So what are Fantales?

Oh no, not the Fantales!!!

The biggest news to hit Australia 🇦🇺 this week has nothing to do with any natural disaster🔥or a major political scandal 🗯. It’s something far, far, far more groundbreaking…

One of Australia’s most iconic lollies 🍬 (psst… “lolly” is the Australian term for “candy” or “sweets”) will be, to use the food wholesale term, deleted. That lolly is Fantales 😮

Australia is in uproar 🤬. Some people are so mad they’ve even launched “Bring Back Fantales” Facebook groups to rant on and there are the obligatory change.org petitions (yes, it’s THAT serious!). 43-year-old Lauren from Melbourne even stated in a comment on social media that she’ll be boycotting Nestlé products in protest (take that!) 🙅🏻‍♀️. Some have gone so far to imply major treachery on the part of foreign powers (I kid you not!) and denounced Nestlé, the current manufacturers of Fantales, of engaging in “traitorous un-Australian behaviour”.

They are chocolate-covered chewy caramels 🍬 that were often so hard to bite into that they kept many dentists in business 🦷. Nothing particularly unique so far, you might think.

🎞️ What makes them special is that there are fan tales (i.e. biographies of film stars and movie trivia) written on the lolly’s wrapper. Fantales first appeared in 1930 as a promo for “talkies” 🎥 (i.e. movies with sound) and were traditionally sold at cinemas, quickly becoming something identifiably Australian.

📉 However, as movie trivia became easier to get over time, the thrill of Fantales declined and so too sales, which coupled with ageing machinery has made continuing its production unfeasible.

When asking many of the Aussies who are now lamenting Fantales’ demise when was the last time they bought a packet of the iconic lolly, the answer has often been a blank as it was that long ago 🤷🏽, proving it takes sales and not just nostalgia to keep a product on the production line.

😶‍🌫️ However, a theory is now going round that this is part of an elaborate publicity stunt to get people talking about Fantales, even here on LinkedIn 😏, and boost sales. Clutching straws perhaps?

More about Fantales, its history and demise, including a link to a video of a 1967 interview with the person who wrote the fan tales on the Fantales, in the ABC article here https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-06-21/nestle-fantales-lolly-discontinued-end-of-production/102503818

❓ For anyone who has had Fantales, will you miss them?
❔ Do you buy the “publicity stunt” theory?
❓ Has there ever been an iconic product in your country that was taken off sale, and what was the reaction?

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