The History of Sweetheart Candies
For over a century, the Valentine's Day treats and the messages printed on them have matched the tone and jargon of the times. More than eight billion or 13 million pounds of Sweetheart candies are sold in the six weeks leading up to Valentine's Day. Sweethearts make up 40% of the Valentine Candy market just behind chocolate.
They're not diamonds nor flowers, but Sweetheart candies, those tiny heart-shaped confections with embossed endearments, may well be the sweetest way to get your message across on Valentine's Day.
A Michigan man, Mike Waltz, went to extraordinary lengths to collect enough "Marry Me" hearts to propose to his girlfriend in 2004. After buying several bags of the candy and finding two or three "Marry me" hearts in each, he emailed the New England Confectionary Company (Necco) that makes the candies in Revere, Massachusetts. Someone at the company must have had a big heart because a few days later, a small box of tiny pastel "Marry Me" hearts arrived at his house!
Waltz's wedding anniversary is coming up this Valentine's Day and his wife, Chris still has that box of Sweethearts revealing the proposal hearts in its plastic window. "I'm never going to open it," she says. "It's a keepsake." Mike has his own memento in a valet box on his dresser: a Sweetheart that says, "I do."
One of America's oldest candy companies, Necco was founded in 1847 in Boston by Englishman Oliver Chase who got the business off to a good start by inventing devices that cut candy lozenges and pulverized sugar. Necco first sold confections similar to Sweethearts, but in the shape of scalloped shells. Messages written on colored paper were tucked inside the fortune cookie-style candy. Fourteen years later, Oliver's brother Daniel designed a machine that stamped words directly onto the candies with red vegetable dye. The treats became popular at weddings and were considerably larger than today's hearts. By the early 1900s the shape of the candy had changed from shells, baseballs and horseshoes to hearts. As the little hearts grew in popularity, the messages grew shorter with "Miss You" and "Love U'.
Original mottos from the candy's first appearance in 1902, such as "Be Mine", "Be True" and "Kiss Me" remain very popular.
Aimee Scott, Necco Marketing Director says "We try to adjust and change, keeping current with the times." In some ways, Sweethearts are tiny time capsules of trendy lingo of days gone by: "Dig me" or "Hep Cat" and even "Fax Me". They have all made appearances in the past 20 years only to bite the sugary dust. Current messages reflect the language of popular culture and Internet jargon such as "You Rock", "Text Me", or "Me & U".
Last year, for the first time, Necco solicited suggestions directly from the public on a special website. It received more than 10,000 submissions and the company's marketing team selected these messages: "Tweet Me", "Text Me".
The company has also tinkered with the Sweethearts' flavors. Marketing research showed that children prefer bolder tastes and colors. Out went banana, cherry and wintergreen and in came bright blue raspberry, lemon and green apple. This caused a bit of a backlash from sentimental baby boomers who wanted their old candy back! The company was inundated with calls, letters and emails complaining about the change.
And in closing.. Not the most romantic, but naysayers should be relieved that the candy maker continually nixes the occasional consumer suggestion for "break-up hearts." Some of the rejects? "Get a Pre-nup" and "Call My Lawyer".
Be Safe.
Pat Locke, Maestro Muse
