I was on the phone last night, because in spite of all appearances, I have a friend. Anyway, we were talking about something, and the subject of Opal Fruits came up. Not in a nostalgic, gosh Starburst used to be different kind of way, just in a vague aside about something else. But the moment I heard the words ‘Opal Fruits’ I immediately began to sing, ‘Made to make your mouth water’.
I didn’t even know why at first. And I had to actually Google the lyrics to make sure I was remembering the link to Opal Fruits correctly. That’s a powerful jingle.
I remember nothing of the advert itself though, and watching it back I began to realise that yes, chewing a gummy sugar cube is almost exactly like jumping into a pool of water filled up with slices of orange and whole strawberries. So I filled up the bath, tossed in my fruit bowl and took a soak.
![](http://www.simondunn.me.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/opal-fruits.jpg)
As I basked in the memories of never having eaten that many of the taffy bastards, I read up on the history of them. Introduced by Mars in the 1960s, someone called Peter Pfeffer (great name), won a competition to name them Opal Fruits, and bagged himself a prize of five pounds in the process.
I promise this next bit is true.
The slogan ‘made to make your mouth water’ was created by motor racing commentating legend Murray Walker.
![](http://www.simondunn.me.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/murray-300x180.jpg)
Yeah, Murray Walker is to blame for this pointless piffle post.