For a few years after Mr. Marshall retired in 2000, the company picked themes that were less about love and more about, well, anything. In 2003, it pursued an education angle, with “Let’s Read” and “Wise Up.” In 2005, a banner year for New England’s professional sports teams, messages included “Be a Sport” and “Cheer Me On.” Even the weather had its moment, in 2008, with “Heat Wave” and “In a Fog.”
And on it went, some five billion little hearts a year, until Necco filed for bankruptcy in 2018. It sold its Sweethearts, Necco Wafers and Canada Mints brands for nearly $19 million to the family-owned Spangler Candy Company, an Ohio firm that also churns out Dum-Dums and orange marshmallow Circus Peanuts.
In a crushing blow to first graders everywhere, there were no boxes of Sweethearts to exchange in 2019. Spangler, which began making the hearts in Mexico, couldn’t get the equipment ready in time. But the hearts were back the following year, and the new owners wrote their first set of messages. They went with the classics: “QT Pie,” “Sweet Talk” and “UR Mine.”
Then came 2021, the year of pep talk, and this year, with its “Paw Some” pet messages.
Which brings us to plans for 2024. Spangler has hired Tombras, the ad agency, to create Sweethearts’ first TikTok and Instagram accounts and help write new sayings.
The company won’t reveal them yet, but there is a theme. Despite Spangler’s newfound digital push, 2024 will be all about IRL, said Reise Kitts, who manages the account for Tombras.
“Anyone can go online and give likes out like candy,” he said. “Why not give candy out to show someone you like them for real?”
Not everyone is cheering.
“I’ve yet to hear of a couple whose courtship started with ‘Crazy 4 U,’” said Mr. Pomranz, the food writer. “I feel like you’re better off opening with a more substantial candy like a full-size 3 Musketeers. That’s love.”
