White Rabbit's Retro Wrapper Finds a New Generation of Fans Overseas

The red, white and blue wrapper of White Rabbit milk candy – a design that has barely changed since 1959 – has found a new audience overseas after a social media post praising its graphic work drew millions of views.

An X user posting under the handle @weeabob shared a photograph of the candy beside an unfolded wrapper on August 5, calling it "this absolute masterstroke of graphic design." The post had drawn about 5.8 million views by Friday.

The design runs on three colors against a white ground. Blue-and-white rabbit silhouettes, cut as positive-and-negative shapes, run down both edges. At the center a white rabbit leaps across two blocks shaped like an artist's palette, one black and one red, above the brand name in Chinese and English. Unfolded, the whole thing reads like a small vintage poster.

The candy dates to 1943 and Shanghai's ABC Candy Factory, according to China's time-honored brands database maintained by the Ministry of Commerce. Its early wrappers carried Mickey Mouse, and the product sold as ABC Mickey Mouse Candy.

The factory came under state ownership in the 1950s. The mouse gave way to a rabbit in a 1959 redesign, and the candy was distributed that year to mark the 10th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. Each piece is wrapped in edible glutinous rice paper before it reaches the printed outer wrapper.

The brand says White Rabbit later figured in a well-known moment in China-U.S. exchanges: then-Premier Zhou Enlai gave the candy to US President Richard Nixon during Nixon's 1972 visit, according to manufacturer Bright Food Group.

The brand has since introduced more than 10 flavors, including coconut, chocolate, durian and wasabi, while retaining the core rabbit motif and color scheme.

Comments under the viral post praised the brand for keeping a design that had already found an effective visual language decades ago. Other users recalled receiving the sweets in Chinese-language classes, saving the wrappers in journals or turning the motif into artwork and tattoos.

The post also triggered nostalgia in China, where users shared memories of flattening and collecting the wrappers as children and discussed other distinctive packaging from long-established domestic brands.