The 1990s didn't just launch new sweets, it renamed one of the nation's favourites and sparked a genuine sour-sweet arms race. Here's what actually happened, decade by decade fact rather than blanket nostalgia.
1992: Cadbury's Time Out
Cadbury launched Time Out in Britain and Ireland in 1992, a wafer bar threaded with crisped flakes and coated in milk chocolate, positioned as a lighter, crunchier alternative to the brand's denser bars like Boost. It later expanded to Australia and New Zealand in 1995, but its home was always the British bar chart, where it settled in as a solid mid-tier favourite through the rest of the decade.
1997: the sour sweet boom
Two very different sour launches landed in the UK in 1997:
- Haribo Tangfastics — launched in the UK in 1997, coating familiar Haribo shapes like cola bottles and crocodiles in a sharp, sour sugar dusting, and effectively created the UK's modern sour-sweets category almost single-handedly
- Chupa Chups' Spice Girls range — also 1997, riding the Spice Girls' peak popularity with lollipop packs that included collectible stickers and tie-in bubblegum, a reminder of how tightly nineties sweets marketing was bound up with pop culture
1998: Opal Fruits become Starburst
Perhaps the decade's most contested moment for British sweet fans: in 1998, Mars renamed Opal Fruits, sold under that name in the UK since 1959, to Starburst, the name already used in the US and most of the rest of the world. The sweets themselves barely changed, but the name change proved genuinely unpopular, so much so that Mars has occasionally brought the Opal Fruits name back for limited runs decades later. It's one of the clearest examples of a nineties sweet story that was about branding as much as anything on the shelf, and you'll still find plenty of the era's survivors, sour and otherwise, in our retro sweets range.
Frequently asked questions
When did Opal Fruits become Starburst?
Mars renamed Opal Fruits to Starburst in the UK in 1998, aligning the British name with the one already used in the United States and most other markets. The rebrand was unpopular with many longtime fans at the time.
When did Cadbury's Time Out bar launch?
Time Out launched in Britain and Ireland in 1992, a wafer bar with a layer of crispy flakes running through milk chocolate. It reached Australia and New Zealand in 1995.
When did Haribo Tangfastics launch in the UK?
Haribo introduced Tangfastics to the UK in 1997, a sour-coated mix including cola bottles, sour cherries, fizzy dummies and crocodiles, aimed squarely at the growing appetite for sour sweets that took off through the decade.