I don't know what this says about me, but the two types of candy that immediately come to mind when I think about my childhood are both lollipops, and both ended up making me very sticky.
The Push Pop
In terms of design, I can't think of a worse candy. There two fundamental flaws that the creators of the Push Pop overlooked:
1) A lollipop that you can close back into a lipstick-like tube and save for later will stick to the inside of said tube.
2) If the only way of forcing that sticky, half-devoured lollipop out of its case again is pushing a finger up that sticky tube, well... You end up with a lot of stickiness - and it gets everywhere.
Nevertheless, Push Pops were pretty popular when I was at school. They were a bit gimmicky, but I think the novelty and the fact that they came in so many different bright colors was the appealing factor.
In fact, Gatorade was really popular back then too... It's like we only discovered food coloring in 1996 or something!
Melody Pops
Yes, this creation by Chupa Chups was a favorite of mine, I'm not ashamed to say it.
There's not too much to say about them except they were lollipops that you could blow through to create a whistling sound. And you could also slide the handle up and down to change the pitch of the whistle like a trombone.
And when it'd been in your mouth for a few minutes, the shape would erode away and it would become a normal lollipop.
