Happy Halloween!
Here’s an interesting little holiday data point for ye:
According to Susan Whiteside, vice president of communications at the National Confectioner’s Association (NCA), confectionery sales for Halloween 2011 in the United States will be $2.3 billion — a new record.
Indeed, despite these hard economic times, Halloween candy sales continue to rise by 1 to 3 percent each year.
Divvying up the total among the U.S. population, the average American will spend about $7.36 on Halloween candy this year. “Snack-sized versions of the candies that are popular year-round are the most popular at Halloween,” Whiteside told Life’s Little Mysteries, a sister site to LiveScience. “The focus is typically on small, individually wrapped single-serve packages of chocolate and non-chocolate candies.”
Of course, one type of candy becomes popular during Halloween that is not often eaten the rest of the year: candy corn. “About 35 million pounds of candy corn was made for the season,” Whiteside said. That’s 1.76 ounces, or about 27 individual candy corns, for each and every American.
Emphasis mine. Yeah, I know it’s a holiday, but that’s not the kind of record we should be setting at a time when childhood obesity is at an all-time high.
And lord knows who’s eating all the candy corn… IMHO, candy corn is to Halloween what fruit cake is to Christmas: ubiquitous, yet completely lacking in appeal. When I was a kid, candy corn typically joined the other “Trick Or Treat” bag rejects (Necco wafers, black licorice and snack-sized Almond Joys) in the trash.
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8yuvMsvNqY]
What Lewis Black sez… Whoever wants “my” 27 individual candy corns can have ’em. 😉
(h/t Jezebel)
November 2, 2011
Wow!!! $2.3 billion, that’s amazing. I’m all for having fun and enjoying a “holiday”, but it just seems like the money could be spent in a better way.
Cute on the candy corn. Can’t say I ever did like them. I would have to disagree on the Almond Joys.LOL
November 2, 2011
Ah well, I’ve never been a fan of coconut. As a kid, I didn’t like almonds either, although I’ve since learned to love them.