Nostalgia Snack: Life Savers Creme Savers

A few days ago, I was watching reels and got smacked in the face by nostalgia. To my surprise, Iconic Candy brought back Creme Savers, a fruit and creme flavored hard candy. Patrick taught me two things. One, Creme Savers are a spinoff of Life Savers. Two, Creme Savers were discontinued. I didn’t know they faded off the shelves like Dunkaroos.

Creme Savers took me back to playing Foursquare during recess. At this point, I started using purses. Since I wasn’t allowed to wear make up, it didn’t have much in it. I’d got to the corner store to buy gum and hard candies to keep in my purse. Now that I think about it, it was like we were little grannies in training back then. Creme Savers were one of my go to hard candies, because they were individually wrapped. From my perspective, they were a step above Life Saver Mints.

Its a Life Saver?

I had no idea Creme Savers were a spin off of Life Savers. In fact, these creamy delicacies we’re mass produced by Nabisco in 1996. Nabisco discontinued them in 2011. It seemed liked they were out of sight out of mind earlier than that. In my opinion, marketing and packaging played a role in the hard candies demise.

Don’t Knock Marketing

I remember the iconic debut packaging. The bag was light pink with white swirls. The hot pink and black trim letter’s stood out. The strawberry on top let you know the flavor. The little candy swirls on the bottom right corner lived up to the individually wrapped candies in the bag. They looked cute and tasted great. A decade later, Creme Savers got a face lift.

The marketer made one Creme Saver the centerpiece in a swirl of flavor. It was an attempt to make it look hypnotic. The white typeface with gold trim looked cheap against the black background. They swapped the tiny swirls on the bottom right corner with strawberries. It looks like an attempt to draw a more mature consumer.

Keep in mind, kids that grew up buying these candies aren’t necessarily going to notice a design change as adults. That’s not how American Commercialism works. There’s a reason, many products marketed in the U.S. haven’t changed much. To drastic of a change without heavy advertising can make this product out of sight out of mind. Notice Iconic Candy revamped design is an updated version of the 1998 packaging.

Are the 90s Coming Back

It sure seems that way. I guess that’s how 80s babies felt in the 00s. It seems the current decade always pulls from the previous ones. There’s plenty of casual social media users and influencers keeping everyone upto date on the latest 90s vibes returning to stores. I’m interested to see what else catches my eye. Have a great weekend and see you next week for Motivational Mondays with Trisha!