Ring Pop
The giant faceted candy gem you wore on your finger all recess — jewelry you were allowed to lick. Invented to break one kid's thumb-sucking habit, it became the engagement ring of every 90s playground.
The Ring Pop was invented in 1977 by Frank Richards, a product engineer at the Topps Company — reportedly as a treat to help his daughter break her thumb-sucking habit. The design was simple and brilliant: a big faceted candy "gem" mounted on a plastic ring. Cherry and grape came first, with blue raspberry, strawberry, watermelon and sour varieties following in the 1980s, along with the era's iconic TV commercial in which a little boy appears to propose to a little girl with one.
By the 90s the Ring Pop was pure playground canon. You wore it through recess, flashed it like treasure, and staged mock proposals on the blacktop; it doubled as costume jewelry, prize-box currency, and the flashiest thing in the corner-store candy rack. Unlike most novelty candy it never needed a comeback, because it never went anywhere.
The brand is now part of Bazooka Candy Brands, Topps' former candy arm, and it is bigger than ever: as of 2025, a new Pennsylvania plant turns out 1.5 million Ring Pops a day.
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