Not So Sweet: SweetHearts candies return to stores, but are mostly blank or misprinted

The No. 1 most popular Valentine’s Day candy is back for 2020.

SweetHearts conversation hearts candies sat Valentine’s Day out last year, after the original maker, Necco, filed for bankruptcy in 2018.

But after a long 18+ months full of tough, unanticipated challenges, the iconic SweetHearts conversation hearts are back this year, but production issues have plagued their new manufacturer.

The popular candy was purchased by Spangler Candy Company. Although the purchase was made too late for the candies to have a 2019 season, Spangler was determined to revive them for Valentine’s Day 2020.

Unfortunately for Spangler, they ran into a few production obstacles.

When Spangler was transferring all of Necco’s equipment from Boston to their own production house in Ohio, some of the equipment, including the printers, were damaged along the way.

A group at CandyStore.com reviewed about 10 boxes of the new SweetHearts and found:

• 65% had no markings on them at all – completely blank.
• 24% had unintelligible misprints.
• 8% had partially printed phrases.
• Only 3% had full, well-placed phrases.

The group was told by a Spangler spokesperson that due to all the production setbacks, there will only be a limited supply of candies this year.

Learn more about the SweetHearts mishap and watch an unboxing video here.