Growing up in the United States, I was familiar with Smarties candies. In Canada, they have a candy called Smarties also. However, Canadian Smarties are not the same kind of candy; they are basically knock-offs of M&M’s. What I knew as Smarties in the US are known here as Rockets.
Because Peter participated in a “trunk-or-treat” event in Michigan and trick-or-treated here in Ontario, he ended up with both US Smarties and Canadian Rockets. I took a picture of them next to each other to show that they are essentially the same (though if you look carefully, you’ll see that the colored stripes don’t exactly match). The Smarties wrapper says that they are made in Canada, which I find confusing. Obviously, they couldn’t call them Smarties in Canada if the M&M-like Smarties existed first, but why call them Smarties in the US then? Why not just call them Rockets in both places?
Hmm, good question – “Rockets” seems so much for vintage-y cool than “Smarties”, if you ask me.
Now, I’ve heard the Canadian Smarties/M&Ms comparison before…but must say, I really don’t like Smarties at all, although I quite enjoy M&Ms. Something about the (boring, dry) taste & texture, and flatness, of the Smarties, I think. Will eat them if that’s the only option, but will actually choose M&Ms even with other options, because they are yummy to me. Anyway…totally unimportant…but somewhat of interest (likely because my brother married an American, and now lives in the States, so these little matters come to my attention now and then)…
I totally agree that Canadian Smarties are not very good and M&M’s are much better. I won’t even eat Smarties because they are so disappointing compared with M&M’s.
Erin, I think you are just an American candy snob!
Personally, I’m not a big fan of M & Ms and prefer smarties (I dislike the M&M candy shell). Anyhow . .
Ex-Rowntree’s-now-Nestle’s (chocolate) smarties have been sold under that name since the mid-30s, though the candy has been sold under other names since I think the 1880s. They’re made in a variety of locations around the world, but most notably for us Southern Ontario types, they were/are made in Toronto (on Sterling Road, east of High Park).
M & Ms are from the early 40s, and were developed by Forrest Mars Sr, the guy who invented the Mars Bar
Rockets/CeDe Smarties are from the late 40s, and so:
Yes, the chocolate smarties predate all the other candies mentioned and thus have precedent on the name.
Also, I agree, the name “Rockets” is way cooler, so why they went with “smarties” in the States is a total mystery to me.