Treats Aren’t Just For Eating Anymore Playing With Your Food Is Expected With New Interactive Candy Products
A piece of pink Bazooka gum or a Hershey bar isn’t enough these days to satisfy kids’ candy cravings.
New gizmos that make noise, spin or dispense sweets with a push of a button are the rage in candy aisles around the nation, and this interactive candy is stealing shelf space from traditional treats.
“It’s more fun to eat than any regular candy,” said Steven Smith, a 7-year-old spotted on Manhattan’s Upper West Side sucking on a revolving lollipop with a drone that was loud and clear to passers-by.
Today’s kids use computers and play with toys and dolls that talk to them. They look for the same innovation in their candy - and the simple flip-top PEZ dispenser is no longer enough to satisfy them.
Parents, meantime, want toys that excite their kids without breaking the bank. These candy gadgets cost as little as $3.99 and can be refilled with the desired sweet.
“It takes care of their desire for candy and toys in one shot,” said Susan Sherman, who has two boys. “They think the candy store is a toy store.” That’s creating a booming market for interactive candy, especially the motorized variety. Novelty candy sales jumped 8.4 percent in 1997 to $265 million, according to the National Confectioners Association in McLean, Va.
“There always was interactive candy, but as technology improved and costs dropped, we really could step up what was offered,” said Steve Forster, publisher and executive editor of Professional Candy Buyer magazine in Cleveland.
“Now we have (toy) cell phones with candy that play messages, and motorized dispensers that kids clip on to their belt,” he said. “It’s unbelievable what’s out there.”
With the market growing, more retailers are dedicating space to these products, attracted to the high profit margins. A stack of toy candy selling for a few dollars a pop takes up the same room as a pile of gum that goes for 65 cents a pack.
Interactive candy can now be found in toy, candy and drug stores, discount chains and supermarkets. Thirty-percent of FAO Schweetz, the candy store division of the toy store chain, is represented by toy candy.
“Our novelty candy business is outpacing our overall growth,” said John Sullivan, vice president at Toys R Us, the nation’s largest toy store chain. “When you walk in our stores, it’s the first thing you see.”
Leading the industry is Cap Candy, which has dominated since it introduced spinning lollipops in 1993. The company’s latest innovations include a twirling drill with a lollipop as the bit and a motorized Skittles Race Car dispenser.
“It’s about great play and great taste,” said John Barbour, president of OddzOn Inc., which owns Cap Candy, where sales have jumped 700 percent since 1993. “It’s more than a candy and more than a toy.”
This week at the American International Toy Fair in New York, giant toymaker Hasbro Inc. launched Sound Bites, one of the most advanced toy-candy products yet available.
Put a lollipop attached to the Sound Bites’ base in your mouth and press a button, and you hear music, cartoon voices and other sounds. But only the lollipop eater gets to listen - thanks to technology that sends the noise through the teeth to the inner ear.
Also new is the Candy Cam from Tapper Candies. The hand-held toy video camera dispenses candy with a conveyer belt that resembles scrolling film.
“Chocolate and gummy candy sales have been stagnant, while novelty candy has been growing in double digits,” said Jay Tapper, who expects sales at his Cleveland-based company to rise to $10 million in 1998 from $3 million two years ago. “There is a calling for interactive candy.”
But not everyone is excited about these products. Dentists argue that it’s still candy, and parents complain about the cost.
There’s a big difference for a parent between paying 75 cents for a candy bar and forking over $5 for a gadget, said Julie Klein, a mother of three girls. As for the kids, “They still want something else next time we go to the store.”