Nostalgia puts 70s brands back in shops

It was one of the staple foods of the 1970s, a teatime favourite alongside sliced Spam, Alphabetti Spaghetti and Angel Delight. Now Smash, the freeze-dried potato product marketed on TV by a group of laughing Martian robots, is back. Premier Foods, which owns the brand, is relaunching it with a new, healthier recipe and an additional range of flavours.

It is not the only kitsch classic brand to be making an unlikely comeback. Earlier this year Cinzano, the sweet Italian vermouth best known for the 1980s advertising campaign in which Leonard Rossiter tipped it repeatedly over Joan Collins's bosom, brought out its first new product for 144 years in the form of SpritzzUp!, an alcopop-style Cinzano cocktail.

A report by the food retailing bible, the Grocer, has found that in everything from crisps to hairspray, aftershave to sweets, so-called "orphan brands" - those makes of food and drink that have fallen from fashion, but never quite disappeared from the supermarket shelves - are staging a comeback.

Some of the brands have never gone away - Spam and Smash have actually been on the shelves, but out of favour, since their 70s heyday. But they are being given a revamp to take advantage of people's interest in nostalgic brands, Ms Hook said. Others are reinventing themselves include Mateus Rosé, which is undergoing an expensive relaunch, and Blue Nun which is popular again after the ultra-sweet German wine was revamped with a new image and an association with erotic underwear retailer Ann Summers.