Wonder Ball

The Wonder Ball is a brand of chocolate manufactured in the United States by Nestlé and later by the Frankford Candy & Chocolate Company. The spherical candy, which weighs 3 grams, has an outer shell that is pure milk chocolate and a hollow interior containing candies. The wonder ball is wrapped in foil, placed in a small box, and packaged with a collectible sticker.

History

The Wonder Ball was first introduced in the early 1990s. The product's slogan was "What's In the Wonder Ball?" Originally called Nestlé Magic Ball, the product contained small figurines of Disney characters, similar to the Kinder Surprise which retails in Europe, Canada, and Mexico. The product was withdrawn in 1997 after competitors and consumer groups campaigned that the toy posed a choking hazard.[1]

In April 2000, the Wonder Ball was re-released with candy in place of the toys.[2] The Wonderball had a variety of themes, including Disney, Pokémon, Cartoon Network, Care Bears, and Winnie the Pooh. In 2004, the brand was sold to Frankford, who released it under a SpongeBob SquarePants theme. Frankford later discontinued the Wonder Ball.[3] An urban legend has circulated that the product was discontinued because a child choked and died, but in reality, the discontinuation had nothing to do with choking allegations.[4]

In February 2016 after a 12-year absence, Frankford re-released the Wonder Ball with Despicable Me themed candy and stickers.[5]

Nutritional facts

The Wonder Ball had 80 calories per ball, of which 54 came from fat. "There were 6 grams of fat per serving. Added to this was 18 grams of sugar."[4]

References

  1. "Chocolate Toy Withdrawn". New York Times. 1997-10-02. Retrieved 2012-02-27.
  2. "FMI SHOW ROUND-UP: Now Being Served". Promomagazine.com. 2000-07-01. Retrieved 2012-02-27.
  3. "Candy company acquires Wonderball brand - Philadelphia Business Journal". Bizjournals.com. 2004-04-21. Retrieved 2012-02-27.
  4. 1 2 "The History of the Nestle Wonder Ball". Archived from the original|archive-url= requires |url= (help) on 2014-02-14.
  5. "Could Wonderball be making a comeback?". austin360. 2016-02-27. Retrieved 2016-02-29.


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