Same Candy, New Words of Love for Your Valentine
Love ‘em or not, almost everyone has received Necco’s Conversation Hearts on Valentine’s Day. This year’s crop of chalky, sweet treats will come with a few new sayings from popular songs and trendy lingo:
“Love Me Tender,” “Let It Be,” “You Rock,” “As If” and “Fax Me” are just a few of the new love notes Walter Marshall, Necco’s resident “King of Hearts,” has chosen to grace the 8 billion candies the New England confectioner will produce this year.
“I know how Frank Sinatra’s lyrics and music move me, and I wanted to recognize other artists like Elvis [and] the Beatles who have also inspired generations of music lovers,” he said.
What else drives the selection process? “The mottoes can’t be offensive, distasteful or too wordy. Also, we are limited to two words with four letters on the small hearts. And on the larger-sized hearts (known as Motto Hearts), we can fit just two words with six letters.”
Daniel Chase, brother of Necco’s founder, invented Conversation Hearts in the late 1860s by printing sayings on colored paper and placing them inside “cockles,” a small, crisp candy shaped like a scalloped shell. Printed Conversation Hearts date to 1902. The sayings were not changed at all until the early 1990s.
