Articles & Features
Making sense of Magic Scents
Back in the
early 1990s Crayola came out with a product line called Magic Scents. The idea was that the crayons released a
specific and familiar scent when they were colored. This line came in what we loosly
refer to as two types: food-related
crayons and non-food related crayons.
They also came in two different package sizes: 8 color and 16
color. Another difference is that the 8
crayon boxes were actually large (SL2) crayons, not the standard size found in
the 16 boxes. It has commonly been
associated that for the
The 8 crayon
boxes:
The 16 crayon
boxes:
The story
doesn’t really end here though. It is
conceivable that for box collector’s and even crayon collectors that collect by
wrapper variation, there are even more boxes to be had. For one thing,
If the
USA – 8 crayon box (food related)
USA – 8 crayon box (non-food related)
USA – 16 crayon box (food-related)
USA – 16 crayon box (non-food related)
Canada – 8 crayon box (food related) *theoretical, no boxes have surfaced to
date
Canada – 8 crayon box (non-food related) *theoretical, no boxes have surfaced
to date
Canada – 16 crayon box (food related)
Canada – 16 crayon box (non-food related) *theoretical, no boxes have surfaced
to date
The story
doesn’t end here either (remember, I said I’d come back to the food/non-food
issue). It would appear that they
changed the box sometime in 1994 and probably as a direct result they changed
the items shown for that reason. The
problem is in the transitioning of crayons and boxes. For example, the food-related boxes with
strawberry and grape can be found only with 1994 copywrites
on them. The non-food related have versions with both 1994 and 1995. In the case of the 16 box with rose and pine
– this can be found with food related crayons if the box is a 1994 box. Not only that, they changed a couple of
crayons in the process: grape changed to
lilac and orange changed to jelly bean Here is a list of the crayons
available in the known boxes:
Stawberry-grape
8 crayon
banana, blueberry, bubble gun, cherry, chocolate, licorice, lime, orange
Strawberry-grape
16 crayon box: (1994):
banana, blueberry, bubble gun, cherry, chocolate, licorice, lime, orange plus
coconut, fresh air, grape, lemon, peach, pine, strawberry, rose
Rose-pine 16 crayon
box (1994):
banana, blueberry, bubble gun, cherry, chocolate, coconut, fresh air, jelly
bean (replaced orange)
lilac (replaced grape), licorice, lime, lemon, peach, pine, strawberry, rose
Rose-pine 8
crayon box (1995):
baby
powder, dirt, fresh air, leather jacket, pine, rose, soap, tulip
Rose-pine 16 crayon box (1995):
baby
powder, dirt, fresh air, leather jacket, pine, rose, soap, tulip plus
daffodil, cedar chest, eucalyptus, lilac, new car, shampoo, smoke
Canadian strawberry-lime 16 crayon box
(1994)
blueberry, chocolate, coconut, bubble gum, cherry, lime, banana, peach, orange,
licorice, strawberry, lemon, rose, pine, lilac & fresh air
Mysteries and inconsistencies
So, after all
this what have or haven’t we learned?
-The idea of stawberry-grape box being food-related
crayons is an inconsistent grouping at best.
If it is a food related group, why are there colors like fresh air and
pine?
- The idea of rose-pine non-food-related crayons, while a consistant
grouping, is unreliable to adequately describe the boxes as the 1994 versions
of this box also contain most of the food related crayons.
- The only way to get the Jelly Bean crayon is to get ahold
of the rose-pine box with a 1994 copywrite. The lilac, while replacing grape, can be
found still in the 1995 box since that is a non-food related crayon.
- Why did they
switch from strawberry-grape to rose-pine?
Clearly it looks like they did it sometime in 1994 after having run the
others for awhile. Clearly they were
still putting food-related crayon colors inside these boxes. One could speculate that they made the design
change of the box from stawberry-grape to rose-pine
independent of having to switch out food-related smells for non-food related
smells. Perhaps they made the box change
in 1994, did a couple color replacements at the same time (lilac and jelly
bean) and THEN came the shut down of the food-related
crayons and the introduction of all non-food related crayons which clearly
happened in 1995.
- It is also
interesting to note that in the Canadian version, grape is lilac, but orange is
still there and not jelly bean. Did they
make the switch in the Canadian version?:
- Does a box
exist with a large jelly bean crayon? If
the above theory were correct, it is conceivable. They replaced orange with jelly bean and
orange is one of the colors in the 8 box.
It stands to reason that they could have swapped orange with jelly bean
in a late 1994 box of the rose-pine.
Since grape isn’t in the 8 box, that would be the only color change
out. So the question stands – If there exists a 16 box from 1994 with food related crayons and a
swapped orange-jelly bean, why not also the 8 box of large crayons?
Oh yes, almost
forgot. The concept of Magic Scents
didn’t disappear entirely. They were
just renamed as “Color ‘N Smell” and produced in an 8 crayon box (but this time
standard size) and 16 crayon box (the colors remain the same) but even these
were eventually discontinued:
And then let’s
not forget that other countries did these type of
concepts too: