Tootsie roll goes to war in patriotic packaging

Food & Drug Packaging, Feb, 2002

U.S. troops in Afghanistan will receive a familiar treat in brand-new, patriotic packaging as part of a morale-building mission.

Thanks to Operation Valentine, service people will be getting valentine letters from children across the country and candy from several confectioners, including Tootsie Roll Industries, Chicago. The Tootsie Rolls will include both one-inch "midgies" and 11-inch bars.

The midgies will forego their traditional brown-and-white color scheme for even more traditional trappings: the Stars and Stripes. The wrapper for the Operation Valentine candies consists of a field of blue stars running around one end, with red and white stripes going across--making the wrapper, in effect, a stylized American flag.

Operation Valentine was spearheaded by the International Neighbors Club, led by Mary Jo Myers, wife of U.S. Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The project involves school-children and candy makers across the nation making "care packages" for the troops. Tootsie Roll Industries is donating 800,000 midgies and 600,000 11-inch bars--enough to fill three and a half semi-trucks.

Operation Valentine is far from the first time Tootsie Roll has gone to war. Tootsie Roll, among the first singleserve packaged candy to be produced in America, has long been prized by the U.S. military for its non-perishable quality and resistance to harsh weather conditions.

Tootsie Rolls were first included in U.S. military rations in World War I. The candy was credited with saving the lives of an entire Marine battalion in the Korean War whose other rations froze in sub-zero temperatures.