Sweethearts candy debuts conversation hearts with mixed messages

The popular candy brand, known for 40 sayings on its colorful heart-shaped candy such as “Be Mine” and “Hug Me” is debuting specially designed boxes with blurry, misprinted candies that are as hard to read as Gen-Z relationships.

The candies, sporting the tagline “Messages as blurry as your relationship,”  will be sold for a limited time at Sweethearts’ website.

“Singles are taking ‘situationships’ to the next level this year, and Sweethearts is here for them,” Evan Brock, vice president of marketing for Spangler, said in a statement. “The printing on Sweethearts isn’t always perfect. This is our way of embracing those imperfections in a way that taps into pop culture.”

Cleveland Clinic defines situationships as romantic entanglements where the participants haven’t established the nature of their relationship. Sweethearts noted that the dating app Tinder said young singles consider the situationship to be a legitimate relationship status.

Sweethearts is owned by Spangler, which also has other novelty candies such as Dum-Dums, Necco Wafers and Bit-O-Honey in its portfolio. The 122-year-old Sweethearts brand was acquired by Spangler in 2018 and re-released two years later. Since then, sales have “more than tripled,” according to the company.

Food Dive