Thingamajig Candy (Whatchamacallit) : Everything To Know


Do you know the Whatchamacallit candy? It’s an old candy brand owned by the Hershey company. These are crispy, chocolaty candy bars available in the United States and Canada since 1978. In Canada, it was a small yet popular candy brand, sold by the name Special Crisp. So what does it have to do with the Thingamajig Candy?

Umm, It is the same taste and ingredient with a new name. Yes, today we are discussing a popular Hershey’s chocolate bar- The Thenigamajig. It is a successor of the traditional Whatchamacallit brand. Thingamajig is a delicious combination of crispy cocoa, milk chocolate, and peanut butter much like a Whatchamacallit bar.

“It’s more than a Mouthful”- original slogan Whatchamacallit bar

Thingamajig Candy-Whatchamacallit-wrappers
Thingamajig Candy vs Whatchamacallit candy wrappers

Check out my previous posts: 15 Candy Names That Start with L

What is a Thingamajig candy?

In 2009 Hershey’s introduced a new chocolate bar with cocoa crisps and peanut butter. They call it the Thingamajig candy bar. It was a fresh start to their traditional Whatchamacallit brand. The new name is clever wordplay. It describes the tradition of new innovations in this chocolate candy bar.

The new Thingamajig candy bar contains all the ingredients of a whatchamacallit candy bar. You may think of it as a rebranding. It contains a crispy cocoa center layered with smooth peanut butter and finally covered with a sweet milk chocolate layer.

Thingamajig candy is a delicious chocolate candy bar with cocoa crisps and peanut butter. 

Also read: How to Make Cotton Candy at Home Without Machine?

History of Thingamajig Candy

The History of Thingmajig candy dates back to 1978. It was originally known as the Whatchamacallit candy. The naming was just a rebranding with some minute changes in the original recipe.

The traditional Whatchamacallit candy was first introduced in 1978 by Hershey’s US. They also sell this candy in Canada with another name- special crisp. This unique and pretty interesting name was given by Patricia Volk. Patricia was Hershey’s new brand in charge during 1978-87. She was also a popular food critic and writer. Her works include the STUFFED: Adventures of Restaurant family.

Whatchamacallit
Original Whatchamacallit Candy-By Evan-Amos – Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11509036

Whatchamacallit is a peanut-flavored crispy chocolate bar. It basically has three distinct layers. The core is crispy cocoa covered in smooth peanut butter layered with caramel and chocolate. Altogether it makes a complete diet.

The Whatchamacallit brand utilizes peanut butter as a flavoring agent. It is a cheap alternative to cocoa butter which helps them in cost-cutting in production. Although this change has compiled them to remove milk chocolate branding with chocolate candy. It was prohibited by law to brand anything as milk chocolate that does not contain real cocoa butter.

The name Thingamajig was first termed as a short-term experiment for a new candy bar. It was coined in 2009 by Hershey’s as a rebranding of their traditional chocolate bar.

In 2009 Hershey’s come up with a featuring chocolate candy barThe Thingamajig. It contains cocoa crips, peanut butter, and chocolate. They introduced this brand as a permanent member in 2011. Although soon discontinued its production in 2012.

You can still find the original Whatchamacallit candy bars in some stores but it’s not as popular as it was.

Taste of Thingamajig Candy

Those who have tried the Whatchamacallit candy know the true peanut crips. The crispy cocoa wafers covered in smooth peanut butter are something no one can forget. It has a slight hint of saltiness that makes the candy pretty flavorful.

It also contains a layer of sweet and salty caramel. It’s really sweet and its taste stays for long on the tongue. The final layer of a thingamajig candy bar is sweet chocolate. It is smooth and sweet. The chocolate layer balances the strong cocoa and peanut flavors. It also lowers the saltiness with enough sweetness.

The original Whatchamacallit and new thingamajig have very little to no difference in their taste. They are sweet crunchy and chocolaty. Although few thingamajig fans consider it more crunchy with a strong peanut flavor than the traditional one.

You can still find the original Whatchamacallit candy bars, it is still in production as of 2022. Although Thingamajig is officially out of production since 2012.

Thingamajig candy Pictures & Images

The original wrapper of Whatchamacallit candy bars contains an image of a chocolate bar with peanut butter and crisps. It introduces Hershey’s brand logo during 1978-79.

Thingamajig candy image
Thingamajig Candy -By Evan-Amos – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=18858356

The Thingamajig candy bar wrapper contains all those essentials like the company log and the image to define the contents. It also has the necessary information like nutritional value, ingredient quantity, and the brand’s tagline.

It says ” Made With Chocolate Cocoa Crisps, Peanut Butter.”

Thingamajig candy label

All you see in this shiny wrapper is a splash image that defines the brand name Thingamajig with Hershey’s Logo and their tagline. It also contains a glimpse of a broken piece of this bar showing the crispy core layered in peanut butter covered in a thin layer of chocolate. This wrapper plays an important role in the promotion of this brand.

Is Thingamajig and Whoozeewhatzit Candy the same?

Some of you may have seen or tried the new Whozeewhatzit candy bar by Hershey’s. It is a new brand by Hershey’s. They launched this chocolate bar in 2021. It is also an introductory bar just like the Thingamajig.

The new Whozeewhatzit is somewhat similar yet an entirely new chocolate candy bar. It also contains cocoa crisps, peanut butter, caramel, and chocolate like a Thingamajig bar. In addition to these the Whozeewhatzit bar also contains crisped rice.

You can consider Whozeewhatzit as a successor to the Thingamajig with some additional ingredients. It may look and taste similar but it is a different composition that has evolved from the Thingamajig candy bar.

You can find their ingredient the same with only a few decisive differences. Let’s see—

  • Sugar
  • Peanut Butter
  • Chocolate
  • Cocoa Crisps
  • Hydrogenated vegetable oils, Palm oil, and Soyabean oil
  • Other vegetable oils and Safflower oil
  • Non-fat and plain Milk Chocolate
  • Whey
  • Salt
  • Barley malt
  • Natural & Artificial flavoring
  • crisp rice, puffed rice only in Whozeewhatzit candy bar

Nutritional Value in Thingamajig Candy

Each Thingamajig bar contains 237 calories with 11 g fat, 3.9 g protein, 30g of Carbohydrates, and 5.8 mg cholesterol. You can check out the complete nutritional list below

1 Thingamajig Candy bar (48g, 1.7 oz) contains

  • Calories -237
  • Saturated Fat-8g
  • Trans Fat 0.1g
  • Cholesterol- 5.8mg
  • Sodium 143.5mg
  • Potassium-145.4mg
  • Dietary Fiber- 0.9g
  • Sugar or Carbs- 23g
  • Protein- 3.9g
  • Caffeine- 4.8mg
  • In addition to these, each Thingamajig candy bar also contains Iron-0.4mg, Magnesium-0.6mg, Calcium-1.0mg, and Cobalamin-0.6mg.

Do They Still Make Thingamajig Candy Bars?

No, Hershey’s officially stops the worldwide production of Thingamajig candy bars in 2012. They announced the discontinuation of Thingamajig bars in 2012 at Hershey’s Chocolate World in Pennsylvania. It was an introductory candy bar. They already had a traditional and very popular brand –Whatchamacallit bar. The recipe and ingredients are the same. So probably they don’t need another one with the same taste and ingredients.

Whatchamacallit bar is still in production and you can find some in your nearest candy store. Although these bars are not as popular as they were during the 70s and 80s.

Check out: What is the Oldest Candy Still in Production?

Where to buy Thingamajig Candy Bars?

First of all the Thingamajig candy bars are out of production so you can’t buy them now. It is still listed on some of the major e-com sites yet most of them show out of stock. Although you can try the similar tasting originals- Whatchamacallit candy bar or the new member in the list- “The Whozeewhatzit candy bar”. They are both owned and sold by Hershey’s as of 2022. You can find them in the supper market store or any Hershey’s candy store. They are also available on many e-com sites, especially on Amazon.

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