36 Discontinued Candies And Gum We'll Probably Never See Again
Candy comes in all shapes, sizes, and colors. Whether you enjoy chocolate or fruit flavors, there has been the perfect sweet treat for you at some point over the years. Some products are smash hits and are time-honored icons in the candy world, like the Hershey's chocolate bar or Reese's Peanut Butter Cup; but others are only here for a brief moment in time before being pulled from store shelves.
Discontinued snacks are an unfortunate reality for food fanatics, and some of our favorite candies have fallen victim to the same fate. While it would be great to see these candies in shops again, there are at least some similar substitutes in their place these days. It is time to stroll down memory lane and take a look at some of those tasty treats that likelywon't be returning to your local convenience store anytime soon.
1. Altoids Sours
When you need a quick burst of minty freshness, you reach in your bag for Altoids. The company famous for its tin container full of mints decided to experiment with Altoids Sours.
This variety debuted in 2004 with an array of fruity flavors, only to be discontinued in 2010. The Sours were pulled from store shelves due to low sales — a common death knell for underperforming products. Perhaps the brand will come up with another fruit flavor once more, but until then, there will always be the curiously strong burst of mint you get from enjoying the traditional Altoids.
2. Berries and Cream Starburst
Whether you find them in a bag of Halloween candy or in a bowl sitting atop a reception desk, everyone seems to have their preferred flavor of Starburst candy. The tried-and-true flavors include cherry, orange, strawberry, and lemon.
Starburst launched a Berries and Cream variety in 2007, accompanied by an infamous earworm of a commercial. While Berries and Cream Starbursts have been discontinued, the ad jingle lives on.
3. Bonkers
Bonkers launched in the 80s as chewy candies were on the rise in popularity. What separated them from the competition was that each fruit flavor was encased in a vanilla shell, giving them a unique burst of flavor. While the candy was initially a success, the original parent company, Nestle, retired Bonkers in the 90s.
In recent years, Bonkers was acquired by Leaf Brands, a company known for reviving discontinued candies. Die-hard fans may spot Bonkers sold online under the new brand, but long gone are the days of the O.G. version of this beloved candy.
4. Bubble Beepers
The 90s were a time of bizarre foods, like Heinz EZ Squirt green and purple ketchup and Bug Pops. If you were a kid growing up during that time, you knew that one of the coolest devices you could own was a personal cell phone — or even more apt for the 90s, a beeper.
It was for that reason that Bubble Beeper Gum was a massive hit when it first entered the scene. Kids did not necessarily care about the gum itself, what they really were after was the packaging made to look like a beeper. Unfortunately, Bubble Beepers got caught up in some controversy due to the actual communication device it was based on being the technology of choice among drug dealers. Bubble Beepers were discontinued in the mid-90s.
5. Butterfinger BB's
Step into any movie theater and you will likely find a Butterfinger candy bar for sale at the concessions stand. In the 90s, Butterfinger sought to diversify its lineup by introducing Butterfinger BB's. The brand took what everybody loved about the original candy and turned it into small, round pieces that you could simply pop into your mouth.
The Butterfinger BB was quite popular from the 90s through 2006 when it was ultimately discontinued. A Change.org petition was initiated in an effort to bring the candy back, but seeing as it only garnered 57 signatures, it doesn't seem like the candy will return anytime soon.
6. Candilicious
Warner-Lambert, the company behind Bubblicious bubble gum, released a fruit-flavored version called Candilicious in the 80s. The soft and chewy candy came in a variety of fruit flavors, including watermelon, grape, strawberry, and orange.
Though Candilicious remained on store shelves into the 90s, it could not scale to the heights of other popular candies at the time, and was eventually discontinued. With so many fruit-flavored chewable candies in direct competition, it was likely a tough market to stand out enough to last.
7. Chicken Dinner
A candy called Chicken Dinner sounds quite bizarre and perhaps like something straight out of the 80s. However, this peculiar-sounding candy actually made its debut in the 20s. Despite the name, Chicken Dinner had nothing to do with chickens — it was all a marketing ploy to associate the candy with better-for-you meals instead of sugary sweets. Once you opened the packaging, you would discover that the candies were actually just chocolate-coated nuts, without a single chicken wing in sight.
The product lasted for several decades before Chicken Dinner was ultimately pulled from stores in the 60s after the brand was acquired by Pearson's. Of all the discontinued candies out there, Chicken Dinner is perhaps the most intriguing from its name alone.
8. Dweebs
The Willy Wonka Candy Company manufactured a lot of sweets during its heyday, some of which are still available like Nerds. Similar to Nerds candy in appearance and flavor were Dweebs, but unlike Nerds, Dweebs were chewier in consistency. A traditional package of Dweebs contained fruit punch, strawberry, cherry, and orange flavors. A Super Sour variation was also available for a moment in time.
Like many Wonka products, Dweebs were discontinued, vanishing from store shelves in the 90s. They were only on the market for a few years, so they likely did not catch on the way that Wonka had hoped.
9. Fruit String Thing
In the 90s, it seemed like you had an endless amount of options at the candy store. One of them was Fruit String Things, a candy that was as fun to play with as it was to actually eat. The candy was recognizable for its string-like appearance, which was arranged in different patterns affixed onto the packaging.
The main flavors that Fruit String Things came in were cherry, strawberry, and a more generic berry. Despite its popularity in its earlier years, Fruit String Things were discontinued in the 2000s.
10. Garbage Can-dy
Parents might argue that all sugary candy is akin to trash. In the case of Garbage Can-dy, the goal was to intentionally design a snack inspired by everyday items you would throw out. The small candy pieces, which came in a variety of colors and flavors, resembled fish bones and bottles. To top it all off, the candy came in small garbage can-shaped containers.
Garbage Can-dy was one of those snacks where the packaging was a big draw, but that alone could not keep its popularity up for long. The candy was available predominantly in the 80s and eventually discontinued in the mid-90s.
11. GatorGum
You would not expect to see certain food and drink brands cross over into completely different markets with brand-new products, but that is exactly what happened with Gatorade in the 70s. The company best known for its sports drinks decided to enter the gum market, originally launching GatorGum in the late 70s.
GatorGum was initially discontinued in the 80s before re-emerging in the late 90s. Its resurgence did not last long, however, and the gum was once again pulled from store shelves in the early 2000s. A petition was started to bring the Gatorade-adjacent gum back to the market.
12. Hershey's Kissables
Hershey's sells several chocolate products that have been market leaders for over a century, including Hershey's Kisses. The individually-wrapped chocolates have been a classic since the early 1900s, and they even inspired spin-off products. One of the off-shoot candies Hershey's attempted to bring to market was Hershey's Kissables. But as the company quickly learned, if it is not broken, do not fix it.
Kissables took traditional Kisses and coated them in a colorful, sugary shell and ditched the individual foil wrappers completely. Kissables were discontinued in 2009 after just five years of production.
13. Hershey's S'mores
Who doesn't love handmade s'mores over the campfire? Hershey's sought to capitalize on this unique dessert by introducing the Hershey's S'mores chocolate bar in 2003. After all, the brand's chocolate bars are a key ingredient when making s'mores from scratch, so it makes sense that it would introduce a product that takes all of the work out of making one, right?
Turns out, customers preferred the old-fashioned way of melting a Hershey's bar in their s'mores over the candy bar, and the product was discontinued in 2012. There is still much outcry from fans missing the s'mores-inspired candy bar, with would-be customers wishing it would return.
14. Hershey's Swoops
Do you ever notice that some food items resemble a bizarre love child of two seemingly opposite products? That appears to be the case with Hershey's Swoops, a head-scratching snack that looked like a combination of a Hershey's chocolate bar and Pringles potato chip. Hershey's launched its Swoops chocolate slices in stores in 2003, where it only lasted for a few years.
Swoops were discontinued in 2006, likely due to low sales as the product did not have much else to offer other than it was chocolate that looked like a chip. It was an interesting concept, but not strong enough to entice customers to purchase more than once.
15. Hershey's TasteTations
While mint and fruit-flavored hard candies are plentiful, chocolate variations are less common. For a brief moment in time, Hershey's TasteTations was the answer. The hard candy appeared on shelves around 1996.
With a niche market totally dominated by Werther's, TasteTations could not take off in a meaningful way, and the candy was discontinued in the early 2000s.
16. Jumbo Nerds
One of the products fans of the Willy Wonka Candy Company would instantly recognize are Nerds. The miniature pink and purple hard candies have been incredibly popular for years, inspiring several spinoff products. That lineup once included Jumbo Nerds, a candy with a name that leaves little to the imagination. Jumbo Nerds were essentially larger versions of the original Nerds candy and came in more colors, but ultimately its smaller cousin was too popular to compete with.
Jumbo Nerds did have a fighting chance, and lasted on the market from the 80s through the early 2000s. During Jumbo Nerds' tenure, Wonka Candy was acquired by Nestle, and the candy was subsequently discontinued.
17. Kinder Surprise
One of the most exciting candies to buy when you were a kid was the Kinder Surprise. The only thing that could be better than chocolate was a new toy found inside said chocolate. But not only were Kinder Surprise Eggs discontinued — they were straight-up banned in the United States due to a Food and Drug Administration ordinance against toys being embedded into a food item.
The product is still sold abroad, despite a salmonella recall in 2022 in the United Kingdom. Kinder continues to sell other chocolate products in the United States, but you will no longer find any toys inside.
18. Life Savers Holes
Live Savers Holes were small hard candies made to resemble round pieces that could fit neatly into the hole of the ring-shaped Life Savers. If you cannot help but immediately imagine the potential danger of choking, your logic is spot-on.
Life Saver Holes were ultimately discontinued. However, it was not specified as to whether it had to do with the perceived danger of choking on them.
19. Marathon
Mars is a giant in the food and candy industry, overseeing popular products like Snickers, M&M's, Skittles, and more. But despite its portfolio of successful brands, its history includes several products that did not quite hit the mark. One of those was the Marathon Bar, a chocolate candy with a caramel center. While chocolate and caramel candies are a dime a dozen, Marathon's unique selling point was its size.
At a whopping 8 inches, one could understand how it may feel like a marathon to eat just one bar. The candy was around for roughly 10 years, being discontinued in 1981.
20. Max Headroom Candy
There are some products that are so stylized, they could have only been made in the 80s, and that is certainly the case with Max Headroom Candy. The pop culture references go deep with this one, as the bizarre, head-shaped candy dispenser was based on an 80s television series by the same name, Max Headroom.
Candy heads were quite popular back then, so it made sense that Max Headroom would find its way onto store shelves, but it did not catch on quite like the others. The candy was eventually discontinued, but it is easy to find unused Max Headroom Candy dispensers for purchase on eBay.
21. MilkShake
Once upon a time, Milky Way was not the only top-selling nougat bar on the market. In fact, Milky Way was a contemporary that bared many resemblance to its main competitor, MilkShake. Milkshake was owned by Hollywood Candy Company and first appeared in 1927 and stuck around for several decades after.
There was a time when MilkShake was one of the most popular candies around, but all good things must come to an end. The candy eventually faded into the background and quietly went away in the 80s after a business acquisition.
22. Milky Way Lite
As delicious as chocolate candy bars are, it is generally agreed upon that they are not the healthiest of choices when it comes to snacking. Milky Way sought to change that narrative when it launched Milky Way Lite in 1997.
The chocolate nougat bar had 170 calories and half the amount of fat. Milky Way Lite came about amid a rise in diet culture, but eventually thelow-cal candy eventually faded away.
23. Nestle Alpine White
Nestle's white chocolate bar with almonds appeared in stores in 1986. However, the Nestle product was discontinued within just a few years.
It appears Nestle attempted to market its Alpine White chocolate as a premium product, which ultimately did not catch on. Sadly, this creamy chocolate bar was discontinued as it was never fully embraced.
24. Ouch! Bubble Gum
Bubble gum has been reimagined over the years, so it takes some creative thinking to break through the noise of a crowded market. That worked for a period of time with Ouch! Bubble Gum. The otherwise generic bubble gum was unique in that its packaging resembled a colorful band-aid container, with the strips of bubble gum acting as the band-aids.
The product had some staying power in the 90s and early 2000s, but Ouch! Bubble Gum was eventually discontinued in 2009. Many fans remember it fondly, and countless millennials would surely feel the strong pull of nostalgia should the bubble gum ever return to store shelves.
25. PB Max
The year 1990 was a big one if you liked peanut butter and chocolate. Not only was that the year M&M's rolled out its first peanut butter M&M product, but it was also when PB Max first appeared. At the time, it was believed that PB Max could give competitor Reese's a run for its money, but it only takes one glance at the candy aisle today to know which product would ultimately win.
PB Max was discontinued at some point between 1992 and 1994 for seemingly unclear reasons — though ask any Reese's fan and they would likely tell you that nothing can compete with the iconic peanut butter cup.
26. PowerHouse
There was a once-mighty candy empire called the Peter Paul Candy Manufacturing Company founded in 1919. Among its popular products was PowerHouse, a peanut, fudge, and caramel candy bar.
With so many chocolate bars on the market, it would take a special kind of candy to stick out, and for some consumers, PowerHouse was just that. These candy bars were popular throughout the 60s after Peter Paul acquired the brand in 1966, but it would not have the same lasting power as the others; Powerhouse was discontinued in the 80s. The Peter Paul products that remained like Mounds and Almond Joy were eventually acquired by Hershey's in 1988.
27. Reese's Peanut Butter & Banana Creme Cups
If you know your Elvis Presley trivia, then you likely know what his favorite foods were. If you want to eat like Elvis, you will want to make sure you fashion yourself a peanut butter and banana sandwich for lunch. In an effort to honor the King of Rock and Roll, Hershey's came up with a limited-edition Reese's Peanut Butter & Banana Creme Cup in 2007.
As it turns out, the peanut butter and banana-flavored treat was a smash hit among candy fanatics. Many signed a petition to bring the Elvis-inspired Reese's candy back as a regular item not just available for a short window of time.
28. Seven Up
As popular as chocolate candy bars are, many of them are sort of one-note, meaning, the first bite is going to taste exactly the same as the last. But if you remember the days when Seven Up was available in stores, then you know that was not always the case. The chocolate bar that originated in the 30s had seven sections, each with a different flavor. Those flavors, each coated in milk chocolate, ranged from butterscotch to coconut to mint.
It sounded like a neat concept, but as one would imagine, filling so many different flavors into one chocolate bar drove up production costs. As a result, the candy bar was discontinued in 1979.
29. Skittles Bubble Gum
Skittles has been the reigning champion of fruity bite-sized candies for decades. The colorful candy is a mainstay and the first choice for many with a sweet tooth, but that has not been without experimenting with spinoff products. Starting around 2004, customers were able to buy Skittles Bubble Gum.
The product fizzled in and out of the market, eventually being discontinued for unconfirmed reasons — though low sales is a likely contender. Unfortunately, fans will have to stick with the original Skittles these days.
30. Space Dust
Space exploration was a big deal in the 70s, so much so that it infiltrated just about every corner of every market, including candy. Inspired by the hit new candy at the time, Pop Rocks, a similar product called Space Dust emerged in 1978. However, parents quickly took issue with the name, likening it to the drug Angel Dust, or PCP.
The name was changed as a result to Cosmic Candy, and that strategy seemed to work for a few years. However, interest eventually faded away, and the Space Dust-turned-Cosmic Candy treat along with its space-themed packaging was discontinued.
31. Summit
If you enjoy sweeter snacks, you might have a hard time choosing between cookies and candy when hunger strikes. But back in the 80s, you did not have to choose if you could get your hands on a Summit Bar. The perfect marriage between a cookie and a chocolate bar, Summit was popularized starting around the late 70s. Fans draw similarities between Summit and similar crunchy chocolate bars of today, like Twix, KitKat, and Reese's Sticks.
Like many of the other discontinued candies on this list, Summit was eventually discontinued by parent company Mars, and the treat is no longer available on store shelves. But fans remember Summit fondly.
32. Tongue Splashers Gum
Kids enjoy tasty snacks, but they are easily swayed by factors totally unrelated to flavor. For some, there are many other enticing features they look for first, like packaging and other interactive elements that make a snack desirable. In the case of Tongue Splashers Bubble Gum, it had the total package. Not only was the candy itself tasty, but the paint can-inspired packaging added a fun element to it.
Most of all, the promise that it would change the color of your tongue was all kids needed to hear to make the candy popular. This retro candy was eventually discontinued, though you can still find a similar product called Double Bubble Painterz.
33. Volcano Rocks
When Pop Rock candies came on the scene in the mid-70s, consumers could not get enough. It is not every day that a candy not only tastes good, but gives your mouth a whole new tingling sensation. Wonka Candy decided to get in on the fizzy candy action with Volcano Rocks.
It remained popular in the 70s and 80s, with a few variations of its packaging rolling out over the years. Like many Wonka Candy products, however, Volcano Rocks could not stand the test of time, and are no longer available today.
34. Wonka Bar
No matter how deep your knowledge is of "Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory," most casual chocolate connoisseurs are aware of the titular Wonka Bar. The chocolate bar with the promise of prizes and riches beyond your wildest dreams had kids rushing to the local candy shop to find the golden ticket, and the Wonka Bar was once as popular in the real world as it was in Charlie Bucket's fictitious one.
Once The Willy Wonka Candy Company was acquired by Nestle in 1988, however, most products were on the chopping block, including the Wonka Bar. These days, it is but a distant memory, and something you can only see in the movies.
35. Wonka Donutz
Wonka came up with a lot of fun and inventive treats over the years, some of which were not featured in the Chocolate Factory series of books or films. One of the chocolate goodies that came about over the years was Wonka Donutz, which were bite sized doughnut-shaped candies covered in nonpareils.
Wonka Donutz debuted in 2005 to help promote the remake "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" starring Johnny Depp. The candy stuck around for several years, with parent company Ferrara Candy confirming via Twitter in 2013 that Wonka Donutz had been discontinued due to sales volume.
36. Wonka Peanut Butter Oompas
Before there were Peanut Butter M&M's and Reese's Pieces, there were Wonka Peanut Butter Oompas. The tiny, chocolate-coated peanut butter candies were a hit in the 70s.
Oompas were eventually discontinued around 1982 and never made it back to store shelves. A fruit-flavored variety of Oompas did find its way to the market, however. While not the same, it still satisfies when you have a sweet tooth.