Laffy Taffy

Laffy Taffy is a brand of taffy produced by the Ferrara Candy Company, a subsidiary of Ferrero. Laffy Taffy is a brand of candy first produced in the 1970s as "Beich's (Name of Flavor) Caramels", though in fact, they were fruit-flavored taffy squares. The original company later changed the name of the product to "Beich's Laffy Taffy", which occurred some years prior to the acquisition of distribution rights and later purchase of the product line by Nestlé. The candies are small (about 1.5 oz or 45 g) individually wrapped taffy available in a variety of artificial fruit flavors including Banana, Strawberry, Green Apple, Grape, and Blueberry, as well as a chocolate mousse flavor. The candy was advertised as having a "long-lasting" flavor. In 2003, Wonka introduced a variety called "Flavor Flippers", a piece of taffy that had a soft center with a different flavor.

The name refers to both the texture of the taffy as well as its embodiment of silliness; jokes are written on the inside of each wrapper. For example: "What do you call a cow with no legs? -- Ground Beef." Some jokes are pun-based, such as "What is Labor Day? -- That's when mommies have their babies." Other jokes are based on silly word play, such as "What's an owl's favorite subject? -- Owlgebra." These jokes are usually sent in by children who are credited on the wrapper. Laffy Taffy used to come in thick, square-shaped pieces, but today, it is sold in thinner, rectangular shaped pieces. Laffy Taffy comes in many different colors and flavors, including green apple, strawberry, grape, banana, watermelon, blue raspberry and cherry. Rarer flavors include caramel apple, coconut, strawberries & cream, apple crisp, chocolate, pumpkin donut, pineapple, guava, orange sorbet, and lemon raspberry. Discontinued flavors include fruit punch, mango, strawberry banana, peppermint, and hot cocoa.

In January 2018, Nestlé announced plans to sell its U.S. confectionery brands (including Laffy Taffy) to Italian chocolatier Ferrero SpA, maker of Nutella, for $2.8 Billion dollars. Ferrero folded the acquired brands into the operations of the Ferrara Candy Company and will increase investment in marketing into 2020.