So, who is "Alex", and why does he or she have such a popular lemonade stand? I can only assume that Alex is a fictional character, the name probably used because it could work for either a boy or a girl. The strange thing about it is the lack of interpretation of the character anywhere on the package. Most of the time candy companies like to draw silly little cartoon characters on their packages to represent the sweet treat. This time however, Just Born decided to let our imagination take over, so I can intemperate Alex any way I want. That's very mature of them, and a compliment to the intelligence of the people eating these.

As for the candy itself, they're not too bad. An easy way to make these would have been to take their popular fruit flavoured candies, and just make them a little sour. Instead Just Born has gone the extra mile and made these Mike and Ike’s truly lemonade flavoured. Best of all, it seems as though each colour/flavour has a different degree of lemonade flavour, so the balance when you eat a bunch of them is really great. Much like real lemonade, if you want to mix other flavours with it, you have to mix with different ratios. Some fruit needs just a little lemonade to taste great, while other fruits can use a lot of lemonade to get that great zing of a flavour.

It's not the most original idea ever conceived for a chewy candy, but it is very well executed, and tastes great. Thanks Alex!

Update! Someone sent me a message to explain who Alex is:

Alex's Lemonade Stand is a pediatric cancer charity. It's fairly well known in the US and has a bunch of big-time corporate partners. Alex was a little girl with cancer. She started a lemonade stand to raise money for cancer research and Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation was developed in her honor after she died.

From their website (www.alexslemonade.org)

"Just Born, Inc. and its MIKE AND IKE® brand is proud to announce a new partnership with Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation. The MIKE AND IKE® Brand will make a minimum donation of $100,000 per year to this foundation to assist in the fight to cure childhood cancer."