Over the past decades, many once-great brands and products have been lost to changing trends and competition. Here we take a look at some old-school US, UK and Canadian brands, from soft drink giants to frozen food companies, we want to make a comeback – even if purely for nostalgic reasons.
One of the early margarine brands was Allsweet Margarine made by Swift Independent Packing Company in the US. It had homely adverts which featured farms and baked goods, and boasted about its natural flavor and yellow color – previously margarine had to be dyed white. Its heyday was the 1950s, but since the 2000s it hasn’t been available.
Thrifty 1950s home cooks loved Pream, a coffee creamer launched by H.C. Moores Company of Columbus, Ohio. It was super economical because one can was equivalent to two bottles of milk and it didn’t need to be stored in the fridge.
This flavored US milk brand from the early 2000s was so amazingly bad it was good. It was 51% milk (the rest was water and flavorings), vitamin-fortified and came in three flavors: Vanana (vanilla and banana), Blooo (strawberry and blueberry) and Chocolate. The best part? It came in a can and was only available to kids through school.
You may remember Lucky Whip, a brand of dessert topping similar in appearance to whipped cream which came in a spray can or boxed. Popular in the 1960s and 1970s, it was sold in America by Lever Brothers and its adverts featured cute kids spraying the whipped topping onto desserts. However, by the 2000s it could no longer be found on shelves.
If you grew up in 1980s America, it’s likely you’re familiar with Fruit Corners, the brand whose flagship product was Fruit Roll-Ups (a fruit-flavored candy sold under the guise of a healthy snack), before it became Betty Crocker. Other candy under the Fruit Corner brand included Fruit Wrinkles (gummy sweets) and Fruit Bars (chewy bars).
This Buffalo-based frozen food brand was started in 1958 and was a big player in the TV dinner market. Its much-loved products included Homestyle Gravy & Meatloaf Slices, Gravy & Sliced Turkey and Gravy & Salisbury Steak. However, in 2006 the brand was unexpectedly dropped after the factory failed its food safety inspection.
The least scary monsters we’ve seen, Count Chocula, Franken Berry and Boo Berry made their American debut in the early 1970s. The cereals were chocolate, strawberry and blueberry-flavored and featured little marshmallow bits. Later, Fruit Brute and Fruity Yummy Mummy (both multi-flavored) joined the gang. We might be in luck for a comeback as they’ve been known to return around Halloween – albeit not permanently.
A 1970s American classic, Rally, a brand by The Hershey Company, was a caramel, fudge and peanut bar covered in milk chocolate. Back in 1976, the bar cost around 20 cents. It briefly returned in 2013 but we want it back permanently, preferably with the original price tag.
This strange soda brand was brought out by Coca-Cola in the US in the 1990s. Its adverts focused on how it made you feel instead of its flavor. There was even had a manifesto with statements such as “There is no real secret to feeling OK”, which is a marketing message we can entirely get on board with.
Much like Coco Pops, this 1970s brand of cereal from General Mills turned your bowl of breakfast into flavored milk. Available in the US, the frosted corn puffs came in strawberry and chocolate flavors. But its biggest selling point was the giant cow cartoon on the box.
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Vintage candies Bit-O-Honey and Old Nick (fudge and nuts covered in chocolate) were all part of the Schutter-Johnson Company of Chicago, until it was bought by the Ward Candy Company in the late 1960s. Miraculously, Bit-O-Honey is still around but Old Nick was dropped.
This candy bar brand, produced by Curtiss, had a short life existing for three years (between 1978 to 1981). Named after New York Yankee player Reggie Jackson, it featured a rich caramel center, roasted peanuts and a chocolate coating. Although there have been rumors it will return, it hasn’t since the 1990s. However, old bars are available on eBay.
You used to be able to find these yellow cartons in kitchens everywhere in Canada and the US. Brought out in the 1960s by Farmers Dairy, Beep was a brand of drink made from orange, prune, apricot, apple and pineapple juice. It was available until around 2010 and also briefly returned to Nova Scotia in 2012.
Thought celebrity food brand deals were a new thing? In the 1950s, American singer Bing Crosby capitalized on his success and brought out Bing Crosby-branded ice cream, much to fans' delight. Though it’s unlikely it will make a comeback, vintage pint-sized boxes are sold online as collectors’ items.
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We pity the fools who missed out on American Mr T cereal in the 1980s. The T-shaped, puffed corn bites were all the rage with A-Team star Mr T's fans. Simply named Mr T, the cereal was described on the box as a “crispy sweet corn and oats cereal”. Sadly, it has long been discontinued.
One of General Mills' first forays into the potato chip industry, the Mrs Bumby’s brand came in a cylinder tin, and later in stacks like Pringles. Brought out in the US in the 1970s, the packaging boasted “Mrs Bumby’s taste even better than chips in a bag” and its mascot was an old lady, presumably Mrs Bumby.
This wacky brand of additive-filled, fruit-flavored juice was all the rage in the US in the 1980s. The bottles had to be squeezed to be drunk and had outlandish flavor names such as Silly Billy Strawberry and Chucklin’ Cherry. There was even a color-changing version, until it was discontinued in the early 2000s.
This vintage brand of candy, produced by Canadian company Neilson, was malted milk nougat covered in caramel and chocolate. However, Cadbury took over the company in the 1990s and put out its own version, which was later discontinued.
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Do you remember Wonka brand candies such as Runts (fruit-shaped candy) and Nerds (tiny rainbow-colored sweets)? Wonka launched in many countries including the US, UK and Canada in the 1970s to coincide with the first Charlie and the Chocolate Factory film. But now in the US, they’re produced without the curly white lettering by Ferrara Candy Company. However, you can still find the fun and funky Wonka brand in the UK.
Once one of the biggest players in the American candy industry, the Curtiss Candy Company was founded in Chicago in 1916. Its name was on many iconic candies including Baby Ruth (peanut, caramel and chocolate-flavored nougat), Butterfinger (a crispy peanut butter chocolate) and Coconut Grove (a creamy coconut bar with a dark chocolate coating). Baby Ruth and Butterfinger still exist today but under different brand names.
A merchandising tie-in with a popular US TV show, Howdy Doody was a brand of frozen treats. The Clarabell Banana Bar (chocolate and banana ice cream) and Fudge Bar both sound super tempting. But as the show ended in 1960, we're not too hopeful of it making a comeback soon.
This frozen food brand landed with a bang in the US in 1946. The first frozen orange juice concentrate, it was hailed the new glamor food and single-handedly increased the popularity of the frozen aisle. Next, the brand brought out frozen peas, broccoli, spinach and strawberries, but was retired sometime in the 1970s.
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You may remember this futuristic soft drink brand from the 1990s. Orbitz was launched by the Clearly Canadian Beverage Company and was clear with gelatin balls suspended in it. It came in far-out flavors such as Raspberry Citrus, Blueberry Melon Strawberry and Vanilla Orange, however none of them managed to take off.
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