Do They Still Make Tunes Sweets?
Tunes menthol sweets were round-shaped lozenges that were manufactured by The Wrigley Company Ltd in Plymouth, and came with the slogan "Help you breathe more easily".
Unfortunately, the company stopped manufacturing Tunes in 2017, with Cherry Menthol Sugar-Free being the last available flavour.
Recommended alternatives are Halls Cherry Menthol-Lyptus Throat Lozenges or Jakeman's Soothing Cherry Menthol Sweets
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A few suppliers are selling boxes of Tunes online, but be aware that these items are out-of-date old stock. For instance, Tunes 37g box at Toffee World has a Best Before date of 7/5/17. No new Tunes products have been made since 2017.
Past flavours have included Honey Menthol, Blackcurrant Menthol, Tropical, Peachy and Strawberry.
The brand's main rivals were Lofthouse's Fisherman's Friend, Halls Soothers and Strepsils.
During the 1960s and 70s, Tunes were sold as a sister product to Spangles, with each sweet being square-shaped, individually wrapped, and sold in rectangular sticks.
TV Adverts
During the 1980s and 90s, there was a series of amusing British TV adverts, which were targeted at people with coughs and/or a cold or flu virus.
Tunes in 1983
Train To Nottingham Advert
A classic 1985 TV advert which aired in the United Kingdom, featured a man with a blocked up nose, who walks up to the ticket booth at a train station and asks for a "second class return to Dottingham please". The ticket master looks confused, "Where was that sir?". Of course, the guy means Nottingham. After eating the throat sweet, he returns to the booth and speaks in an amusingly exaggerated clear voice.
As with many Tunes adverts at the time, at the end of the advert, the man says "Tuuuunes!", leaving a very funny, bemused look on the ticket master's face.
1988 Window Cleaners Advert
A British TV advert which aired in 1988, featured an out-of-tune window cleaner at the top of his ladder, trying to sing "A Teenager In Love", which was originally a UK one hit wonder for Dion & The Belmonts, reaching No.28 in 1959. At the end of the advert, the window cleaner is seen together with his fellow workers. They are clicking their fingers and singing in a classic 50s Doo-wop style.
1996 Darth Vader Advert
A funny TV advert featuring Darth Vader from the Star Wars movies aired in the late 90s. The character was offered a Tunes lozenge to help with his heavy breathing.
Tunes Blackcurrant in 1996
Trendy Image Makeover Backfires in 2000
In 2000, Masterfoods (who also produced Lockets cough sweets at this time) tried to give Tunes a more trendy image to make the brand more appealing to club-goers. They updated the packaging and introduced a Strawberry flavour. However, the move backfired and led to the Tunes brand losing its identity as a lozenge for coughs and sore throats.
Cartons introduced in 2003
In an attempt to turnaround the decline in sales, In 2003, Masterfoods decided to overhaul the Tunes range to make them look more medicinal and less like confectionary. It was also an attempt to regain the female audience, which was in decline. The shape of the sweets became round and were now sold in small cartons, as they still were over 20 years later.
Ingredients:
The flagship product was Tunes Cherry Menthol (Sugar Free) which included the following ingredients; Sweeteners (Isomalt and Sucralose), Citric Acid, Flavourings, Concentrated Cherry Juice, Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C), Colour E163.