Starburst (confectionery)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Starburst is the brand name of a chewy, square-shaped, fruit-flavored confectionery manufactured by Mars, Incorporated. Several variants of the confectionery exist, such as Starburst jellybeans (known as Joosters), lollipops, gummies, hard candy, candy canes, and lip gloss (the latter in a partnership with Lip Smackers).
Starburst were introduced by Mars UK in 1960[1] as Opal Fruits, the four Original flavours (arranged in yellow packaging) being strawberry, lemon, orange, and lime. When Opal Fruits were introduced in the United States in 1976[2] as Starburst, they had the same flavours; however, Cherry replaced Lime in the early-1980s. In Europe, blackcurrant replaced lime as one of the Original flavours in 2002 while lemon became "lemon and lime".
Starburst is also available in different package configurations. In the U.S., these are Limited Edition Icy Burst, Tropical, Baja California, Sour, Strawberry Mix, Fruit & Creme, and Original fruits. These contain additional flavors including kiwi/banana, plum/passion fruit, raspberry, strawberry-banana, mango, melon, tropical punch, green apple, blue raspberry, watermelon, mixed berries & creme, peaches & creme, orange creme, strawberry & creme, and others. In Europe these are Original Fruits, Strawberry Mix and Sour.
The American version is not vegetarian friendly like the European, as it contains gelatin[citation needed].
[edit] Trivia
- Starburst was known as Opal Fruits in the UK and Ireland until 1998, and marketed with the slogan "Made to Make Your Mouth Water". The name change was undertaken to standardise the product in a globalised marketplace. However, aficionados (including Eats, Shoots & Leaves author Lynne Truss) greatly resented the change and loss of brand identity.
- A sister product called Opal Mints was available until the early 1970s in the UK, when they were renamed Pacers. This shared the same size, wrapping and chewiness of the fruit sweet, but was spearmint flavoured. Both fruits and mints were sold in paper wrappings similar to Spangles. Pacers were discontinued altogether in the 1980s.
- In the UK and Ireland, the separate lemon and lime flavors were eventually combined into a single flavor, enabling the incorporation of blackcurrant into the pack.
- In 2001, following the result of a public vote, Mars decided not to supplant the traditional flavor lemon with green apple in the Original packaging. Lemon won by a significant margin.
- Starbursts are generally considered to be rather similar to Now and Laters
- Starburst is sometimes marketed in partnership alongside Skittles, another chewy fruit confection owned by Mars.
- Starburst's current slogan is "Isn't Life Fun?". In Australia it is "Beware of the burst"
- The fictional character Adrian Mole had a large daily consumption of Opal Fruits in the book The Cappuccino Years.
- In 1994 Starburst changed its American advertisement slogan from "The Juice is Loose" to "Turn Up the Juice" because the former had become associated with O.J. Simpson during his trial for murder.
- To celebrate the Caribbean adventures of Captain Jack Sparrow in the new Pirates of the Caribbean film, Starburst added new flavors to their tropical flavored chews. Pina Colada and Royal Berry Bunch have replaced Kiwi Banana and Tropical Punch.
[edit] External links
| Confectionery products of Mars, Incorporated |
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| 3 Musketeers • Balisto/Tracker • Bounty • Celebrations • Dove/Galaxy bar • Kudos • Lockets • Maltesers • Mars Bar • M-Azing • M&M's • Milky Way • Revels • Snickers • Skittles • Starburst • Topic • Twix Discontinued: Marathon • Opal Mints • Spangles |
