The Wonder Ball is a brand of chocolate manufactured in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

Nestlé Nestlé S.A. (; ; ) is a Switzerland, Swiss multinational food and drink processing conglomerate corporation headquartered in Vevey, Vaud, Switzerland. It is the largest publicly held food company in the world, measured by revenue and other me ...

and later by the Frankford Candy & Chocolate Company. The spherical candy, which weighs 3 grams, has an outer shell that is pure milk chocolate and a hollow interior containing candies. The Wonder Ball is wrapped in foil, placed in a small box, and packaged with a collectible

sticker A sticker is a type of label: a piece of printed paper, plastic, vinyl, or other material with temporary or permanent pressure sensitive adhesive on one side. It can be used for decoration or for functional purposes, depending on the situation. ...

. There is a version of the Wonder Ball called the Wonder Ball Plus Prize that contains a chocolate ball that was filled with tangy dextrose candy, stickers, and a small toy.

History

The Wonder Ball was first introduced in the mid-1990s. The product's slogan was "What's in the Wonder Ball?" Originally called Nestlé Magic Ball, the product contained small figurines of

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

characters, similar to the

Kinder Surprise Kinder Surprise ( Italian: ''Kinder Sorpresa'' or ''Ovetto Kinder''), also known as Kinder Egg or Kinder Surprise Egg, is a milk chocolate consisting of a chocolate egg surrounding a yellow plastic capsule with a small toy inside. Manufactured by ...

which retails in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

, and

Mexico Mexico (Spanish language, Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a List of sovereign states, country in the southern portion of North America. It is borders of Mexico, bordered to the north by the United States; to the so ...

. The product was withdrawn in 1997 after competitors and consumer groups campaigned that the toy posed a choking hazard.^{/sup>

In April 2000, the Wonder Ball was then released back with candy in place of the toys.^{/sup> The Wonder Ball had a variety of themes, including Disney

The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...
, ''Pokémon

(an abbreviation for in Japan) is a Japanese media franchise managed by The Pokémon Company, founded by Nintendo, Game Freak, and Creatures, the owners of the trademark and copyright of the franchise.

In terms of what each of thos ...
'', Cartoon Network

Cartoon Network (often abbreviated as CN) is an American cable television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. It is a part of The Cartoon Network, Inc., a division that also has the broadcasting and production activities of Boomerang, ...
, ''Care Bears

Care Bears are multi-colored bears, originally painted in 1981 by artist Elena Kucharik to be used on greeting cards from American Greetings. In 1983, the characters were turned into plush teddy bears.

The characters headlined their own televis ...
'', and ''Winnie the Pooh

Winnie-the-Pooh, also called Pooh Bear and Pooh, is a fictional Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic teddy bear created by English author A. A. Milne and English illustrator E. H. Shepard.

The first collection of stories about the character w ...
''. In 2004, the brand was sold to Frankford, who released it under a ''SpongeBob SquarePants

''SpongeBob SquarePants'' (or simply ''SpongeBob'') is an American Animated series, animated Television comedy, comedy Television show, television series created by marine science educator and animator Stephen Hillenburg for Nickelodeon. It ...
'' theme. An urban legend has circulated that the product was discontinued in 2007 because a child choked and died, but there were no confirmation that the discontinuation was due to choking allegations.^{/sup>

After 9 years of absence, Frankford has come back producing the Wonder Ball with ''Despicable Me

''Despicable Me'' is a computer-animated media franchise centering on Gru (Despicable Me), Gru, a reformed super-villain (who later becomes a father, husband, and secret agent), and his yellow-colored Minions (Despicable Me), Minions. It is p ...
'' themed candy and stickers in February 2016. Other themes included: Shopkins

Real Littles, formerly and also called Shopkins, are a range of tiny, collectable toys manufactured by Moose Toys. Based on grocery store items, each plastic figure has a recognisable face and unique name. They also have special finishes like t ...
, Dinosaurs

Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is the ...
, Disney, and Halloween

Halloween or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve) is a celebration observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Saints' Day. It begins the observan ...
. Wonder Ball Minis were introduced as two smaller Wonder Balls packaged together to enable sharing. In 2017, they opened up different themes such as ''Shopkins'', ''Super Mario

(also known as and ) is a platform game series created by Nintendo starring their mascot, Mario. It is the central series of the greater ''Mario'' franchise. At least one ''Super Mario'' game has been released for every major Nintendo vide ...
'', ''Monsters,'' and ''PAW Patrol

''PAW Patrol'' is a Canadian computer-animated children's television series, children's television series created by Keith Chapman. It is produced by Spin Master, Spin Master Entertainment, with animation provided by Guru Studio. In Canada, the ...
''. In 2021, Space Jam: A New Legacy toys were released.^{/sup>

Nutritional facts

The Wonder Ball had 130 calories per unit, which fifty-four came from fat. "There were 6 grams of fat per serving. Added to this was 18 grams of sugar."^{/sup> The sugar content is worth noting because usually it was thought as sweet (and now containing this much sugar), chocolate's historically did not contain sugar before it began to take the form of the many candies like these that we know today. ^{/sup>

In addition to these, the Wonder Ball also contained 15 milligrams of sodium and between 19 and 22 grams of carbohydrates. ^{/sup>

See also

* Kinder Surprise

Kinder Surprise ( Italian: ''Kinder Sorpresa'' or ''Ovetto Kinder''), also known as Kinder Egg or Kinder Surprise Egg, is a milk chocolate consisting of a chocolate egg surrounding a yellow plastic capsule with a small toy inside. Manufactured by ...

*List of confectionery brands

This is a list of brand name confectionery products. Sugar confectionery includes candies (''sweets'' in British English), candied nuts, chocolates, chewing gum, bubble gum, pastillage, and other confections that are made primarily of sugar. In so ...

References

{{Nestlé

Nestlé brands
Products introduced in 2000}}}}}}}