Sweethearts candies, get a facelift to uplift

It’s hard to imagine Valentine’s Day without Sweethearts candies, the colorful little hearts with flirty and loving sayings such as “XOXO,” “FOR EVER” and “ME & YOU.” But, after nearly 120 years of passing around the candies, crushes and friends had to go without them for a few years when the Necco Wafer Co.’s Cambridge, Mass., factory shut down in 2018.

They made a comeback in 2020 after Ohio-based Spangler Candy Co. purchased the brand. This year, it is modernizing the sayings to meet the world right where it is: in need of encouragement.

For 2022’s season of love, the hearts feature 16 new sayings such as “PROUD OF U,” “FEARLESS,” “BIG FAN” and “CRUSH IT” alongside classic phrases, all printed on the candies’ unchanged flavors: wintergreen, orange, lemon-lime, blueberry, banana, grape and cherry.

To kick off the brand’s new theme of encouragement, the company asked Sweethearts fans to nominate special people in their lives to win one of 500 free boxes of the expressive hearts and a special card.

“There have been literally hundreds of playfully uplifting sayings featured on Sweethearts candies over the years, and this year’s theme strives to take an active role in spreading messages of positivity,” said the company’s director of communications, Diana Eschhofen. “There could not be a better time.”