Ayds facts for kids
Ayds Reducing Plan Candy was a special candy made to help people eat less. It was very popular in the 1970s and early 1980s. This candy was designed to reduce your appetite, which means it made you feel less hungry. It was first made by The Carlay Company.
What Ayds Candy Was Like
Ayds candy came in several yummy flavors. You could find it in chocolate, chocolate mint, butterscotch, and caramel. Later, a peanut butter flavor was also added.
The candy's packaging first said "Ayds Reducing Plan vitamin and mineral Candy." Later, it was called "appetite suppressant candy." This means it was meant to stop hunger. The main ingredient at first was benzocaine. This ingredient might have been used to make your sense of taste less strong, so you wouldn't want to eat as much. Later, the ingredient was changed to phenylpropanolamine.
Why the Name Became a Problem
In the mid-1980s, a serious disease called AIDS became widely known. This disease caused people to lose a lot of weight. The name "Ayds" sounded exactly like "AIDS." This similarity caused big problems for the candy brand.
At first, the candy's sales didn't drop. In fact, in 1985, the company president even said sales had gone up because of the connection. In 1986, another company executive famously said, "The product has been around for 45 years. Let the disease change its name."
However, by 1988, the product's name and rights had been sold to a new company, Dep Corporation. They announced that sales had dropped by as much as 50% because of the disease's publicity. The company decided they needed a new name. They tried "Aydslim" in Britain in 1988. Finally, around January 1989, the product's name in the United States was changed to Diet Ayds. You could still find advertisements for Diet Ayds in newspapers until at least 1993. After that, the product was taken off the market completely.
Ayds Candy's History
The Ayds candy was first introduced by the Carlay Company in Chicago. The company officially registered its name as a U.S. trademark in 1946, saying they first started selling it in 1937.
In 1944, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) had concerns about some of the claims made in Ayds advertisements. The FTC questioned claims that people could "lose up to 10 pounds in 5 days, without dieting or exercising."
Over the years, the company that made Ayds changed hands several times. The Carlay Company became part of the Campana Corporation. Then, Campana was bought by Dow Chemical. Later, Dow Chemical sold Campana to Purex in the 1960s.
During these years, famous people helped promote Ayds candy. Celebrities like Bob Hope and his wife Dolores Hope, and Tyrone Power and his wife Linda Christian, were involved in promoting the Ayds Reducing Plan.
In 1981, Purex sold the rights to the Ayds name to Jeffrey Martin Inc. Then, in 1987, Jeffrey Martin Inc. and its products, including Ayds Appetite Suppressant, were bought by the Dep Corporation.
