Seeing Red... Pez That Is

Somehow in my long career of being a Candy Critic, I've managed to miss out on reviewing all of the red coloured flavours of Pez. It's pretty amazing since a few of these flavours were my favourites as a kid. Because I feel so strongly that each and every red flavour should be well represented on candycritic.org, I've decided to get all three reviews up this week. I'm always curious about the classic candies that I've not yet reviewed, so if you know about one, let me know.

Check out the first of 3 red coloured Pez reviews that I'll be posting this week.

Give Me Gummy Bears

Gummy Bear Fun Times T-Shirt
by candycritic

Who doesn't love a good gummy bear t-shirt?

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5 Strange Candy Choices For Valentines Day - Part 2 - Junior Mints Chocolate Hearts Shaped Candy

I'm not going to judge Junior Mints as a bad choice for Valentine's Day. There's nothing wrong with giving someone chocolates on this holiday. The fact that they're shaped like hearts also plays into their favour as being a very appropriate sweet gift on this holiday. The thing I find strange is that it appears that some of the hearts have a blood red center.

I always assume that the heart symbolism used on Valentine's Day is not related to the heart you have in your body pumping blood. In general I think it's best to avoid the comparisons. No one wants a bloody heart for Valentine's Day... right?

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A New Candy Critic T-Shirt Thing

Gummy Bear Love T-shirt by candycritic
Browse Gummy T-Shirts

We just made a t-shirt from our fun little love poem all about gummy bears.

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Twisted Gummy Bear Card...

Gummy Bear Love Card by candycritic
Find more note cards online at zazzle.com

For the one you love.

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Candy Themed Valentine's Day Cards

One Cinnamon Heart Greeting Card by bewarethecheese
Create unique personalized photo note cards from zazzle.com.

We're posting some new candy themed Valentine's cards for that special someone in your life made by our sister site bewarethecheese.com.  Pick up a card, make that special someone in your life a little happier.

For more greeting card options click here.

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Candy Themed Valentine's Day Cards

Golden Heart Greeting Card by bewarethecheese
Browse more Hearts Cards

We're posting some new candy themed Valentine's cards for that special someone in your life made by our sister site bewarethecheese.com.  Pick up a card, make that special someone in your life a little happier.

For more greeting card options click here.

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This Week In Candy

This past week I was sent a whole mess of lollipops from the fine folks at Original Gourmet Lollipops (@oglollipops).  Normally after I get candy from any company the first things I do is do a little taste test and write up a review. This particular shipment however poses a bit of a problem, there's an over abundance of variety.  The folks at Origional Gourmet sent me so many different flavours that I can't really decide which one I want to review.  Fortunately they sent me so many lollipops that I was able to share with all of my friends, family, frankly just about everybody around me over the last week has enjoyed a lollipop.  I've listened to their reaction, but it's just not enough.

So I've decided that I need your input as well.  So I'm asking anybody who reads this to pick a flavour and send it to me.  I realize that you don't actually have these lollipops in front of you, but I'm asking you to pick which flavour you think will be best, based on the name.  If you want to go one step further, why not buy a bag or two of these fine Original Gourmet Lollipops, taste a few and let me know which I should try.  Next week I'll post the results along with the winning review.  You can vote on the flavour you think I should try by leaving a comment here, or dropping us a line on Facebook or Twitter.

Here's a list of all the flavours I've received:

Mocha Latte
Pina Colada
Orange Creamsicle
Candy Apple
Orange Splash
Strawberry Banana
Rootbeer Float
Juicy Grape
Bubble Gum
Wilde Cherry
Juicy Grape
Banana Split
Pomegranate Raspberry
Pink Lemonade
Cherry Cheesecake
Blueberries & Cream
Blue Raspberry
Watermelon
Cotton Candy
Strawberry Shortcake
There are also 6 "Mystery" Flavoured lollipops as well.

This week on Snack Facts, our Instagram feed, we'll be looking at the colour red (or in some cases it may be the colour pink, which should really be called light red, but I won't get into that).  We're going to examine one of the most common colours in the candy industry, it's a little weird, but trust me there's lots to say on the subject.  If you want to follow our Snack Facts feed you can connect into our Instagram feed, or if you don't have Instagram, you can also connect via our Twitter feed and our Facebook page.

This week's review ties in slightly with our Snack Facts theme, and may even be featured in a later post.  The Azuki Kit Kat is one of the most Japanese Kit Kat variations ever.  How this relates to the colour "red"... well you'll have to read here to find out.

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Classic/Creative Candy Advertisement

All this week we're posting M&Ms facts on Snack Facts (check it out on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter), and I thought I would search out any M&Ms advertising for today's post.  What I came up with was amazing.  I'm not certain that this ad is real, in fact I'm pretty sure it's not, but it is really amazing.  Who would have thought that the red M&M was a communist.

I found this ad here.

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Just Red

Pixelated Red Gummy Bear T-shirt by candycritic
Browse other Gummy T-Shirts

Today I'm kind of craving a red gummy bear.  It's strange, while you can buy single coloured gummy bears in bulk on the Internet, you can't really buy them anywhere else.  Sometimes a bag of just red gummy bears, or maybe yellow gummy bears would hit the spot, but I have to sort through a mixed bag of gummy bears discarding all the other colours.

You can find more candy themed t-shirts here.

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Pixelated Gummy Bear Shirts All Week - Part Red

Pixelated Red Gummy Bear T-shirt by candycritic
Make a unique single custom t shirt at Zazzle

I always lean towards red candies, and gummy bears are no exception.  If I could buy a bag filled with just red gummy bears, I'd be a happy boy.

Click here to check out all of the shirts we have available.

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Mike and Ike Review-A-Thon - Part 2

According to scientific studies, red is said to be the best colour one can make a candy package.  They say that psychologically people respond to red packages and are more likely to buy them.  Assuming that science is true, the idea of making a red candy in a red package, featuring flavours we associate with red, seems like the ultimate psychological gimmick.

Click here to read today's very red Mike and Ike review.

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Old Candy Critic Articles - Is Red a Flavour?

I've decided to take down several old articles from the candycritic.org and re-post them here on the Candy Critic blog.  This week we look at candy companies that insist on naming their candy's flavours based on their colours.

Ahhhhh novelty, one of the key ingredients in any great treat, at least sometimes it can be. I've noticed a new novel trend lately, and I'm not too sure how to deal with it. Several companies have been creating red flavoured treats, not cherry or fruit punch but "red” flavoured.

It's important that we make sure somebody doesn't know something I don't. I'm going to make some assumptions, if you know differently please let me know and I will retract this statement: Orange is both a fruit and a flavour, so right off the bat have established a "grey area". Grape, Lemon, and Pineapple, although with some exceptions (when it comes to house paints) are fruit and not colours. Purple, Yellow and Red as far as I know are colours. Wait a minute, is red a flavour too?

To be honest, when I was a kid, I would never ask for the cherry or grape Popsicle, I would ask for the red or purple Popsicle. Having said that, on the package it is clearly marked as “cherry” or “grape”. So could mean one of two things; either most people used "red" as a description for the Popsicle and I was just using the colloquialism for the product. It could also be that I was the only person in the world doing this and I'm either an idiot or a creative genius. Well now that we’ve established that “red” is used as a flavour context, let's look at whether or not a candy company can just label a candy "red” favoured.

I think it's all right, but only sometimes. For example, if you attach another word with it, like berry, then it’s perfectly fine. Nothing wrong with Berry Red, in fact I believe it's a well-established Kool Aid flavour. I guess this isn't a good example though because it does imply the flavour, by using the word berry. You understand that there are red berries, and then this flavour is most likely a combination of these red berries.

It just seems like some products are trying to sell the colour of their products, rather than sell the flavour. It is a scientific fact that people tend to buy more candies and treats when it has a lot of red on the package, but does it sell if the flavour is red as well?

I guess I'm not really hip to the idea of candy being labelled by colour instead of flavour. Although I've tried many of the "red flavoured" treats and you know what, they tasted red. Some I could place like a cherry or fruit punch, but some just tasted red. It just comes across as lazy to me, are candy companies afraid that they might mislabel a flavour?  Or does red actually have a flavour in our minds; do blind people see red when they eat a red flavoured treat?

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Candy and Snack Related Super Bowl Commercials

Once again M&M's are going for the slightly disturbing angle in their commercial of what happens when a character is in fact the food you're going to eat.  This one has a slight sexual twist at the end, only because the red M&M seems to be a little into the idea of being devoured by a group of women.  This commercial isn't bad, but it's not the most clever use of the disturbing fact that the M&M's characters are in fact edible. My favorite use of this method is this commercial, it's much more clever, a lot darker, and a little funnier.  I will say that this latest commercial does entertain me, and it sure makes me want to bite into an M&M, particularly a giant one with arms and legs.

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Stuff I Want To Try

Mike and Ike RedRageous! - Made by: Just Born - Why: Because red is a nice colour, and apparently this candy is a prize winner. - Click here to learn more about this treat.

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Bazooka Stuff Is Here

Two weeks ago I posted about the folks at Bazooka tweeting me a photo of what they were going to send.  Well I got the package and the treats are even better in person.  But I guess that doesn't really work in your case, does it?

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Stuff I Want To Try

Red Velvet Cupcake Bites - Taste of Nature - They sound so soft and cuddly - Click here to learn more about this treat.

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Jello Drop

Ever wonder what Jello looks like when it hits the ground?  Well now you don't.

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It's National Licorice Day

Time to pull out a twisty wire of red or black and chew till your jaw hurts.

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Are You a Red Or Black Licorice Person?

The folks at American Licorice are going to try and find out where you stand, and where most Licorice fans stand on the subject.  Me personally, I'm a red licorice guy, I find black licorice to be too bitter and sometimes I even find that it burns my mouth a little.  Having said that the red flavour must be just right, too sweet and you can ruin it.  I have also tried a few... very few... black licorice treats that I've liked.  But if given the choice I often find that red is the safer bet.

Click here to read about the poll.

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