Spangles are one of those sweets that show up on every "discontinued classics" list, and unlike a lot of retro sweet nostalgia, the actual reasons behind their rise and fall are well documented rather than fuzzy memory.
Born out of rationing, not around it
Mars launched Spangles in 1950, while post-war sweet rationing was still in effect in Britain. The genuinely clever part of the launch wasn't the flavour - it was the ration-book maths: Spangles cost just one sweet point, where most other sweets and chocolate cost two. For a family counting points, that made Spangles a practical choice as much as a tasty one. Mars leaned into that advantage, and a promotional campaign fronted by William Boyd - the actor who played cowboy hero Hopalong Cassidy - under the line "Hoppy's favourite sweet" helped build the brand with children well beyond the rationing years.
A genuine multi-flavour format
The original packets mixed several flavours in one roll - strawberry, orange, lemon, blackcurrant and cola among them - rather than committing to one taste per pack. Single-flavour versions followed later, but the mixed roll is what most people picture when they remember Spangles.
Why they disappeared in 1984
By the early 1980s, tastes had shifted away from traditional hard boiled sweets and toward the individually wrapped, chewier formats that were taking over the confectionery aisle - a shift Mars itself was riding with other products in its own range. Spangles were discontinued in 1984. There wasn't one single sweet that formally "replaced" them; rather, the boiled-sweet category as a whole lost ground to chews and fruit-flavoured gums over that decade.
The relaunch that didn't take
Mars brought Spangles back for a limited run in the 1990s, sold through outlets including Woolworths, with a smaller selection of flavours than the original line-up - accounts vary on whether it was two or four. Either way, the comeback is generally described as a commercial disappointment, and Spangles haven't returned since.
A sweet we don't stock
We're a working sweet shop, not a museum, so this one's pure history: Spangles aren't in production and we don't sell them. If it's the ration-era ingenuity you're after, our Retro Sweets collection has plenty of sweets with their own genuine wartime and post-war stories, including ones you can actually buy.
Frequently asked questions
Were Spangles actually discontinued?
Yes - Mars discontinued them in 1984, and a brief 1990s relaunch didn't last either.
Why were Spangles so popular when they launched?
They launched in 1950 during sweet rationing and cost just one ration point against the usual two, alongside a popular Hopalong Cassidy-fronted ad campaign.
Did Spangles ever come back?
Briefly, in the 1990s, with a smaller range of flavours - but the comeback didn't stick.
Do you stock Spangles?
No - they're out of production, so this is a history piece rather than a product guide.