Some candies live on in our hearts forever. Others, let’s say, their disappearance was more of a mercy than a tragedy. The candy world is full of wild experiments, questionable textures, and sugar bombs that should never’ve passed the test kitchen.
These are the childhood candies that vanished and didn’t leave anyone crying at the checkout line. Whether confusing, overly gimmicky, or just flat-out weird, these sweet treats proved that not all nostalgia is worth reliving.
13. Nestlé Wonder Ball
A chocolate ball filled with tiny candies sounds fun—until you realize it’s a choking hazard in a wrapper. After enough concerned parents raised the alarm, the Wonder Ball quietly rolled out of stores.
12. Fruit String Thing
This wasn’t so much a snack as it was an art project made of waxy sugar ropes. Sure, it was fun to play with, but eating it felt like chewing on plastic.
11. Butterfinger BB’s
These mini Butterfinger balls had all the stick-to-your-molar power of the original, but none of the charm. They were messy, melted instantly, and left your hands looking like you had fought a candy bar.
10. Hershey’s Swoops
Swoops were chocolate-shaped like Pringles, which was a choice no one had asked for. They melted quickly, looked odd, and were too fragile to justify the packaging effort.
9. Garbage Can-dy
It came in a tiny trash can; honestly, that was the most accurate branding ever. The chalky, odd-tasting “food-shaped” candies were more gross-out gimmick than actual treat.
8. Life Savers Holes
They tried to market Life Savers’ “holes” as a revolutionary new idea. They turned out to be just tiny, pointless dots of candy that felt like a dentist’s nightmare.
7. Bubble Jug
This bizarre hybrid was half powdered candy and half gum that magically transformed as you chewed. It sounded cool, but felt like eating drywall and then blowing a bubble.
6. Tart ‘n’ Tinys
They were hard pebbles of sour sugar that looked like something you’d spill and never clean up. People didn’t so much eat them as accidentally crunch them underfoot.
5. Bonkers
These fruity chews were aggressively sweet and had a strange, gooey center that confused everyone. They tried to be the next big thing but became a sugar-fueled fever dream.
4. Tongue Splashers
Chewing gum that dyed your entire mouth an unnatural shade of blue seemed calm until you saw yourself in the mirror. This one got retired once everyone realized looking like a Smurf wasn’t worth the flavor.
3. BarNone
This candy bar tried to do too much—chocolate, wafers, peanuts, caramel—like the Frankenstein of the candy aisle. It overloaded your taste buds and left your brain asking, “What even is this?”
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2. Reggie! Bar
A candy bar named after a baseball player sounds great until you taste it. Sticky caramel and peanuts in a weirdly dense brick didn’t hit a home run with anyone.
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1. Chicken Dinner Candy Bar
Yes, this was real—and no, it didn’t taste like poultry, but the name alone was enough to kill it. It might’ve been a nougat bar with nuts, but once you wrap it in the idea of a roast dinner, the appetite’s gone.
