-size, one could easily split the bar in half and still share - while getting "bigger" halves in the process.

For some reason, I am still bothered by this to this day. While Mounds and Almond Joy were my absolute favorite candy bars at the time, I hardly ate them since, switching over to new favorites such as Zagnut (a much better version of "Butterfinger"), Milky Way and the now extinct Marathon bar (that used to be like a foot long of chewy chocolate-covered caramel - no kidding).

My sister like Three Musketeers but eating that candy bar always made me dizzy for some reason. I think they put girly sugar in that.


TOPICS: Cheese, Moose, Sister; Weird Stuff
KEYWORDS: almondjoy; candy; mounds
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To: SamAdams76
Mmmmmmmmmmmmm..........Zagnut..............

Clark bars were great too.

41 posted on 12/01/2006 8:47:11 PM PST by MozartLover
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To: SamAdams76
Have one of these and I promise you'll feel better:

Best new candy bar, or variation of a candy bar, in a decade at least.

42 posted on 12/01/2006 8:51:45 PM PST by Silly (Still being... Silly)
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To: SamAdams76
This Australian delight, "Violet Crumble," will make your eyeballs roll back. It's crispy honeycomb in dark chocolate. Melts like cotton candy....

When my band played in Oz for two summers (winters, there) the girls in the band gained a lot of weight eating these!


43 posted on 12/01/2006 8:56:32 PM PST by Silly (Still being... Silly)
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To: SamAdams76
Now that you've got my mouth watering:

This new ad campaign is AWESOME. I'll bet Snickers sales are going through the roof.

My brother-in-law's brother works for M&M Mars. Joe says that a warm Snickers bar right off the assembly line is to die for.


44 posted on 12/01/2006 9:03:36 PM PST by Silly (HUNG ERECT O MY!)
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To: Petronski
Coconut is disgusting. I can't shake the impression it's just toenails soaked in syrup.

AHHH! No way! Someone else with the coconut : nails thing. I've alway said coconut is like wet fingernails. So repulsive.

45 posted on 12/01/2006 9:12:39 PM PST by TEEHEE
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To: SamAdams76
from post 30........They changed the format to two pieces in 1929 so the consumer got more product of same quality for the same 5 cent price. "

So, you must have been eating some Reeeeaallly old candy bars.

That said, if this is the worst thing that happens in your life this week, things are pretty sweet!

8-)

46 posted on 12/01/2006 9:29:44 PM PST by Grammy
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To: Silly
Cadbury's Crunchie is better IMHO opinion the honeycomb is lighter not so dense. In Britain it is traditional to have honeycomb on sell at the seaside I always used to get a bag of it when I was a child. Click here for info on Crunchie and other Cadbury's products


47 posted on 12/01/2006 9:30:30 PM PST by snugs ((An English Cheney Chick - BIG TIME))
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To: Silly

And before you ask yes that is a photo just taken of a Crunchie Bar in my kitchen. :0)


48 posted on 12/01/2006 9:32:17 PM PST by snugs ((An English Cheney Chick - BIG TIME))
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To: A knight without armor

I remember those.... but only because I hated the jelly and thought it was a waste of good candy.


49 posted on 12/01/2006 9:32:26 PM PST by Grammy
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To: snugs

I've had the Crunchie, too, and like it -- but the Violet Crumble has darker chocolate. I think that's why I prefer it.

I need to find me a box of VCs on the Internet and stick them in my freezer...


50 posted on 12/01/2006 9:34:21 PM PST by Silly (Still being... Silly)
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To: Silly
Not sure how long they would last in the freezer the honeycomb may start to deteriorate

You can buy it here

51 posted on 12/01/2006 9:40:47 PM PST by snugs ((An English Cheney Chick - BIG TIME))
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To: Silly

Here is bar that was my mother's favourite Aero.

Now made by Nestle's used to be Rowntrees Mackinstosh

http://www.candydirect.com/bars/Aero-Bars-Mint.html


52 posted on 12/01/2006 9:44:14 PM PST by snugs ((An English Cheney Chick - BIG TIME))
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To: MotleyGirl70

I LUV coconut. And guess what?

It's really, really, and I mean really good for you!


53 posted on 12/01/2006 9:44:34 PM PST by djf (They have their place. We have our place. They want to turn our place into their place. WAKE UP!!!!!)
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To: Grammy

I know what jelly you are talking about. It was sort of an adult candy bar. It had a grown up taste. I'd love to have one now.


54 posted on 12/01/2006 9:51:09 PM PST by A knight without armor
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To: MozartLover

I'm glad someone else enjoyed 7 Up bars. I swear I still can smell them and taste them.


55 posted on 12/01/2006 9:53:33 PM PST by A knight without armor
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To: snugs
I guess candy bars run the gamut from Aero to Zero:

Every once in a great while a get a hankering for one.

56 posted on 12/01/2006 9:56:04 PM PST by Silly (Still being... Silly)
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To: snarks_when_bored
the large size Hershey bars used to be 7 to 8 oz.....now, the large size is only 5 oz and they try to think its a deal when the are charging more for less......

and what has happened to the price of those Starbuck Frappachinos that you buy in the store?......a 4 pk was over $7 today at Albertsons''''

57 posted on 12/01/2006 10:48:23 PM PST by cherry
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To: cherry

Let's don't start the endless list right now...I don't want my blood pressure to spike this late in the evening!


58 posted on 12/01/2006 10:59:05 PM PST by snarks_when_bored
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To: A knight without armor

I remember 7-Up candy bars too- they were very good. They were a favorite of mine. What happened to Black Cow suckers??


59 posted on 12/02/2006 12:06:01 AM PST by oregon conservative
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To: djf

Not sheeped in syrupy sugar and covered in dark or milk chocolate but it is lovely. LOL

I love Bounty Bars in fact my local supermarket's own brand is good as well in fact I think I prefer it to Bounty it is not quite as sweet.


60 posted on 12/02/2006 4:25:23 AM PST by snugs ((An English Cheney Chick - BIG TIME))
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