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. There is also a version of the Wonder Ball called the Wonder Ball Plus Prize that contains a chocolate ball filled with tangy dextrose candy, stickers and a small capsule with a relevant toy inside.

History

The Wonder Ball was first introduced in the mid 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 The product was withdrawn in 1997 after competitors and consumer groups campaigned that the toy posed a choking hazard.[1]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 Wonder Ball 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. An urban legend has circulated that the product was discontinued because a child choked and died, but there was no confirmation that the discontinuation was due to choking allegations.[3]

After a 9-year absence, Frankford re-released the Wonder Ball with Despicable Me themed candy and stickers in February 2016. Also, it released Shopkins, Dinosaurs, Disney and Halloween. Wonder Ball Minis were released as two smaller Wonder Balls packaged together to enable sharing. They released in 2017 with Disney and Disney/Pixar characters. Wonder Ball Plus Prizes features a normal size Wonder Ball with stickers and a separated capsule with a prize inside. They released in 2017 with different varieties such as Shopkins, Super Mario, Monsters and PAW Patrol.[4] Frankford Candy still produces the Wonderball to this day. It can be found in Walmart, Amazon, Family Dollar, Five Below, Party City, Walgreens, Cracker Barrel, and many other retailers.[5]

Nutritional facts

The Wonder Ball had 130 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."[3]

See also

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 "Chocolate Toy Withdrawn".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. "What Ever Happened to Nestle Wonder Balls? A Brief History Of The Magical Treat". Retrieved 2017-04-22.
  4. "Could Wonderball be making a comeback?". austin360. 2016-02-27. Retrieved 2016-02-29.
  5. "Have a BALL! • Frankford Wonder Ball". www.wonderballcandy.com.

Links

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