How powerful are Mentos Chewy Mints? Powerful enough to help move a “Rocket Car”! After learning that, I contacted the confectionery group behind the brand, Perfetti Van Melle, to find out how… Dear Makers of Mentos: Two guys are in the news for creating “a single-seat rocket car powered by 54 bottles of Coke Zero [...]

When a product ends up in the news, the reports don’t always answer the kind of questions that come to my mind. That’s why I contacted Ocean Spray after hearing about their recent recall of Craisins… Dear Ocean Sprayers: I just heard about your recall of certain lots of Craisins because they were apparently contaminated [...]

After reading something about sugar free candy that’s sweet and another thing that’s not so sweet, I asked The Hershey Company for more details… Hello Hershey, Home of Hershey’s in Hershey, Pennsylvania: I recently quit sugar. Did it cold turkey, too. That’s how I eliminated it from my diet — by eating lots of cold [...]

There probably aren’t too many people alive who didn’t grow up with PEZ. I wrote PEZ Candy in 1997 to see if what was in my head might put some ideas in their heads that could be turned into PEZ dispenser heads… Dear Director of Dispensers: Pez is unbelievable! Not only do you get a [...]

My story started with M&M’s THEN (1997). After that came M&M’s NOW (2011). But some unfinished M&M business still remained, which is why I sent Mars this letter IN BETWEEN (2009)… Dear m&m Product Developers: I last wrote to you back on April 12, 1997. I inquired as to whether you “had any plans to [...]

Part 1 of this series about M&M’s Chocolate Candies featured a letter and response from 1997 — M&M’s THEN. In 2011, I emailed Mars to stay current on M&M’s NOW… Greetings People from Mars: The information I have regarding M&M’s is old. Unfortunately, information is like candy. If you leave it lying around for a [...]

In 1997, I sent this letter to Mars (the company, not the planet) to satisfy my appetite for information about their M&M’s Chocolate Candies… Dear m&m Makers: m&m’s are way too cool! I love a candy that melts in your mouth, not in your hands! It’s sad that in this day and age so many [...]

About a year ago, I wrote Frito-Lay regarding SunChips to congratulate them on creating the World’s First 100% Compostable Chip Package. But I had two primary complaints about this bag, which they responded to at the time, that are summed up by these excerpts from my letter… (Problem 1) Not to diminish the importance of [...]

After driving on 95 to dinner, I often order an 84 and a 118 somewhere around 7. Eating a Chinese meal starts out as a numbers game, but it always ends with some words of wisdom found in a fortune cookie. When a recent cookie didn’t make me feel very fortunate, I contacted Peking Noodle [...]

Many names come to mind when you hear the words Pop Star. I wanted to learn more about one of my favorites that happens to really suck. That’s why I contacted the manufacturers of Dum Dum Pops to inquire about the star status this pop has achieved that puts it in a lollipop league of [...]