Percy Pig facts for kids
Percy Pig is a super popular British brand of sweets! These chewy, pig-shaped treats come in yummy fruit flavors like raspberry, strawberry, cherry, and grape. They are made for Marks & Spencer (a big store in the UK) by a company called Katjes in Germany. Percy Pig sweets first appeared in stores way back in 1992.
These sweets are a huge hit! Between June 2009 and 2010, Percy Pig sales in UK Marks & Spencer stores alone made over £10,000,000. That's a lot of pigs! They contain a little bit of real fruit juice. Since May 2022, all Percy Pig sweets are also suitable for vegans.
Before 2008, you could buy Percy Pig sweets in 100, 200, and 400 gram bags. The bags look similar now, but the middle size holds 170 grams. The large size now contains 500 grams.
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The Story of Percy Pig
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Percy Pig sweets were first created in 1992. When they first came out, they were available in strawberry, blackcurrant, and raspberry flavors.
Percy Pig sweets actually disappeared from shelves for a short time in 1997. But don't worry, they came back! In 2008, these sweets were so popular that they even made it onto British Vogue's "hot list." They were number 11 on the fashion magazine's list of 40 hot people and trends to watch.
There's even a Percy Pig fan club on Facebook! It has over 250,000 members who love the sweets.
In 2021, the Percy Pig character appeared in the Marks & Spencer Christmas TV advert. The famous actor Tom Holland (who plays Spider-Man!) was the voice of Percy Pig in the advert. This was his first time speaking as the character.
In April 2022, a giant statue of Percy Pig was put on the roof of a new Marks & Spencer store. This big statue, made of fiberglass, was placed in Stevenage, Hertfordshire. It was planned to stay there for a whole year!
What's Inside Percy Pig Sweets?
When Percy Pig sweets first started, they actually contained real pig ingredients. This was in the form of pork gelatin. Gelatin is a substance often used to make sweets chewy.
In 2011, Marks & Spencer launched a new type of Percy Pig called "Veggie Percy." These were made for vegetarians. They replaced the gelatin with beeswax and pea protein. To show they were vegetarian, these sweets had green ears!
By 2016, M&S started using a new recipe for some other Percy Pig sweets. This new recipe did not use gelatin at all. Then, in May 2019, all Percy Pig sweets became 100 percent gelatin-free! Instead of gelatin, they started using pectin, which comes from fruits. When this change happened, the sweets also got a new logo and new packaging designs.
In 2022, Marks & Spencer removed beeswax from the recipe too. This made the Percy Pig sweets suitable for vegans, meaning they contain no animal products at all.
Different Kinds of Percy Pig
Because the original Percy Pig sweets were so successful, many new types, flavors, and even new characters were added!
One of the first new types was "Percy Pig & Pals." This pack included Percy, plus a cow (which tasted like cola) and a sheep (with orange and strawberry flavors). There were also "Percy Piglets," which are just smaller versions of the main sweets. In 2010, Percy even got a girlfriend named Penny Pig! Her sweets were lemon flavored.
Percy Pig isn't just sweets anymore! The brand has grown to include many other products. You can find Percy Pig fruit juices, fizzy drinks, chocolates, popcorn, and biscuits. There are also cakes, muffins, ice cream, and even dessert sauces. In 2020, Marks & Spencer brought back a Percy Pig advent calendar after it was stopped in 2018 and 2019. Beyond food, you can find Percy Pig toys, books, socks, party supplies, bed linen, and piggy banks!
List of Percy Pig Sweets
- Percy Pig
- Percy Pig Original Veggie (used to be called "Veggie Percy")
- Reduced Sugar Percy Pig
- Percy Pig Piglets
- Phizzy Pig Tails
- Percy Pig and Pals
- Percy Pig Loves Penny (used to be "Percy and Penny")
- Percy Pig Goes Globetrotting (used to be "Globetrotting Percy")
- Percy Pig Fruity Chews
- Percy Pig Phizzy Chews
- Percy Pig Party Time
Seasonal Percy Pig Sweets
- Percy Pig Gets Spooky (Halloween themed sweets, used to be "Pumpkin Percy")
- Merry Percymas! (Christmas themed sweets)
- Percy Meets The Easter Bunny (Easter themed sweets)
Percy Pig Sweets That Are No Longer Made
- Rosy Noses
- Reversy Percy (these had foam ears and jelly faces)
- Percy's Pig Pen (Percy Pig sweets shaped like household objects)
- Percy in a Twist (fizzy laces that were twisted - these were vegetarian)
- Percy in the Pink (Percy Pig chocolate)
- Percy's Pig Sty
- Percy's Percynalities (Percy Pig sweets with different faces)
- Percy's Family Mix (a mix of Percy Pig, Penny Pig, and the piglets)
- Percy's Parents
Similar Sweets from Other Stores
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Percy Pig sweets are very popular, so other stores have made similar chewy animal-shaped treats!
For example, Sainsbury's sells "Eric the Elephant" sweets. Tesco has a line called "Cool Cats." At Asda, you might find "Stanley Snail" and "Fredrick Frog." Lidl sells "Henry Hippo" sweets, which are also vegan. Poundland, a discount store, released their own version in 2019 called "Dinky Dogs," but these are not vegetarian.
Outside of the United Kingdom, similar sweets exist in other countries too. In Canada, there's "Juiced Up" (started in 2009). Germany has "Fred Ferkel," and the Netherlands has "Katja Biggetjes." In France, "Petit Cochon" launched in 2007. And in Australia, "Peggy Pig and Pals" were introduced in Coles Supermarkets in 2009.
