The sweet brand is named after the town of Werther in Westphalia, where the company was founded in 1903.

Later variants included chewy toffees, and a soft, waxy form which melts easily inside the mouth called "butterscotch-melts."

Well-known TV advertisements in Germany and the United Kingdom from the late 1980s featured an older man offering Werther's butterscotch to a boy.

[3] In the United States commercials, TV actor Robert Rockwell played the kind-hearted grandfather.

[6][better source needed] One British advertisement consisted of a montage of the grandfather and grandson bonding together (for example, pointing at animals out of train windows).