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‘Interactive candy’ is fastest-growing segment of marketKnight R»dder TribuneBack in the food ol' days, candy builtcharacter as much as cavities We kids licked our own lollipops, sucked our own sourballs. chewed our own gum andcrunched our own chocolate bars untilour teeth dropped out. It was a do-it-yourself enterprise and we liked it!But t oday's kids have it SOOOO easy“I remember we had to twirl our handswhen we wanted a lollipop, but now kids are pushing a button and it twirls on its own,*' says Jeff Rubin, vice president of FAO Schweetz. the candy component ofFAO Schwarz, which does a brisk business in mechanical candy dispensers, chocolate bearing plush toys and suckers t hat spin, glow and even play music.It's a whole new world out there,Rubin promisesIndeed, by all accounts, the fastest* growing segment of the S2l billion a-.vear candy market is ’interactive candy,which began about 50 years ago with Fezand now includes such sweet innovationsas Spin Pops. Laser Pops. MM Swar-mies. Skittles dispensers and SoundBites If you're saying huh? you’re not akid.“Interactive candy is basically candythat you can play with, explains DaveCapper, co-inventor of Sound Bites, a battery powered lollipop holder that plays music “inside your head ’ ‘ Kids love toys and they love candy This combines the best of both.Sound Bites are brought to you byOdds On. a subsidiary of Hasbro and t hesame company that distributes t he popular t wirling Spin Pops wit h movie t ie ins toOodzilla’ and “Toy Story.”When you bite down on a Sound Bites lollipop, though, vibrations travel through your teeth to your inner ear. so music sounds louder inside your head than it does to the fella standing next to you. They come in guitar, drum and saxophone versions, as well as Space Wars.cartoons and as if anyone needed this one -‘Inner voices, like laughter, ringing phones and a voice that says no way1’The concept was cooked up by Bound Bites' co-inventor Andrew Ftlo. a “bona tide rocket scientist’ who has developed both helicopter de-icing systems and robotic toys While touring the Thomas Edison Museum, Filo learned that t he nearly deaf electricity guru designed a ‘ bite bar’’ for his phonograph so he could hear music in his head Filo took that inspiration andused modern computer*chip technologyCapper here's nothing dangerous about blasting sounds through yourteeth that's simply how we hear and notes that Hasbro s safety standards are“among the highest. It s less vibration t han a toothbrush! It’s less than yelling or talking loud and far less than a Walk-wm.Though the Sound Bites set, which includes batteries and two strawberry Chu pa Chups lollipops, retails for $9.99 $12.99,higher than most Interactive candies, it'salready t he top selling candy after Just a few weeks at Toys R’ Us. Target and FAO Schwarz“It's a unique product, where you see an8-year-old as amazed by it as a 20 year-old, Capper insistsChristine Roberts of Brooklyn. 8, can vouch for the younger set Lollipops are particularly popular now among her friends, and she's sure they’ll all want tot ry Sound Bites”1 saw it on TV—it looked bin, Roberts reports. ‘ When you put them between your teeth, you feel like they’re vibrating, it's like listening to music or a battle.’’In fact, she chose the drum version because she'd just start ed playing them herself, and now when she doesn't feel like practicing, she can listen to her candy
Newspaper Details
Janesville Gazette
Janesville, Wisconsin, US
Sun, Jul 05, 1998
Page 31
Full Page
Clipped by
Wikimedia F.
California, DZ 28 Jan 2023
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