"You don’t know if someone’s going to be online immediately, so that impromptu conversation’s kind of scary, but it was good scary.”
A frozen dessert that generated $100 million in its first year. An eight-inch braided candy bar. Squeezable cheese in a tube. The 1970s produced a wave of processed snack foods — and then nearly all of them disappeared from store shelves. Some left behind alternatives. At least one returned as recently as 2023. Here’s what happened to each of them.
The Marathon Bar
The Marathon Bar was introduced by Mars Candy Company in 1973. It was an eight-inch-long bar made of braided caramel coated in milk chocolate. The product was discontinued in 1981 after declining sales. A similar product, the Curly Wurly, is still sold in the U.K.
The Reggie Bar
The Reggie Bar was produced by Curtiss Candy Company and named after Reggie Jackson. Introduced in the late 1970s, it contained peanuts, caramel and chocolate. The bar was discontinued in 1981 and briefly re-released in 1993 following Jackson’s induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Similar products, such as Bun Bars, later filled its market space. The candy returned in 2023, produced by Sai Chocolates in Pennsylvania with input from Reggie Jackson.
Space Dust
Space Dust was a carbonated candy produced by General Foods in the 1970s. Similar to Pop Rocks, it offered a fizzy texture. The product was discontinued in the 1980s following public concerns about Pop Rocks, including rumors that the candy could be dangerous when consumed with soda. Pop Rocks were later reintroduced, but Space Dust was not.
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Pizza Spins
Pizza Spins were pizza-flavored snack chips introduced in the late 1960s and popular into the early 1970s. The product was discontinued in 1975 after a short production run.
Kraft Squeez-A-Snak
Kraft Squeez-A-Snak was a processed cheese-based spread packaged in tube-like containers. It was sold in flavors including garlic, pimento, bacon and hickory smoke and was designed to be spread onto crackers or other foods. Other Kraft products like Cheez Whiz remain on the market.
Koogle
Koogle was a flavored peanut butter introduced by Kraft in 1971. It was sold in flavors such as chocolate, banana, cinnamon and vanilla. The product was discontinued by the end of the 1970s.
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Jell-O Pudding Pops
Jell-O introduced Pudding Pops in test markets in 1978, with a national rollout in 1979. The frozen dessert came in flavors including chocolate, vanilla, butterscotch and banana. The product generated $100 million in its first year and tripled that amount within five years.
Despite that early performance, Jell-O discontinued Pudding Pops in 2004 due to declining sales. Jell-O still has a recipe on its website to make your own.
Jell-O 1-2-3
Another Jell-O product from the era, Jell-O 1-2-3, was introduced in 1969 as a layered gelatin dessert mix that separated into multiple textures during preparation. The product required a multi-step preparation process. It was gradually phased out beginning in the mid-1980s and discontinued in 1996.
