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.
Clark bars were great too.
Best new candy bar, or variation of a candy bar, in a decade at least.
When my band played in Oz for two summers (winters, there) the girls in the band gained a lot of weight eating these!
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.
AHHH! No way! Someone else with the coconut : nails thing. I've alway said coconut is like wet fingernails. So repulsive.
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-)
And before you ask yes that is a photo just taken of a Crunchie Bar in my kitchen. :0)
I remember those.... but only because I hated the jelly and thought it was a waste of good candy.
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...
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
I LUV coconut. And guess what?
It's really, really, and I mean really good for you!
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.
I'm glad someone else enjoyed 7 Up bars. I swear I still can smell them and taste them.
Every once in a great while a get a hankering for one.
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''''
Let's don't start the endless list right now...I don't want my blood pressure to spike this late in the evening!
I remember 7-Up candy bars too- they were very good. They were a favorite of mine. What happened to Black Cow suckers??
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.
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