Life Savers: 100+ Years of Sweetness
As an elementary school kid, I thought, "When I'm an adult, I want to have 1 of every flavor of Life Saver there is." Life Savers Virtual Museum & Blog is the outcome of that quirky wish!
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- Written by: Karen Smith-Will
- Parent Category: Research
- Category: Life Savers: 100+ Years of Sweetness
The introduction and withdrawal of Life Savers Holes™️ occurred within a 4-month window, due to safety issues with the products packaging. (Sadly, I don't have any Holes in my collection. This is mostly because I was truing back to my original goal, which was to collect a roll of each flavor. When Holes came out, they generally replicated flavors already in the roll lineup.)
"Based on favorable test market results, national distribution of LIFE SAVERS HOLES, a miniature hard candy, commenced in October 1990. In January 1991, in response to a few isolated incidents where misuse of the package caused the package's cap to detach, the product as so packaged was voluntarily withdrawn from the market as a precautionary safety measure . It is anticipated that the product will be back in distribution with a modified package in the second quarter of 1991."
Incidentally, Life Savers Holes were also sold in Australia's Allen's Life Savers as a "limited edition". They had a different type of packaging, per https://petersmilkbar.com/lifesavers-holes-90s. Unlike American Holes, which had packages similar to the ⭕-shaped candy, the Australian Holes had a funky mid-century modern vibe in cobalt blue and neon green.
Sources
1990 annual report, RJR Nabisco Holdings Corp. Retrieved from: link
Photos ©️2025, courtesy of Eric at bumchex, an eBay supplier.
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- Written by: Karen Smith-Will
- Parent Category: Research
- Category: Life Savers: 100+ Years of Sweetness
Earlier this year, I wrote an article about Life Saver games. Who would have guessed that one of the big Life Savers announcements in 2025 would relate to a game?
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- Written by: Karen Smith-Will
- Parent Category: Research
- Category: Life Savers: 100+ Years of Sweetness
Life Savers wanted you to play with your food. Or a little more specifically, they wanted their candies to appeal to children. Here are some games that I've found:
See also
⭕2025 Update on Games
Puzzles and games in Life Savers ads:
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1982 -"Amazing Flavors!
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"Find the 13 juicy Life Savers™️ flavors hidden below: Lemon, Lime, Cherry, Pineapple, Orange, Apple, Tangerine, Strawberry, Butterscotch, Grape, Pear, Coconut, Banana."
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1982 - Circle of flavors!
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"Find your way through this circle of I flavors to the delicious Life Savers center. Directions: Use a pencil to find the secret path. Remember not to cross any solid lines."
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1982 - "Be a Life Savers Flavor Shooter!
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"Shoot for big flavor with Life Savers Roll Candy and Lollipops. Play alone or with a friend! Here's how:
- Select 3 Flavor Shooters
- Follow their Flavor Rays to the targets above
- Score one point for each Life Savers Roll Candy or Lolipop in each tarpet
- Add up all your points
- Score 10 or more points, and you are a winner!"
Life Savers Storybooks
Storybooks themselves were toys (ie, children's books with short stories). But in addition to the stories, they sometimes included crossword puzzles and word searches.
Life Savers Tic Tac Toe
One, I saw a tic-tac-toe board game for Life Savers. While I can't quite put my finger on it, if you see it, click contact us and share some more information about it. UPD: found, see Update article.
Life Savers Pineapple 🍍 Treasure Hunt digital game
https://soundeffects.fandom.com/wiki/Life_Savers:_Pineapple_Treasure_Hunt
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- Written by: Karen Smith-Will
- Parent Category: Research
- Category: Life Savers: 100+ Years of Sweetness
This article is actually a really meaningful one for me. My masters is in Leadership, and Servant Leadership was one focus of my research. So it was pretty exciting to discover a leader from Life Savers had written about this topic! I guess you could call this article my book report on Cheryl Bachelder's Dare to Serve: How to Drive Superior Results by Serving Others.
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- Written by: Karen Smith-Will
- Parent Category: Research
- Category: Life Savers: 100+ Years of Sweetness
"From the Life Saver Corp. at Port Chester, N.Y., has come 1200 rolls of Life Savers."
Gail Halvorsen, aka "the Chocolate Pilot", introduced the German population of Berliner children to "Rollen Lebensretter," or Life Savers rolls.
Read more: Uncle Wiggly Wings brought Life Savers™️ to Germany
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- Written by: Karen Smith-Will
- Parent Category: Research
- Category: Life Savers: 100+ Years of Sweetness
THE WRIGLEY CO. (EAST AFRICA) LTD.
Wrigley's first plant had been built in 1972.
P.O Box 30767, Plot LR No. 209/6922 19 Bamburi Rd, Nairobi, 00100 Kenya
Retrieved from https://www.dnb.com/business-directory/company-profiles.the_wrigley_company_(east_africa)_limited.3fece8bb7221c9623cab7a735b764393.html
Mars
"Mars Africa is a wholly owned division of Mars Incorporated. Established in 1997, Mars has since grown to a Sub-Saharan business which employs over 400 Associates across 3 local sites in South Africa and a manufacturing facility in Kenya. The Sub-Saharan business is representative of four business segments namely, Petcare, Food, Gum and Confectionary."
However, it is unclear whether Life Savers™️ hard candy products are a) sold in Africa or b) manufactured at the Bamburi Road plant.
The manufacturing plant, built in 2018 at a cost of $69.3 million, was intended to create product to be distributed to Burundi, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda, per Confectionery News. Retrieved from https://www.confectionerynews.com/Article/2018/05/28/Mars-to-build-69.3m-factory-to-expand-Wrigley-s-market-share-in-Africa
19 Bamburi Rd, Industrial Area, P.O Box 30767 - 00100N, airobi, Kenya; Email
Retrieved from https://amcham.co.ke/report/wrigley-company-ea-ltd
Life Savers™️ is a trademarked name currently owned in the US by Mars Wrigley Confectionery, having been owned and/or licensed by many previous companies, varying by country.
©️2024 to present. All rights reserved.
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- Written by: Karen Smith-Will
- Parent Category: Research
- Category: Life Savers: 100+ Years of Sweetness
It's always fun to add a country to Life Savers exposure. Switzerland is well-known for its confectionery; however, that candy is often chocolate.
In this case, Nestlé acquired the Australian Life Savers operations.
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- Parent Category: Research
- Category: Life Savers: 100+ Years of Sweetness
It's clear from the magazine advertisements that Assort⭕Mints were boiled candies...the mints were translucent and colorful. What type of mints were included?
🚧Under construction; needs pix & links
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- Parent Category: Research
- Category: Life Savers: 100+ Years of Sweetness
Life Savers at Christmas have long been a tradition. LifeSaversStoryBooks are a big part of the holiday season. And another part are Christmas ornaments.
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- Written by: Karen Smith-Will
- Parent Category: Research
- Category: Life Savers: 100+ Years of Sweetness
From their inception in 1912 until at least 1964, Life Savers were "still only 5¢."
How many products could make that claim?
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- Written by: Karen Smith-Will
- Parent Category: Research
- Category: Life Savers: 100+ Years of Sweetness
My older relatives have always regaled me with stories about when color TV first entered their lives. Imagine the look of Life Savers in black and white, versus Technicolor™️? They were clearly made for TV. So here is a selection of ads through the years: