75 Years VM THIS year, the iconic Smarties brand will celebrate its 75th anniversary. To mark this special birthday, Smarties have introduced a limited edition retro hexatube, drawing on the unique and fun heritage of the brand. Smarties were first created in 1937, before which they were sold as Rowntree’s Chocolate Beans. Over the years, Smarties have undergone several changes to the coloured chocolates sweets. In 1956, the first ever Smarties TV ad was released with the catchy strapline ‘sweetest, treatest, best to eatest’. Following this, the coffee, orange and dark chocolate centres were replaced with milk chocolate. Interestingly, UK and Ireland are the only counties worldwide to still have a distinct orange flavour for the orange Smarties. 1988 was the year of the blue Smarties - introduced to the range as a limited edition but soon due to the popularity of the “blue one”, it became a permanent edition to the range. In 2005, Smarties proudly became one of the first children’s confectionery brands to move to “no artificial colours”. Maria McKenna, Consumer Marketing Manager, Nestlé Ireland, said, “Smarties packaging has always been distinctive, and the 1980s’ design, with its bold dark background and white Smarties font, is instantly recognisable to many of us. The Smarties tubes have always been an iconic part of the brand’s heritage, so what better way to celebrate our 75th anniversary than creating a limited edition tube. We hope to bring all the fun of Smarties to families for the next 75 years.”
Ten things you never knew about .... Smarties! 1. Rowntree’s of York had been making a product called ‘Chocolate Beans’ for more than 50 years before it changed the name to ‘Smarties Chocolate Beans’ in 1937. 2. The firm dropped the words ‘chocolate beans’ in 1977, when trading standards officers said the use of the word ‘beans’ was misleading. 3. Until 1958, there were coffee-flavoured brown Smarties. 4. Ireland and the UK are the only countries in the world to have orange-flavoured Smarties. 5. Blue Smarties were dropped in Ireland and the UK when the company removed artificial colourings. 6. Blue returned two years later when a natural blue colouring was found in spirulina seaweed. 7. More than 60 Smarties are eaten every second in Ireland. 8. Machines at the Smarties factory fill seven tubes (220-250 Smarties) a second. 9. Smarties are oblate spheroids with a minor axis of about 5mm (0.2in) and a major axis of about 15mm (0.6in) 10. Laid in a line, all the Smarties eaten in Ireland in a year would stretch more than half way around the Equator.