Mike and Ike is an American brand of fruit-flavored candies that were first introduced in 1940 by American company Just Born. Despite conjecture, the origin of the candy's name remains unknown.
Mike and Ike was created by the Bethlehem, Pennsylvania-based candy company Just Born in 1940. When Just Born acquired the Rodda Candy Company in 1953, Rodda's expertise in jelly beans helped Just Born produce new Mike and Ike flavors, such as cotton candy. Additional flavors, such as root beer, came in the 1960s, and others have been introduced on and off since.
The origin of the Mike and Ike name is obscure, even to the company. Just Born has claimed it originated from a vaudeville song, an internal naming contest, or the names of the inventors. People have also claimed that the name is from the Rube Goldberg comic strip Mike and Ike (They Look Alike); Dwight D. Eisenhower, whose nickname was Ike; or the Matina Brothers, two of whom were nicknamed "Mike" and "Ike," and were billed as circus dwarves and appeared as Munchkins in the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz.
Mike and Ike are oblong fruit-flavored chewy candies that come in several colors and varieties, including cherry, strawberry, orange, lemon, and lime. Popular varieties are Tropical Typhoon, Berry Blast and Jolly Joes. Each candy has 7 calories, 0 grams of fat, and approximately 1 gram of sugar. The candy is kosher and gluten-free.
They are similar to Hot Tamales, another candy introduced by the same manufacturer in 1950, though they are not spicy.
Just Born produces several varieties of Mike and Ikes, including:
Retro/limited varieties include:
There are also seasonal packages for Easter in which the Mike and Ike flavors are formed as jelly beans.
In April 2012, the company ran an ad campaign based on the premise that Mike and Ike were "breaking up" due to "creative differences"; the packaging showed one or the other name scratched out. The campaign was intended to capture the interest of younger consumers. In 2013 the company announced Mike and Ike would reunite. In addition to a re-designed packaging and juicier tasting candy, a trailer for a movie was released, entitled, The Return of Mike and Ike.