Werther's Original


Werther's Original is a brand of caramel candy owned by the German company August Storck KG, based in Berlin, Germany. The candy is popular in Europe and North America.

History

The sweet brand is named after the town of Werther in Westphalia, where the company was founded in 1903. From 1969, the sweet was marketed under the brand name Werthers Echte. The brand name Werther's Original was adopted in the 1990s for the international market. They are now manufactured nearby, in Halle.

Product

The original Werther's Echte was a caramel hard candy.
Later variants included chewy toffees, and a soft, waxy form which melts easily inside the mouth called "butterscotch-melts." A variant with chocolate filling is also available, as well as three sugarless variants that use isomalt as a sugar substitute: the original butterscotch flavour, a butterscotch coffee swirl, and a butterscotch mint swirl. A product available in the United Kingdom is "Werther's Chocolate," a dark and milk chocolate with butterscotch running through it, sold in the same packaging and wrappers as Werther's Originals. A variant available in Canada and the United States, "Butterscotch Apple Filled," has a green-apple-flavored filling.

Commercials

Well-known TV advertisements in Germany and the United Kingdom from around 1991 featured an older man offering Werther's butterscotch to his grandson. The grandfather in the first UK adverts spoke with an American accent, but was later localised to Received Pronunciation. The actor Arnold Peters appeared in them. In the United States commercials, TV actor Robert Rockwell played the kind-hearted grandfather.
One British advertisement consisted of a montage of the grandfather and grandson bonding together. The lyrics of the song which accompanied this ended: "When one who loves you says to you: You're someone very special too."