Next time you’re at Family Dollar, watch out for any particularly divisive sweets.
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TikToker Raeon Artez (@raeonartez) recently found a bag of entirely banana-flavored Laffy Taffys at his local Family Dollar and made his stance known. His video, posted February 1, 2025, now has 1.7 million views and a candy war in the comment section.
The Laffy Taffy situation
“So I’m at the Family Dollar getting some snacks for movie night, right?” Artez begins. “Look at this.”
Artez flips the camera around, showing the shelf in front of him. He zooms in on a bag of banana-flavored Laffy Taffys.
“If I ever see anybody buy an all-banana bag of Laffy Taffys, I’m cutting you off,” he declares. “You no longer friends with me, I don’t even know you—’cause that’s a sick person.”
The video ends by cutting back to Artez’s disappointed face, glaring into the camera. “Disgusting,” he concludes, shaking his head.
“Why would they even make that,” he asks in the caption. He punctuates the sentence with a green sick-face emoji.
Banana Laffy Taffy stans weigh in
Banana Laffy Taffy fans flooded Artez’s comments section, rushing to defend their beloved artificial fruit flavor.
“Leave me and my artificial banana flavor alone,” one commenter responded, followed by a crying emoji.
“Blocked!” Artez jokingly replied.
“Artificial banana flavor is elite—laffy taffy, the little yellow bananas in runts,” argued another user.
“Wait a minute, banana laffy taffy is the superior flavor. That’s why you can buy a whole bag of just banana,” a commenter pointed out. “Bc the other flavors are TRASH.”
A few users did show up to defend Artez’s taffy hot take.
“Those are theeeeee worst flavorrr,” someone agreed.
“Out of all the flavors they could of did a solo bag for and they chose banana,” complained another ally.
Circus Peanuts catching strays
In the banana-flavored crossfire, some users struck out at unrelated candies as well.
“That’s how I feel about circus peanuts, they’re awful,” a user stated. “They taste like styrofoam. Black licorice is right there as well. It’s awful.”
“That’s how I feel about those orange circus peanuts,” someone else said.
Despite their irrelevance, even circus peanuts could not inspire a consensus in the comments.
“I’m gonna say it…” began one commenter. “Circus peanuts hit.”
@raeonartez Why would they even make that 🤢 #fyp #fypシ #foryoupage ♬ original sound – RAEON
Okay, but still—why does banana candy taste like that?
Johanna Mayer of Science Friday consulted flavor historian Nadia Berenstein on the history of banana flavoring in 2017. Berenstein explained that early synthesized fruit flavors weren’t actually based on fruits themselves, as the analysis of fruit was too difficult a task.
“In effect, instead of searching for the many subtle compounds that make up banana (or any fruit flavor), chemists were satisfied when one compound produced a “fruity” taste,” Mayer wrote. Where this fruity compound was marketed in the UK through pear-related products, U.S. consumers connected more with bananas, so it was marketed as banana flavoring.
The compound that produced the fruity flavor was isoamyl acetate. It’s also what makes the dreaded Circus Peanuts taste like Circus Peanuts.
Modern bananas share this compound in a small amount. However, the now-rare strain of Gros Michel bananas—commonly eaten in the US before the 1950s—had far more of it. Thus, the banana Laffy Taffy at Family Dollar does taste like a banana to some extent, just not necessarily the bananas we know now.
The Daily Dot reached out to Artez via TikTok and Instagram direct message.
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