How Werther’s Became An Old Person’s Candy

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[00:00:00]Worther's Originals are caramel candies made with real butter and fresh cream.

[00:00:05]And if you've ever tried one, it's very likely because you know a senior citizen. It might be your grandfather or an aging family friend. But whoever it is, they're as old as the mountains. And if you're wondering how we knew that, well, today we're taking a look at how Worthers became an old person's candy.

[00:00:24]But before we get started, be sure to subscribe to the Weird History Food channel. After that, please leave a comment and let us know what other classic candies you'd like to hear about. Okay, let's get started so we can finish while you're still young.

[00:00:41]At the turn of the 20th century, in the small Westfallian town of Worther, Germany, there lived an ambitious fellow named August Stor who wanted to sweeten up Deutselland with some dairybased delights. To that end, in 1903, he opened the Verersia Zuckervar fabric, which rolls off the tongue like broken glass and translates to the Worther's Confectionary Factory. Before you could say qualitage shisong, which means quality assurance, it was 1909. By that point, Worthers already boasted a dozen employees and kept all 12 busy making treats with a simple kettle and then shipping those treats off to be sold in neighboring towns. One of those original employees was confectioner Gustav Nabler, who sat down one day and whipped up what would become Stor's most iconic candy, vomit flavored jelly beans. Just kidding, he wishes. What he actually came up with was the buttery caramel hard candy we know and love today.

[00:01:36]Except pretty different. The original Worther's originals were composed of fresh cream, real butter, white sugar, and brown sugar, and a pinch of salt.

[00:01:44]Today's recipe includes glucose syrup, condensed whey, and soy lecithin emulsifier. That's progress for you.

[00:01:52]Anyway, the hard candy hit equally hard times not long after launching. That's because of a minor skirmish known as World War I, which stalled production.

[00:02:01]Once the war ended, Worther's workers got back to work, but they were stalled yet again when Stor fell seriously ill.

[00:02:08]Worthers, however, was not about to crumble because August's youngest son, Hugo Oberveland, took over the company in 1921. At that point, the company was producing 200 varieties of candies, all unnamed, unwrapped sweets sold by weight. Sounds Denzian, but remember this is Germany. A mere 13 years later, Hugo released what is thought to be Germany's first branded candy. It was called one finigen, which sounds like a condition you get from drinking dirty stream water, but it isn't. A fenic is a coin and it was the official currency in Germany until the euro hit in 2002.

[00:02:42]Fenik translates to the giant fenic and it was a giant hit. Other successful candies followed including Mamba fruit shoes and mercy chocolates but they weren't Worther's original. So when did the buttery OG show up? Well after 1945 the company acquired some huge tracks of land in the countryside allowing stor to use fresh cream in its confections. And with that feather in its beret, Worthers finally introduced its new butter candy.

[00:03:09]Worther's ecta. Ecta, meaning genuine, real, or authentic, was basically what we know as Worther's original. But it was sold under its original German name until the '90s when the company decided it needed something less either foreign brands like Maserati or V Cleico. Worther's original took its time ascending locally before premiering stateside. But in the late 1970s, it was finally introduced to America as a taupe colored hard candy from the country that brought us Hitler and Blurst. Most Americans, however, are sentimental about their snacks and patriotic as heck. Show them a polar bear enjoying a Coke, some galloping Budweiser Clydesales, or a set of double mint twins, and they'll pull out their wallets so fast the friction sets their pants on fire.

[00:04:00]>> Shut up and take my money. Worthers, to their credit, realized the German flavored branding wasn't eliciting that same reaction. So, they went in search of a new marketing angle, and that's when they decided to dip their toe in the fountain of old age. In 1981, an ad in the Los Angeles Times presented the newly renamed Worther's Original as Oldworld candy imported from Europe. It even used the fairly reactionary slogan, "It's time to have it good again."

[00:04:27]Television commercials on both American and British Airways emphasized the gold rappers and the old-fashioned candystick, painting it an artisal treat that fulfilled bucolic ideals, and the kids went wild. Okay, it didn't quite happen overnight. That print campaign may have won over the hard butter candy snob holdouts, but it wouldn't be until later that year that Worthers would spin butter into gold with their nostalgic grandpa ads. If you haven't seen one, the original commercial starts with a perfectly cast grandfather sporting a Mr. Rogers outfit, complete with thickknit cardigan over a button-down with a neck tie. He then dives face first into sentimentality by talking about the first Worthers he got from his own grandfather when he was just four.

[00:05:12]As he continues to explain how he wasn't smart enough to know how to unwrap a sucking candy at the time, the shot cuts to a little boy trying to do just that.

[00:05:20]You think you're watching a flashback, but surprise, that little boy isn't the old man. It's his grandson. Finally, the old man explains that now he's the grandfather. So, what else will he give his little grandson other than Worther's original? It's powerful stuff. So powerful, the company was airing the exact same commercial in Germany and the United Kingdom, only with different actors playing the grandpa and grandson.

[00:05:43]The UK version of The Grandfather was Arnold Peters, known for voicing Jack Woolly on the BBC radio dramas The Archers. His voice already recognizable.

[00:05:52]Those candy craving kiddos of the UK immediately felt a sense of security and sentimentality. Americans, however, were all, "Who's he?" So, the grandpa was recast with Bob Rockwell, who played Mr. Boon on the 1950s sitcom Our Miss Brooks. Not exactly Brian Cranston pushing Preparation H, but hey, it ain't nothing. Regardless of casting, both Grandpa ads turned out to be smash hits.

[00:06:14]That's partially because watching the ad is like getting hit on the head with a mallet made of nostalgia. But it's not the only reason. Whether they were trying to or not, the ads also tapped into the desire to trust the candy you're eating and the source from which you're getting it. At the time, fear of tainted candy was a widespread concern.

[00:06:32]And that fear was further cemented by the contaminated Tylenol killings of 1982 when seven people died after being poisoned by painkillers laced with cyanide. The grandfathers may have been nothing more than actors, but seeing a trustworthy face endorse and encourage you to enjoy it was strangely comforting.

[00:06:56]TV grandpas recalling a Worther's tradition they shared with their own grandpas was crazy effective marketing, but it was also complete BS. No such tradition existed or ever existed because it would have been pretty much impossible. Why? Well, prior to the late '7s, Worthers were sold almost exclusively in Germany. So, unless those kindly British and American grandpas were raised in Westfellia, they're full of it. Yes, Worthers just made the tradition up out of whole cloth. And it worked. America went gaga for grandpas and the brand experienced a major boost in sales. So, as you might imagine, they doubled down on all things old, even going as far as to hold a grandfather of the year contest in 1994. No, they didn't pit grandpas against each other in the arena of combat, although that would have been awesome. The US branch of Stork asked grandfathers to send in pictures of themselves enjoying a special moment with their grandkids, and whichever was deemed most special would be awarded $10,000 and a professional family portrait session. So, $10,040.

[00:07:58]Anyway, over the next decade and a half, Worthers produced a whole slate of new grandfather commercials, including one where the grandson had lines. Those lines, in case you were wondering, were about how many different brands of butter candy he just saw at the store.

[00:08:11]He doesn't bother to name any of those Worther's wannabes, presumably because he's just lying to make his grandpa feel better. And the duo then goes on to demonize anyone who doesn't buy butter candies wrapped in gold foil. Another commercial shows Gramps out of his lazy boy at a playground with an old friend.

[00:08:27]And because why not, he tells his friend pretty much the same Worther's original story he told his grandson. Yes, there's something a little depressing about two old men who have nothing better to do except reminisce about a piece of candy they ate when they were children. But if it moves merchandise, who cares?

[00:08:44]Worthers would eventually upgrade to a cooler and more handsome grandfather who tells the exact same story. And later, they went the musical route, showcasing an original tune while a fisherman version of Grandpa saves his grandson from plunging face first into the water.

[00:09:00]The most interesting part of these commercials is that they were all produced in the midst of a very specific plague that temporarily wiped out all female life on Earth. Or so we assume based on the fact that there isn't a single grandmother, granddaughter, mother, aunt, or niece anywhere to be seen in any of them. It's especially odd considering Worther's traditional demographic was women 50 and older.

[00:09:21]Nonetheless, in terms of marketing, Worthers was a boy club and the club drug of choice was butter candy. It was all working like a charm except for one minor problem. Those saccharine sweet grandpa grandson love fests were making Worthers uncool.

[00:09:41]Thanks to the association with the geriatric set, young people and progressive types were suddenly being described as too young for Worthers.

[00:09:49]Even revered old folks like Frank Lloyd Wright and Marlon Brando were described in profiles as too avant guard to pass out Worthers. Suddenly Worthers was the candy of washed up old losers.

[00:10:01]>> Bill Clinton makes me feel young. Not like you with your Jud Hersh sweater in your bag of Worthers originals.

[00:10:07]>> And something had to be done. So in an attempt to keep up with the times, Worthers did an advertising about face and gave women a shot at the campaign.

[00:10:15]No, I'm just kidding. Sorry, sis.

[00:10:17]Worther's big pivot was to drop the grandfather and grandson angle to focus on, wait for it, fathers and sons. Yes, in 2006, the UK ads put a new twist on their sentimentality with a son describing the cool new gadgets his friend gets from his otherwise absentee father. All while he shares a Worthers with his dad. The bottom line once again being that Worthers is the bond that keeps a family of only men together. It wasn't exactly revolutionary, but a new leaf was turned. Soon thereafter, some ads would even feature women. Seriously, they covered all shapes, sizes, and ages. They even had grandmothers, or at least grandmother-aged women. And these people weren't just sitting on each other's laps. The new generation of ads had people doing all sorts of things and enjoying Worthers for all sorts of different reasons. It was a conscientious effort to expand the demographic beyond the nursing home, and it worked. sales shot up 17%. Another way Worthers looked to attract new, younger customers was by changing up flavors. Worthers unoriginals, which weren't called that, but should have been, included flavors such as caramel apple, caramel coffee, chocolate caramel, vanilla cream, salted caramel cream, cinnamon cream, and because it's apparently now required by law, pumpkin spice. Worthers also kept consumer interest high with limited edition seasonal and holiday specific flavors including maple cream, gingerbread, and maplelair. Worthers didn't stop there, though. They added chocolatecovered, cream filled, soft, and sugar-free versions. They even introduced Worther's caramel popcorn and salted caramel popcorn. And if you're feeling international, you can always head to Germany. Not the real one, the one at Disney's Epcot, where Worthers has operated a permanent caramel shop called Caramel Cusha since 2010. There you can pick up a bag of Worther's hot honey caramel popcorn.

[00:12:08]That means how splendid. Today, Worthers remains the most valuable international brand for its parent company, crossing $und00 million in annual sales for the first time in 2021. And gone are the days of commercials about a geyser talking about the old times because now Worthers is going viral. Don't worry Gramps, it's not contagious. We're speaking of the where do you Worthers campaign which shows a diverse spectrum of people enjoying Worthers in all different settings and situations. Turns out people werethered all over the place and the campaign led to a 10% increase in buyers. The advertisements were even nominated for Shorty Awards which are like the Oscars for digital and social media. All of these efforts made Worthers so chic you can now even wear Worthers. That's right. Worthers introduced a limited edition pair of jeans which are equipped with 30 tiny pockets each holding exactly one Worthers. It's a dream come true for a Worthers fan and a nightmare in the making for whoever has to wash those pants. To get a sense of how well this worked, take a look at the 2023 a little piece of warmth campaign, which was a multiplatform effort to get fans of the candy to try Worthers as an ingredient in bespoke recipes and content. Despite sounding like a bad dare, the campaign boasted 96% brand awareness, and 53% of those who recalled the campaign actually bought some Worthers. Sure, the campaign may not include a smiling boy struggling to unwrap candy for his intensely adoring grandfather in a stuffy room with no other signs of life around for miles, but the new ads hit on the same familiar themes. And that's probably why in 2018, Worthers was named Germany's most beloved happy brand ahead of Ferrero, Herabbo, and Mars. Seems you can teach an old dog new tricks. Had the centinarians gone kaput as leads of Worther's commercials? most likely as now Worthers is focusing on diverse and eclectic people enjoying the candy throughout the day alone or together.

[00:14:03]The grandfather and grandson bit as effective as it was ran its course. But the overall themes of family traditions, nostalgia, and invisible grandmothers, that's marketing gold. At least as gold as a Worther's rapper. So, what do you think? And did you ever have a grandparent who gave you Worther's original candies? Let us know in the comments below. And while you're at it, check out some of these other videos from Weird History