Starburst

**Starburst** is the brand name of a box-shaped, fruit-flavored soft taffy candy manufactured by The Wrigley Company, a subsidiary of Mars, Incorporated. Starburst has many different varieties such as Tropical, Sour, FaveReds, Very Berry, Superfruit Flavor, Summer Blast , and Original. The original flavors include: strawberry, lemon, orange, and cherry (changed from the initial lime). The tropical flavors include: strawberry banana, pina colada, mango melon, and cherry kiwi.

## History

The brand was introduced by Mars in the UK in 1960, named **Opal Fruits** by Peter Phillips (known as Peter Pfeffer at the time), the winner of a competition that won him £5. The four original flavours were strawberry, lemon, orange, and lime. Opal Fruits were introduced in the United States in 1967 as **M&M's Fruit Chewies** and later, in the late 1960s, **Starburst**. Originally, Starburst came in the same flavours as Opal Fruits. Subsequently, its first variant, Sunshine Flavors, was released and was later renamed "Tropical Opal Fruits". In Europe, lemon and lime were combined to become "Lemon and lime" to make room for a blackcurrant flavour.

The brand name *Opal Fruits* was phased out in the UK, followed by Ireland in 1998 in order to standardise the product in a globalised marketplace. In 2008 however, the supermarket chain Asda revived the original Opal Fruits in the UK for a period of 12 weeks starting 10 May 2008. On 6 October 2008 Mars acquired Wrigley, and it transferred Mars' non-chocolate candy brands, including Starburst, to the Wrigley subsidiary. The original flavours are now branded "Original Fruits", and Starburst now comes in several assortments: FaveREDs, Limited Edition Retro Fruits, Tropical, Baja California, Sour, Strawberry Mix, Berries & Creme, Very Berry and Fruity Slushies. Among the additional flavors are Strawberry Lemonade, Citrus Slush, Cherry Splash, Blue Raspberry Rush Kiwi, Banana, Plum, Blueberry, Passion Fruit, Blackberry, Raspberry, Strawberry-Banana, Mango, Melon, Tropical Punch, Green Apple, Blue Raspberry, Watermelon, Mixed Berries & Cream, Peaches & Cream, Orange Cream, and Strawberry & Cream. Europe and the United States also has the "Sour" assortment, which includes Apple, Cherry, Pineapple and Raspberry, as well as Strawberry Mix. As of early 2010 it was decided that Strawberry was the most popular flavor in the United Kingdom. Lime is also very popular within this demand.

Starburst in the UK is vegan, its packaging and website clearly stating "Suitable for Vegetarians", and also does not contain any artificial colors or flavors. In the US, Starburst contains non-vegetarian gelatin in its ingredients.

Lime Starburst made a comeback in 2007 as a limited-edition "retro" flavor in packages of the "Baja" version, while the range in the UK was further extended with a version named Starburst Choozers. These lozenge shaped chews have a liquid fruit juice centre, and come packaged with the tag line "The chews that ooze." Each packet contains three flavours; Orange & Mango, Raspberry & Orange, and Pineapple & Orange.

As of August 2016, the advertising slogan for Starburst is "Unexplainably Juicy".

During March 2020 the Opal Fruits name was revived again for a limited period in the United Kingdom with a 152g bag available in Poundland and Dealz stores initially.

## Marketing

In the 1970s Opal Fruits were well known in the UK for their advertising tag line "Opal Fruits—made to make your mouth water!" (slogan coined by Francis Harmer-Brown and Peter Pfeffer, now called Peter Phillips). The full advertising jingle was "Opal Fruits—made to make your mouth water/Fresh with the tang of citrus/four refreshing fruit flavours/orange, lemon, strawberry, lime/Opal Fruits—made to make your mouth water!"

Starburst has been marketed in several ways, including a marketing tie-in for the movie *Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest* where they replaced Kiwi Banana and Tropical Punch with Royal Berry Punch.

In 2007 a commercial for Starburst's Berries and Creme flavor went viral. The commercial, referred to as "Berries and Creme" or as "The Little Lad Dance", stars Jack Ferver as a man dressed in Victorian/Georgian clothing expressing his excitement for the candy's flavor by performing an impromptu song and dance routine. The commercial received praise for its style from *Advertising Age*. In an interview with *Adweek* Ferver commented that the commercial took over twelve hours to film and that he had to wear the full costume in 80 degree weather.