NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

[tabular_rasa]

I am so distraught! I got a package from my mom today (that part was awesome) with three boxes of Sweethearts. I am one of the few people in the world who actually like Sweethearts (I also like candy corn, which most people seem to merely tolerate-- I guess I have a thing for nasty seasonal candy?), but I AM SO DISAPPOINTED NOW.

The Sweethearts have CHANGED. First of all, the packaging is different. It's no longer the white boxes with the see-through front and the To/From labels on the back. Now, I can live with that; companies change their packaging all the time. However, I opened the box and sifted around to find the white hearts, which are my favorite, and THEY WEREN'T THERE-- though there was a new blue heart. Then I tasted one and found that it was weirdly soft, like when you open a package of Sweethearts on Valentine's Day and rediscover them sometime in April after a month of rain.

I went to the website, which verified my fears:

New Sayings & Colors
For the first time in 145 years, Sweethearts® discarded all its previous phrases and asked the American public to tell us how they express their love. The 2010 Sweethearts® are featured in bright and bolder new colors.

New Flavors & Texture
All new flavors for 2010 Sweethearts® include Strawberry, Green Apple, Lemon, Grape, Orange and Blue Raspberry. The new Sweethearts® have been re-formulated to be softer and more fun to eat.

No. Not more fun to eat. Ick. They leave my mouth with a sort of numb after-taste and I still feel like the texture just means they have gone stale or something. The purple flavor tastes exactly like grape-flavored chewable children's Motrin, right down to the grainy texture, and while purple was never my favorite SweetHeart flavor to begin with, I find I can't eat this purple edition at all. The green tastes like Windex mixed with Christmas tree needles. And the white heart is GONE. Most people I know say that white was always their least favorite flavor, but I LOVED IT. I actually picked my toothpaste flavor-- Crest Regular Paste-- because it tasted like the white candy hearts. This breaks my heart, Sweethearts.

Let me know if you've tried the new Sweetheart flavors, and whether you think they are an improvement. I really don't think they are. Besides, there are other brands that already make the softer (nasty) variety of conversation hearts. Leave them to it; I always specifically chose Necco brand because I preferred the chalky texture, with the ambiguously pepperminty white heart. And if most people hate Sweethearts anyway, why not leave them alone so the people who do like them can enjoy them in peace?

I hope at least they're not reformulating the regular classic Necco wafers. I guess I can always turn to those, even though they're not nearly as cool.

(I'm currently searching the site for some sort of feedback for the new Sweethearts-- a survey, etc. I may just contact the site by email, which I'm sure is obnoxious to them and will be ignored. Sigh).

Other than that, though, my package was pretty awesome. I got a sleeve of popcorn-flavored rice cakes (*dies*), ten more pairs of toe warmers, tax forms (yippee?), knee socks with a very tall and slender cat adorning the sides, and some huge adorable assymetrical mittens. (They go together but don't match each other-- they're very cute). I also got a package of gourmet instant noodles from the Akiokas a couple days ago, too. Lol.

Comments

[hipchicken.livejournal.com]

Whaaaaat?! I loved the white ones, too. I had heard rumor that they were revamping the sayings, but the recipe too? That's lame. The traditionalist in me is unhappy!

I, however, do have a box of generic "Sweet Notes" sitting next to me that look like the real deal. (Except when I look at the box more closely and see they are fruit flavored! NOOOO!)

Well, nevermind.

[tabular-rasa.livejournal.com]

Have you tasted them? I think even the original Sweethearts were technically "fruit-flavored," even if it was debatable, lol . . . Maybe I have a substitute!

[hipchicken.livejournal.com]

The box is still unopened. Hmm. I will have to let you know what they're like. I just noticed I still have a box of (opened and mostly eaten) Sweethearts from last year on my desk, too. Maybe I should clean.

[juushika.livejournal.com]

I feel your pain. I feel it SO HARD because I was looking all the fuck over for Sweetheart before I finally realized it wasn't just that I was finding some new brighter! flavored! version but that was ALL THEY OFFERED NOW. It makes me rage! In caps! If I wanted cheap soft horribly flavored heart I could by those by the pound for almost nothing at all at my local Winco, but I don't do that because they taste like shite.

This would be like if they permanently replaced traditional candy canes with the bright fruit flavored disgusting ones, and then told us it was an improvement.

Only worse, because I actually like conversation hearts and I'm not big on mint.

Anyway. Yes. Totally. Wholly. And it's a relief to find out I'm not alone. This made me so angry/sad.

(Also, they offer glittery hearts now too, and all I could think of was Twilight.)

[tabular-rasa.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad! Maybe you could write in to them? I'm sending an email via the feedback page on their site. I'm sure they want to know what people think, and if they don't think good things they need to hear about it-- especially when we are regular consumers.

The glittery hearts are Twilight-themed, in fact. *Shudders.*

[scorpiuspro.livejournal.com]

I think if enough people write to the company and not buy the revamped ones, they'll put out a "classic" edition, because it'll sell like mad. Hell, maybe they know this already and are gearing up for a comeback.

[tabular-rasa.livejournal.com]

The reviews are allegedly *mixed,* but Valentine's Day's not over yet. Apparently some boxes of the original are still being sold in dollar stores. I hope the people who love the original still care enough to keep buying them so they'll keep producing them, so I can keep my Valentine's tradition alive!

[belovedwarrior.livejournal.com]

Sad times! I -LOVE- conversation hearts (and I love candy corn). Whites are definitely the best, followed closely by green. Num.

When I was little and people asked me my favorite candy, I would say seasonal candy. In addition, it was fun to like candy that was only around temporarily so I could eagerly anticipate the release of the candy I liked. :)

Oh, but as much as I like candy corn, I really dislike the Jones's soda flavor of candy corn. It was way too sweet and syrupy for me, and that's not a complaint you'll find me saying often! :)

I hope they do bring back the classics. My best friend in junior high would buy bags and bags of candy corn, then sort through the bags by color and ended up with gallon size bags of each color. I have fond memories of those gallon size bags and sleepovers. :)

[tabular-rasa.livejournal.com]

I love white, and, like most people, pink. Orange and green are up there. Purple . . . can take or leave. But unlike some assholes, apparently, I would never solicit for the removal of my least-favorite flavor from the box. Leave the white heart alone!

I am with you on the seasonal candy! I love holiday things, and they are special because you only get them that certain time of year. When you taste a candy cane, you know it's Christmas. When you taste conversation hearts, it's Valentine's Day.

I'm going to encourage you to send some feedback to the Necco site; they've got a feedback page I'm linking from my entry. I'm sure they want to know what people think, and if that's not good things, they should know and hopefully we can bring back the good Sweethearts!