Nostalgia: Tic Tac traditionals

Last week, while standing in line at the checkout, surveying the rows of candy and gum, I had a sudden urge to buy Tic Tacs, but I didn’t realize that tossing the small, plastic container of mint green confections onto the conveyor belt would arouse an obsession.

I hadn’t had a Tic Tac in over a decade, and since that day, I’ve gone through six packs of the sweet little mints, even buying a bulk package.

But the point of this story is not my newfound fascination with the tiny pill-shaped sweets, it’s about the frustration I faced trying to find what was always my favorite flavor, spearmint. I couldn’t find the dark green mints anywhere. I found the pale blue-green wintergreen mints. I found white “freshmints.” I found orange. But my beloved spearmints were nowhere to be found. And during my search, which included gas stations, grocery stores and pharmacies, I realized I couldn’t find the cinnamon ones either.

So I dug deeper, and upon further investigation into the mystery, I realized my favorite flavor had been replaced, deemed unfit for sale. In an attempt to make more money, the Ferrero Company decided to nix both the cinnamon and the spearmint flavors to make room for new ideas and seasonal flavors, like Strawberry Fields and Pink Grapefruit. Yuck.

So, I guess I’ve found another item, or two, for my nostalgia collection, which simultaneously made me sad, and got me thinking about the commercial food industry. I wonder how profitable a food item has to be in order to stay on the shelves; because I have seen some unappetizing items stick around for decades, while other, often beloved, products disappear in an instant.  I really can’t fathom how a strawberry mint would outsell a cinnamon or spearmint flavored one.

What do you think? Did Ferrero USA make a mistake when they took the two traditional mint flavors off shelves, or are fancy fruit flavors really more appealing?